Evolving Online Safety from Childhood to Adulthood with Amanda Lenhart

Larry hosts Amanda Lenhart to discuss her newest study for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, where kids and parents used playful activities to surface challenges and brainstorm solutions for managing technology at home.Lenhart explains a key takeaway: digital parenting is cyclical—families repeatedly research, adopt, “unbox,” and then continually manage devices as children mature and new tools arrive—creating exhaustion but also building experience parents can reuse. They compare tech safety to car safety (airbags, seat belts, car seats), arguing for stronger safety-by-design defaults alongside optional fine-grained controls.They discuss shifting risks, moral panics, rapid tech change, platform incentives, social media age bans, and the importance of respectful, ongoing conversations focused on maturity signals, balance, and scaffolding kids toward independent digital adulthood.00:00 Welcome to Doing Tech00:29 Meet Amanda Lenhart01:05 Inside the Cooney Study01:40 Playful Co Design Methods03:18 Why Younger Kids Matter06:27 Joan Ganz Cooney Center07:25 Parenting Tech Cycle11:29 Exhausted Parents Burden14:01 Safety by Design Defaults16:38 How Tech Has Changed17:49 Perjuvenile and Risk Fears19:14 Media Narratives vs Data21:34 Meta Verdict Turning Point22:22 Why Change Fails Inside Big Tech25:20 Tech Change Outpaces Research26:41 Parent Talks Not Lectures27:48 Maturity Signals For Devices 29:37 Holding The Line With Teens32:15 Bans And Digital Adulthood33:26 Australia Under 16 Ban35:26 Youth Pushback And Analog Trends38:40 From Attention To Attachment AI43:04 Parent Advice Balance Over Bans45:31 Neurodivergent Kids And Gaming Wins46:35 Closing Thoughts And Optimism