By Holly Johnson, TravelPulse (TNS)

You planned the right vacation in your whole family and your teenagers were greater than completely happy to place their lives on hold to return along. But now that it's been just a few days since your trip, they act disinterested and stare at their phones for hours.

The last part is bad enough in itself, but her whole attitude just ruins the family atmosphere.

That's just the truth of traveling with teenagers, at the least for just a few hours here and there. I even have actually handled teenage attitudes while traveling with my two girls, ages 13 and 15. Most of the time they're pretty good, but we've definitely had unpleasant moments traveling with them to greater than 40 countries over the past 10 years.

Luckily, there are just a few things you possibly can do to assist keep hormones and bad teenage attitudes at bay when you're on vacation. Here are a few of the suggestions I exploit to maintain my teenagers completely happy after we travel world wide.

Resist the urge to plan an excessive amount of

By visiting an all-inclusive resort or renting a beach villa, you possibly can easily avoid over-planning, while chances are you’ll be tempted to plan quite a lot of activities while you determine to go sightseeing in a brand new place.

With this in mind, I attempt to plan a giant family event every single day for each trip we take to a sightseeing destination. The remainder of the time I spend exclusively on activities for myself and my husband and leave a number of free time on the schedule every single day.

Leave her alone

That brings me to my next tip – to depart them alone. My husband and I are likely to leave our youngsters alone in our vacation home for at the least just a few hours a day, whether within the evening while we eat or in the course of the day while we sightsee or get some fresh air.

Giving kids some alone time (and screen time) gives them space to unwind and loosen up, while leaving the remaining of their mental energy for family time. Of course, it’s good to be comfortable leaving your teens alone for several hours at a time for this tip to work, and everyone knows that that is perfectly tremendous for some teens, but not for others.

Cater to teenagers' interests

We also get our youngsters involved within the planning process, often by asking them what they would love to do on the destinations we plan to go to. For example, after we travel to Europe, we ask them about art they need to see, museums they need to explore, or historical sites they might have learned about at school that ought to be on our radar.

When we take a warm-weather trip, equivalent to a visit to an all-inclusive resort or a cruise, we ask them concerning the excursions they would love to take and check out to get them comfortable with the trip and the destinations they may visit. to encourage.

Say “yes” every single day.

I've also found that teenagers are much happier on vacation in the event that they have some “wins” within the bank in the course of the trip. For us, it happens after we (their parents) say “yes” to just a few things they need every single day, be it an ice cream sale, a brand new shirt, or a pair of earrings from a neighborhood store.

We don’t say “yes” to all the pieces because that will quickly blow up our family travel budget. However, in the event that they say “yes” here and there, they will probably be completely happy longer and my husband and I’ll have the opportunity to benefit from the trip for for much longer.

Do something they love

Also plan a visit to something your kids love, whether it's a sporting event, a concert, or a show. For example, as a family we traveled to the US to play concert events and see artists like Noah Kahan and The Luminners (my teenager's favorites).

We also once planned a whole trip around a Harry Styles concert in New York City after which took the chance to see Broadway shows and check off just a few other sights during our stay. When we were in Italy for the autumn break this yr, we surprised the children with a day of roller coaster riding on the country's largest theme park, Gardaland.

With that in mind, my kids love cruises to the Caribbean where everyone disembarks and embarks at the identical location (unlike Europe and other destinations where there are multiple embarkation points). Having the identical people on board throughout the cruise makes it much easier for them to make friends in the course of the trip they usually love going to the onboard youth clubs and socializing with other kids. My kids are at all times asking when our next cruise is, so I make an effort to plan just a few of them in the course of the school holidays yearly.

Travel with friends

Finally, take into consideration planning a visit with family or friends. This can work especially well in case you're booking a visit with one other family that has adults and teenagers themselves, so long as everyone gets along.

We have done this several times up to now, each for all-inclusive resort trips and cruises, and each times we traveled with other families where we were friends with the parents and the children got along. It's at all times nice to offer your teens some solid friends to spend time with on vacation, provided you already know one other family with an identical travel style and budget that you may work with.

BRENTWOOD — Police used an armored vehicle to arrest two Brentwood teenagers suspected of carjacking, kidnapping and robbery last week.

In a press release Monday, Brentwood police said officers responded to the realm of ​​McClarren Road and Griffith Lane around 6:40 p.m. on Dec. 22 following reports of a robbery. When they arrived, police said a person told them the suspects attacked him, took his mobile phone and asked him to transfer money through a money app.

Police said they quickly gathered information and placed the 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl suspected within the crimes at a residence within the 700 block of Griffith Lane. Before the arrests, authorities called in an armored rescue vehicle.

Both suspects were arrested on suspicion of robbery, carjacking, kidnapping and other unknown crimes, police said.

Police said they made the choice to make use of the armored vehicle “given the seriousness of the situation and previous contacts on the ground,” adding they wanted to make sure “safe access” for officers.

Police said they subsequently called and arrested the suspects.

The victim suffered minor injuries within the attack, police said. Police said he one way or the other escaped from his automotive after the 2 teens forced him into his vehicle and drove him to a location where they might take more cash.

Both suspects were taken to the Contra Costa County Juvenile Detention Center.

Originally published: December 31, 2024 at 10:19 am PST

The Effects of bullying Impacts on teen mental health are well documented. But could bullying also shape their future aspirations?

Our latest research shows that teens who’re bullied in ninth grade change into more pessimistic about their educational and profession prospects after highschool. In particular, bullying increases the danger of depression in teenagers, which causes them to feel hopeless in regards to the future.

As Developmental psychologist As an creator who studies adolescent well-being, I wanted to higher understand the long-term effects of bullying on teenagers' future expectations. My research team recruited 388 highschool students who had just began ninth grade. We asked them to finish surveys every few months for 3 years.

Adolescents who reported being bullied more often by their peers in ninth grade subsequently reported lower expectations about their future educational and profession prospects in eleventh grade. That is, bullied youth were less confident about achieving their desired level of education, finding enjoyable work, and earning enough money to support themselves after highschool. Students who were bullied more ceaselessly in ninth grade were more likely to have their future expectations decline by about eight percentage points in comparison with their peers who weren’t bullied. This decline stays significant even after controlling for aspects similar to race, gender, socioeconomic status, and prior expectations of educational achievement.

Interestingly, one kind of bullying looked as if it would have a very negative impact. The worst off were youth who experienced types of peer victimization that involved exclusion—deliberately ignoring or excluding group activities—or whose social relationships were damaged. But young individuals who were the goal of overt victimization – similar to punches and kicks or threats and direct insults – didn’t report lower expectations for the longer term.

Why does bullying, which impacts teens' relationships and social reputations, weaken teens' optimism for future success? We found that depression plays a task. Adolescents who experienced such a bullying in ninth grade were more more likely to show depressive symptoms in tenth grade. Greater depressive symptoms in tenth grade were related to lower future expectations one 12 months later. Given that Peers change into increasingly essential in adolescenceBullying that directly damages these relationships appears to be particularly insidious.

Why it matters

Previous research shows that teenagers with negative expectations in regards to the future are less more likely to accomplish that attend college And Securing high-quality jobs in maturity. Our results suggest that bullying early in highschool can trigger a vicious cycle of hopelessness and pessimism about later educational and profession prospects. Investing in proven bullying prevention strategies, similar to programs that encourage bystander intervention and offer targeted support to victims, has proven successful It has already been shown to enhance the health of young people and will also help break this cycle.

What's next?

We plan to conduct additional surveys in the approaching years with the young individuals who participated in our research as they transition to varsity and careers. In this manner, we hope to seek out one of the best intervention options to stop bullying and its effects. Our ultimate goal is to be sure that all youth trust of their potential to succeed as adults.

The Research Brief is a transient insight into interesting scientific work.

A national discussion about possible connections between smartphones and digital media and the ongoing mental health crisis amongst teenagers has reached a boiling point.

Research not definitely show that excessive screen time causes anxiety or depression in teenagers, although research remains to be ongoing. Nevertheless, in June 2024, the US Surgeon General called for warning labels to be placed on social media, stating that “the mental health crisis among young people is an emergency – and social media has been shown to be a major factor.”

However, some researchers express concerns that These warnings are too generalYet it is not any wonder that folks feel pressured to do something – anything – to cut back the risks.

Set strict limits on web use by pre-teens and teenage children is a preferred strategyHowever, our research suggests that making a healthy media environment at home may require a more complex and nuanced approach.

We are a gaggle of scientists with a background in psychology, human development, Social Ecology, Pediatrics And Social psychology and education.

Recently, we collaborated on a mixed methods study that examined how parents monitor their middle school-aged children’s Internet use. We found that more restrictive parental monitoring significantly related to problematic Internet usewhile this was not the case for some types of less restrictive surveillance.

Defining acceptable versus problematic web use

There aren’t any hard and fast rules in regards to the maximum variety of hours a baby can spend in front of a screen before it is taken into account unhealthy, but many parents are understandably searching for guidance on what needs to be socially acceptable and healthy use.

Developmentally appropriate use means any use, including use of content and for a time period, that doesn’t interfere with on a regular basis functions resembling completing homework, maintaining real-life social relationships, eating, and getting enough sleep.

“Problematic Internet use“”, on the other hand, is a catch-all term for excessive or risky use, such as secret or impulsive behavior, such as spending a lot of money. In tweens and teens, it is associated with negative effects on physical, social, or emotional well-being, such as depression, lonliness And less time spent with family and friends. This is the type of Internet use that folks want to stop.

The word “associated” is very important here; when two things are associated, it doesn't mean one necessarily causes the opposite. In this case, researchers like us don't know which is the chicken and which is the egg. It could also be that folks of middle school students who struggle with problematic web use usually tend to implement restrictions. Or it could be that implementing restrictions results in problematic web use. Our study simply shows that the 2 are associated. Much more research is required to point out whether one causes the opposite.

How we investigated parental web monitoring

For this study, we distributed online surveys—available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese—via school newsletters and email lists to folks of middle school students within the northeastern United States.

Of the 248 parents who responded to the survey, most reported using multiple strategies. Nearly 85% said they commonly use a restrictive strategy that limits web use to at least one to 6 hours. About 62% said they practice “active monitoring” – that’s, they encourage their children to consult with them about their ongoing digital media use and think critically about its impact on them now and in the long run.

About 29% of oldsters also reported using “respectful policing” strategies, meaning they don’t depend on web restrictions because they consider their children already know enough or are mature enough to avoid problematic digital media use, or because they exhibit trust of their children’s ability to make decisions, often as they grow old.

Next, we conducted in-depth interviews with a smaller and more demographically diverse group of those parents.

We asked them how their children use internet-based technologies resembling smartphones, social media and games. We also asked them how they cope with potentially or actively problematic web use and what influences their monitoring styles – for instance, advice from other parents, school staff or web sites.

After transcribing, sorting, and coding the interviews by themes and subthemes, we found that every one but certainly one of the 31 parents reported using at the least one restrictive strategy. The commonest were controlling device settings—“I restricted the Internet…so she could only visit certain websites that I set up”—and withholding devices: “The deal was he followed the rules or he would lose the phone.” Parents used lively and respectful monitoring strategies less regularly.

Most parents also reported mixed or changing monitoring strategies. Sometimes this was in response to the kid's changing development and social context. Sometimes it was related to folks' uncertainty about how effective their strategies were in stopping problematic Internet use.

Many parents who use restrictive strategies told us they wanted concrete evidence that these approaches were definitely worth the conflict they caused within the household.

However, we found that only restrictive monitoring was significantly related to problematic web use. Children in these families were moody and depressed after they were away from their devices, tended to lose more sleep, and were more withdrawn from their families.

In comparison, lively and respectful monitoring strategies typically weren’t significantly correlated with these problems, although respectful strategies were specifically related to device use during mealtimes.

Why might a stricter approach be less successful?

The advantages of open communication

A well-established body of research shows that family closeness is a robust Predictor for healthy Social Technology useInterestingly, this also applies to Television and older media.

Open and honest parent-child conversations about dangerous online content, sensitive social media situations and more might protect against problematic Internet use. This could also be as a consequence of the kid's willingness to show to their “listening” parents when problems arise.

Building such a relationship might be difficult and time-consuming, and even the closest relationships can't help teens avoid all online problems. But knowing they’ve their parents' support could make a difference.

Because there isn’t any monolithic household scenario that works in every case, a combination of restrictive and fewer restrictive approaches that may support different levels of vulnerability, resembling self-regulation skills, digital distractions, and responses to online drama, can balance the sorts of web monitoring needed throughout the transition from childhood to adolescence. This is when Smartphones and social media change into more central to testing developmental milestones resembling the pursuit of autonomy and peer relationships.

We don’t yet know whether parents who set strict restrictions consider they’ve avoided the necessity for such conversations. This, in turn, could also be related to the extent of emotional bonding and trust between child and parent.

So what can parents do?

In turn there isn’t any uniform approach to administer a baby's web usage.

However, our and other studies suggest that there are multiple paths to success and that families are sometimes in a position to Find out what works best for you.

Parents can encourage their children social support, online partnership and emotional intimacy online Avoiding problematic content, especially in the realm of harmful unrealistic beauty ideals And Hate messagesYou can agree on boundaries that ensure social media doesn’t interfere with sleep or physical activity.

Much research still must be done on how parental monitoring and youngsters's web use affect one another. The query is basically: which is the chicken and which is the egg?

Perhaps parents of middle school students who’re already battling problematic web use are more willing to implement restrictions, or perhaps implementing strict limits will result in problematic web use. Likewise, it’s unclear whether lively or respectful monitoring may help curb problematic web use, or whether these teens are less liable to it anyway.

In order to raised understand the processes surrounding the Internet use of kids and young people, further studies are needed that follow a gaggle of various families over an extended time period.

We consider that such studies are key to improving the standard of evidence-based proposals for fogeys, legislators, pedagogues, Public health communicators, Pediatricians and other healthcare providersAnd Youth development programs what they will do to guard their children’s health.

1. “The Lesbian Guide for Catholic Schools”

In Sonora Reyes' debut novel, a National Book Award finalist, Yami Flores leaves her large Phoenix public school to enroll in a non-public Catholic school after being outed by her former best friend Bianca. She's determined to maintain her identity a secret at her latest school while also stopping her younger brother Cesar from continuously entering into fights. Cesar and Yami are each gay – and keep their identities hidden from one another.

Will their latest friends accept them as they’re? Will their parents still love them? The answers in “The Lesbiana Guide for Catholic Schools“” will surprise each the protagonists and the readers. Reyes handles topics resembling racism, homophobia, immigration and suicidal thoughts with grace and love.

2. “We have the beat”

In “We have the beat“Jordan is an ambitious sophomore who’s hired by the editor of the highschool newspaper to cover the volleyball team. This role is complicated by the proven fact that the team's captain is Jordan's former girlfriend Mackenzie.

They were close until Mackenzie embarrassed Jordan during their freshman yr for reasons Jordan never understood. As the 2 girls spend time together, they rekindle their friendship and Jordan discovers the reality behind Mackenzie's actions from way back. This causes a rift, and Jordan must determine tips on how to cope with it.

Jenna Miller's second novel is a lesbian YA novel wherein the protagonists go from enemies to friends, frenemies to romantic lovers, in a way that reflects the challenges teenagers face of their seek for themselves. The book is exquisitely crafted and captures the connection through humorous and touching storytelling.

3. “I sing with you”

Author Jonny Garza Villa opens “I sing with you”, wherein protagonist Rafael Alvarez has led his highschool’s mariachi band to a different national competition title while meeting and almost dating a cute boy from one other school, Rey Chavez.

But eight months later, his family moves to a different city for his senior yr of highschool, throwing his life into chaos. Rafael has to quit his band and cope with the death of his grandfather. And then there's the opposite complication: the sweet boy he's bonded with is the star of his latest school's mariachi band.

Rafael faces difficult decisions as he competes with Rey for the lead role, despite developing stronger feelings for him. “Canto Contigo” is a loving tribute to Mexican heritage, family ties and the individuals who shape us, while tackling themes of grief, loss and friendship.

4. “Destination unknown”

Micah and CJ are complete opposites, aside from one thing: the 2 teenagers are gay and living in New York City at the peak of the AIDS epidemic. CJ has a robust personality, revels in his gay identity, and is well-known throughout town. Micah is shy and has only recently begun exploring his sexuality. After they get to know one another, CJ becomes Micah's guide to the gay world. Micah is enthusiastic about CJ's charm and fervour, and CJ is enamored by Micah's innocence and emotional honesty.

Falling in love and looking for security will not be necessarily mutually exclusive in Nineteen Eighties New York.”destination unknown“Award-winning author Bill Konigsberg's semi-autobiographical account, inspired by his teenage years in New York, tells the story of two children trying to make sense of their lives without losing them.”

5. “Most Ardently: A Pride and Prejudice Remix”

Oliver Bennet feels constrained, not only by the limitless corsets, petticoats, and dresses he must wear each day, but in addition by society's expectations of him. Everyone around him, including most of his relatives and friends, believes Oliver to be a lady named Elizabeth. He seeks temporary relief by having the ability to sneak away from his household and enterprise out into town, dressed appropriately as a young man. During considered one of these adventures, Oliver meets Darcy, a sullen young lad who was disrespectful to “Elizabeth” at a previous meeting. But as they enjoy their time away from the prying eyes of society, Oliver discovers that Darcy is a form, smart young man who can also be surprisingly charming. As Oliver increasingly embraces his true self, a component of him begins to dream that his fantasy of finding love and a life as a person could turn out to be a reality.

“Most passionateCelebrating the lives of historical LGBTQ+ figures and imagining a hopeful future for the queer community, Gabe Cole Novoa's “” presents a lovely and unexpectedly delightful LGBTQ+ adaptation of the Jane Austen classic.

Social media apps frequently present teenagers with algorithmically chosen content that is commonly described as “for you,” implicitly suggesting that the curated content will not be just “for you,” but in addition “about you”—a mirror that matters Signals in regards to the person you might be are reflected.

All social media users are exposed to those signals, but researchers know that teenagers are too a very malleable stage within the formation of private identity. Scientists have begun to indicate that technology is making progress generation-shaping effectsnot only in the best way it influences cultural attitudes, behavior and privacy, but in addition in the best way it may well shape the personality of those raised on social media.

The spread of the “For You” message raises essential questions on the impact of those algorithms on the best way teenagers see themselves and the world, and the subtle erosion of their privacy that they accept in exchange for that view.

Young people like their algorithmic reflection

Inspired by these questions, my colleagues John Seberger And Afsaneh Razi from Drexel University and I asked: How do young people navigate this algorithmically generated milieu and the way do they recognize themselves within the mirror it presents?

In our qualitative interview study with teenagers aged 13 to 17, we found that personalized algorithmic content appears to convey what teenagers are interpret as a reliable reflection of themselvesand that they really benefit from the experience of seeing this social media reflection.

Teens we spoke to say they like social media that is totally tailored to them and shows what they agree with, what they need to see and subsequently who they’re.

When I seek for something I care about, it shows up as considered one of the highest posts [and] It will show people [like me] That makes for a pleasant discussion.

It seems that the kids we surveyed imagine that social media algorithms like TikTok's have gotten so good that they see reflections of themselves on social media as pretty accurate. So much in order that young individuals are quick to explain content inconsistencies with their self-image as anomalies – for instance, as the results of an inadvertent exposure to previous content or just as a mistake.

At some point I saw something about this show, possibly on TikTok, and interacted with it without really realizing it.

When personalized content isn't engaging or doesn't align with how they see themselves, the kids we surveyed say they scroll past it and hope never to see it again. Even when these perceived anomalies take the shape of extremely hypermasculine or “malicious” content, teenagers don’t attribute this specifically to themselves or claim to search for an evidence in their very own behavior. According to the teenagers in our interviews, the social media mirror neither encourages their self-reflection nor challenges their self-confidence.

One thing that surprised us was that while teens knew that what they see of their For You feed is the product of their scrolling habits on social media platforms, they were largely unaware or unaware ensured that the information collected across apps contributed to this self-image. Regardless, they don't see their For You feed as a challenge to their self-confidence, let alone a risk to their self-identity – or a cause for concern.

Shaping identity

Identity research has made great strides since sociologist Erving Goffman introduced the “Self-presentation” in 1959. He postulated that folks manage their identity through social performance to keep up balance between who they imagine they’re and the best way others perceive them.

When Goffman first proposed his theory, there was no social media interface that might provide a practical mirror of the self as experienced by others. People were obliged to create their very own mosaic picture, composed of multiple sources, encounters and impressions. In recent years, social media suggestion algorithms have inserted themselves into what’s now a three-way negotiation between themselves, the general public, and the social media algorithm.

“For You” offers create a private-public space through which young people can access what they imagine to be a largely accurate test of their self-image. At the identical time, they are saying they will easily ignore it if it doesn't match their self-image.

The pact that teenagers make with social media by sharing personal data and giving up their privacy to secure access to this algorithmic mirror looks like an excellent deal to them. They say they’ve the boldness to cover or scroll over beneficial content that seems contrary to their self-esteem. but research shows otherwise.

In fact, they’ve proven to be extremely vulnerable Self-image distortion and other mental health problems Based on social media algorithms explicitly designed to create and reward hypersensitivities, fixations and dysmorphia – a psychological disorder through which individuals are fixated on their appearance.

Given what researchers find out about it adolescent brain And at this stage of social development—and given what can reasonably be assumed in regards to the malleability of self-image based on social feedback—teenagers are mistaken to think they will overcome the self-identity risks of algorithms.

Interventions

Part of the treatment may very well be to make use of artificial intelligence to develop recent tools to detect unsafe interactions while protecting privacy. Another approach is to assist teenagers take into consideration these “data doubles” they’ve constructed.

My colleagues and I are actually exploring in additional detail how young people experience algorithmic content and what varieties of interventions might help them give it some thought. We encourage researchers in our field to develop ways to challenge the accuracy of algorithms and expose them as behavior somewhat than reality. Another a part of the treatment may very well be providing teens with tools to limit access to their data, including restricting cookies, using different search profiles, and turning off location tracking when using certain apps.

We imagine these are all steps which can be likely to scale back the accuracy of algorithms and create much-needed friction between the algorithm and itself, even when teens usually are not necessarily blissful with the outcomes.

Involve the kids

Recently my colleagues and I conducted one Gen Z workshop with young people Encrypt justice, a world organization of scholars committed to secure and equitable AI. The goal was to higher understand how they consider their lives under algorithms and AI. Gen Zers say they’re concerned but in addition concerned about helping shape their future, including mitigating algorithmic harm. Part of our workshop goal was to attract attention to and encourage youth inquiry into algorithms and their impact.

What researchers are also confronted with is that we actually don't know what it means to always negotiate identity with an algorithm. Many of us who’re teenagers are too old to have grown up in an algorithmically moderated world. For the teenagers we study, there isn’t a “before AI.”

I imagine it’s dangerous to disregard what algorithms do. The future for teenagers could also be one through which society recognizes the unique relationship between teenagers and social media. This means including them within the solutions and at the identical time giving them orientation.

On February 7, 2021, 16-year-old Sammy Berman Chapman was quietly killed in his Santa Monica home. The perpetrator: a Pill containing fentanyl The teenager had made a purchase order on social media.

Now his parents Sam Chapman and Laura Berman are fighting to pass SB 1444 within the California state legislature, often known as the Let Parents Choose Protection Act of 2024 – or Sammy's Law. The bill requires all major social media platforms to enable integration with third-party monitoring software that may notify Parents in case of danger– comparable to drug and firearm sales, mobbing or suicidal thoughts – show up on their children’s accounts.

“If Sammy's Law had been in effect, Sammy would still be alive today,” Laura Berman said, fighting back tears during a committee hearing in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 23. “It won't save Sammy's life, but it won't save my other children. We must die because of the risks of social media and the dangers, the predators and the drug dealers that our children face.”

Sammy's parents had no idea the teenager was talking to 1 Drug dealer on Snapchat and wished they might have monitored his account.

“He (the dealer) delivered a lethal dose of fentanyl to our house after we were asleep like he was delivering pizza,” Chapman said. “Our boy didn’t even have to leave his front yard to get the dose that killed him.”

SB 1444 was authored by state Sen. Henry Stern, D-Calabasas, and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday afternoon, bringing it one step closer to becoming law. Stern didn’t attend the meeting because he was celebrating the Passover holiday, so state Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, introduced the bill on his behalf.

“The level of distress that social media causes among children is persistent, pervasive and severe,” Min said. “Although awareness of these harms has increased in recent years and various legislative efforts have been made, the risk to the Children's health and well-being through social media use. Third-party security software is a proven solution to quickly increase security for young adult social media users.”

Third-party parental control software can already be used on platforms like Reddit and Tumblr. However, most of the most important social media firms – comparable to TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat – don’t allow this software to be integrated into their platforms.

Marc Berkman, CEO of the Organization for Social Media Safety, said that's because major players fear that in the event that they voluntarily allow parental monitoring, their users will migrate to other platforms.

“The problem is that there is a conflict of interest with business motives and security,” he said. “If we create a level playing field, we can give parents access to all the platforms their children use.”

The bill faces opposition from technology industry advocacy groups TechNet and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, in addition to the nonprofit civil rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation.

These groups expressed concerns that third-party monitoring platforms could violate children's privacy and put their data in danger.

“This bill provides very little protection for user data,” TechNet representative Dylan Hoffman said, adding that the bill would require platforms to share minors’ data with “third parties that have not been properly vetted or approved.”

Hoffman also shared concerns that the software would enable invasive surveillance and expose children in unsupportive families to danger from their parents.

Min explained that the bill has already incorporated several guardrails and amendments in response to those concerns.

For example, the monitoring software may not provide parents with details about their children's reproductive decisions or the gender and sexual identity. The bill also requires minors to learn if their parents resolve to make use of this software.

Finally, any third-party monitoring software must register with the Attorney General's Office, submit audits for review by the Attorney General's Office, and lose its right to do business within the state if it inappropriately discloses a minor's information.

“The writer’s office wanted me to emphasize that it remains committed to working with the committee, its staff and the opposition to address any concerns about children’s privacy and data security,” Min said.

Chapman and Berman are also advocating for a federal version of Sammy's Law, H.R. 5778, authored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz of Florida. Earlier this yr, they joined a gaggle of 20 grieving parents who traveled to D.C. to advocate on social media for the law and other bills to guard children.

If the federal version of Sammy's Law fails, Chapman hopes the California bill will prevail and have far-reaching impact.

“We hope that when you vote at the state level, it will be harder for the platforms to function with a patchwork of government protections — they can't tell who's in California and who's in Nevada — and so they have to make the choice.” “We will adopt the most restrictive law and apply it across the country,” Chapman said.

Chapman isn’t naïve in believing that a state law could spur national change. Stricter consumer and environmental regulations enacted in California have often led to firms adopting these standards across America.

In fact, this phenomenon is so common that political scientists have given it a reputation: the “California Effect.”

SB 1444 will now move to the Senate Appropriations Committee after which, if approved, to a 3rd vote within the Senate after which to the Assembly for a final vote.

“I would fall to my knees,” Sam Chapman said, describing how he would feel if the bill became law. “Just the thought of it chokes me up. I mean it would protect millions of children.”