Excellent summary piece by @kevinthetechguy.bsky.social re the kids-&-tech/social-media moral panic, w/ stellar quotes from @masnick.com & @candiceodgers.bsky.social. +h/t to @taylorlorenz.bsky.social @fightforthefuture.org for their related work
www.kevinthetechguy.ca/p/why-social...
#dataprivacy
And a nod to @masnick.com writing in @techdirt.com: 'Data on Australia's ban on under-16-year-olds using social media show the law "has barely moved the needle...The usage drop was only marginally larger than the normal seasonal dip that happens every year..." www.techdirt.com/2026/03/20/a...
Hot tip thanks to @candiceodgers.bsky.social - check out Roadtrip Nation's innovative approach to mine all their (8000+!) cross-country career path interviews into an LLM that young people can use to find their own path into careers. roadtripnation.com 5/
Even though I'm an economist, I wish there was more focus on the human suffering from this war and less focus on the economic consequences. Hundreds of little girls are dead, and we're worried about oil prices.
A photo of Doc Brown from Back to the Future holding jumper cables labelled "Deranged Activist" with a grant of NIH funding curves below it.
My weekly update on NIH funding
This includes awards made through 2/27/26
Warning: This thread contains data compiled by a known deranged_activist™. Do not read while operating heavy machinery.
1/9
New preprint >> "We don't know how social media bans will affect youth but we're doing it anyway!" with the brilliant @candiceodgers.bsky.social and @stephenschueller.bsky.social
osf.io/preprints/ps...
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
Why are the men’s names redacted and the victims names exposed?
Documents show RFK Jr lied to Congress about his agenda in Samoa—he did indeed go to spread anti-scientific doubts about vaccines. He was ultimately successful in getting an outbreak going there that killed 83 people, mostly babies and young children.
They’re taking children from Minnesota and locking them up like criminals in detention camps in Texas.
For the love of God, send our kids home and bring an end to this nightmare.
www.startribune.com/walz-demands...
Chart showing a more than 6x rise in ICE detention of children under the current administration
These kids should be going to school. Playing with their friends. Eating dinner with their families.
Detaining them is cruel and inhumane.
Wow, it is like we share a brain… or maybe just evidence on this :)
Kids self organize in amazing ways on their phones for in person meet ups - they have more agency and spend way more time together because of it. Adults are the ones isolated all day, kids are constantly with people (and do not tell me they do not go to the mall anymore as evidence they are not!)
So, if you actually look at the data, there is not a loneliness crisis among youth. Mostly just a lot of manipulation of the y-axis and people selling books and negative narratives about “kids these days”
Can we please, just for a moment, focus on the guns that are killing our kids and not their phones.
It really is a genuine tragedy for public health that what used to be a non partisan issue—fighting cancer—is now a partisan one
We could ELIMINATE cervical cancer, but, sadly, animus towards vaccines is now the default MAGA/MAHA position, & it looks like RFK Jr is coming for HPV vaccines next
Sesame Street Instagram: Big Bird snuggling a smaller bird. Offering comfort in Scary Times: After a violent event, children of different ages will have different needs. These age based strategies can help them feel safer and more secure.
Sesame Street is now offering tips for parents on post-trauma comfort because the federal government is physically and mentally abusing our country's children.
Reminder that, as of the latest reports, Liam Ramos is still in prison in Texas - now for 5 days.
His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.
In Minnesota, scores of ordinary people are bravely looking out for their neighbors, defending their communities, and protesting lawless violence.
They are the best of America.
Here's how to stand with them. www.standwithminnesota.com
The top cause of death among American kids is guns
Yet in RFK Jr’s first MAHA report, coauthored by Drs Bhattacharya & Makary, entitled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” there is no mention of guns
And these 3 kooky, dangerous dudes have successfully rolled back vaccination 😢
Every kid who has immigrant parents and is terrified for them right now owns my heart.
I was you, little one. But in better times.
I promise you that many of us will put our lives on the line for you. Don’t give up.
This is really f*&$ing good.
Don’t let Russell Vought trick Congress into destroying science by removing multiyear funding limits from the NIH funding bill.
More amazing kids protesting the ICE siege of Minnesota
We are pleased to announce that the first LEVANTE data release is now publicly available!
To access and download the pilot data, follow instructions on researcher.levante-network.org/data. This data release accompanies the preprint linked in the thread.
Adults broke the internet and are trying to fix it by kicking children and teens off. Instead of banning and blaming the victims, a better place to start would be cleaning it up for everyone.
Politicians are failing us all with harsh policies for kids but a pass for perpetrators of CSAM.
Honored to be appointed by @governor.ca.gov to work towards a safer and smarter internet for all of California’s children. A massive thanks to the Governor and First Partner's offices for making child online safety and countering image-based abuse a priority for the year ahead.
If only adults could pay attention to something other than teenagers’ phones…
