Children and Media

House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) and Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12) announced a Dec 3 hearing titled Legislative Solutions to Protect Children and Teens Online. The hearing will focus on the following bills:

Worried about too many screens in the classroom, a small but growing number of parents are getting so fed up they’re switching to low-tech private schools — or even pulling their kids out and opting to homeschool them, analog style.

Common Sense Media released a comprehensive risk assessment finding that AI chatbots are fundamentally unsafe for teen mental health support.

The volatile combination of kids and chatbots has already started to galvanize lawmakers and advocates. Worried that beguiling AI “companions” could push impressionable youth to harm themselves or withdraw from human relationships, they’re racing to put guardrails around the nascent industry. But that could be a far deeper problem—and far harder to solve—than the current bills envision.

On November 17, 2025, NetChoice filed a lawsuit against Virginia in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to stop SB 854. This new law, set to go into effect on January 1, 2026, bars Virginians’ access to valuable, lawful speech simply because it happens online. Citizens will have to hand over their sensitive documentation to access digital services.

Cox Mobile surveyed a sample of U.S. teens, seniors, and members of the sandwich generation to learn more about their online habits and safety concerns. Key findings show that while all generations face digital threats, the sandwich generation bears the greatest burden, with 86 percent saying managing online safety for their children and parents adds stress to their life. 

As today’s parents navigate the challenges of raising a child, many are turning to online spaces where fellow parents share their experiences. One such space is the r/Parenting community on Reddit. It is the largest community for parents on the site, with more than 8 million members as of November 2025. To better understand the discussions about parenting that take place online, we examined six months of user submissions and comments on the r/Parenting subreddit. We also conducted a survey of U.S.

The nationwide push to protect kids from AI chatbots is entering a new frontier: adults. OpenAI was recently hit with seven lawsuits claiming that ChatGPT led users to lose touch with reality, which in some cases resulted in suicide. All but one of the alleged victims were adults. The lawsuits represent a new, murkier front for lawmakers and Big Tech in the national argument about the harms and risks of chatbots.

The MAGA populists who made breaking up Big Tech their rallying cry are losing momentum under President Trump's full-throated embrace of AI and cozy relations with the tech industry. The Trump administration would rather scrap regulations than create new ones in the age of AI, blunting whatever bipartisan unity remained around curbing tech's power. "The uncharitable read is these executives have just cozied up to the White House and are pulling the strings, and that's why there's been this shift," said Brad Littlejohn, director of programs at conservative populist think tank American Compas

The City Assembly of Toyoake, Japan, a city with 68,000 residents, recently introduced a rule limiting the use of digital devices to two hours per day outside of work and school. The idea was introduced by mayor Masafumi Kouki. He’s grown concerned that residents, particularly children, have become addicted to digital devices. The new law has no penalties for exceeding the 2-hour limit, and the government will not be tracking cellphone and tablet usage.