All posts tagged: Kids

Kids’ Content Is Deeply Broken. A New Platform Wants to Fix It

Kids’ Content Is Deeply Broken. A New Platform Wants to Fix It

Published by skeptic

If you have young kids or if you know somebody who does, then you know about YouTube’s AI slop problem. Videos targeted at children on the platform are often filled with bizarre and hyperstimulating content that’s AI generated. Not all of it is age-appropriate. These videos autoplay on endless, algorithmically curated streams punctuated by ads. Maka, a new streaming app for kids aged 0 to 6, is positioning itself as an antidote to that concern. The platform has zero ads, doesn’t allow autoplay or endless scrolling, and its algorithms intentionally do not maximize watch time. The company’s cofounder and chief product officer Tanyella Leta tells WIRED the platform is purposely abandoning the mechanisms that “turn children’s media into an engagement machine.” Maka’s CEO and cofounder Isabel Sheinman adds that a lot of the streamers were built to serve adults, not children. “Kids were really the afterthought,” she says. Sheinman wants to set a much higher bar for what quality looks like in children’s media, which she says has been warped by harmful incentives. “Maka was …

cool kids are writing in all lowercase now. does that make you mad?

cool kids are writing in all lowercase now. does that make you mad?

Published by skeptic

“i’m willing to believe that [using lowercase] is more deliberately aestheticized among young women on tumblr,” says adam aleksic, an internet linguist who goes by etymologynerd, “but none of the mega online communities use regular punctuation.” he and i are talking at a swanky coffee shop in soho, where he’s finishing up research on why the r-word is making a comeback. to make his point, etymologynerd pulls up 4chan on his phone and starts scrolling. among the rancid all-lowercase musings, i notice a plethora of greater-than signs, angle brackets, and asterisks. because 4chan doesn’t support—has never supported—rich text (italicization, bolding, etc.), users also employ text-markup conventions: *yes* for yes, /i/hell no/i/ as hell no, etc. while many may contend that writing in lowercase is a callback to one’s youth, sites like 4chan remind us that, at least within the digital sphere, the callback goes back much further and is part of a larger tradition. “lower case? it started with single-case tty model 33. now, it is habit,” ken thompson writes, in lowercase, in an email …

Parents Who Raise Rude Kids Usually Avoid Saying 6 Phrases In Everyday Conversations

Parents Who Raise Rude Kids Usually Avoid Saying 6 Phrases In Everyday Conversations

Published by Jenni Sidey

Kids imitate parents. When their parents say something funny, they will copy it, even if it’s a naughty word or something they don’t understand. It’s no surprise, then, that parents who raise rude kids most likely are rude themselves, sometimes without even realizing. Parents who raise well-mannered, empathetic children tend to rely on intentional language and actions. Parents who raise rude children may not be doing it on purpose, but they are just not as intentional with their choices. Along with allowing rudeness from their kids, parents who raise unkind kids also avoid saying a few important things themselves.  Parents who raise rude kids usually avoid saying 6 phrases in everyday conversations 1. ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong’ Teaching kids accountability is one of the most important parts of parenting, and it’s most effective when the parents model accountability themselves.  People who raise rude children usually fail to apologize to their kids or even in front of them. Skipping apologies teaches your kids that you never have to apologize in life.  Psychologist Mari Wallace, LCSW …

Meet Susan Dell’s kids who will inherit 8 billion fortune

Meet Susan Dell’s kids who will inherit $278 billion fortune

Published by Daniella Wilson

Michael and Susan’s son Zach followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the tech world after studying psychology and economics at the University of Southern California.  His passion for technology and business started early, and he founded the dating app Thread in 2013. The app was only available for students from the University of Texas to use, and had an emphasis on dating for love. “I heard ‘no’ a lot,” he told Total Frat Move about the fundraising process for the app.  “Early on, it was tough to convince investors to roll the dice on an 18-year-old kid, but after a while, word started to spread that I was the real deal, and some of the top investors in the industry were willing to hop on board.” While Michael didn’t invest in Zach’s company per his request, the duo are still “extremely close”, as he told Silicon Hills News. “When I started asking him about starting his business and what it meant to be an entrepreneur, he started telling me more and more. He would …

Kids Whose Parents Rarely Comforted Them Usually Carry 7 Habits Into Adulthood

Kids Whose Parents Rarely Comforted Them Usually Carry 7 Habits Into Adulthood

Published by Jenni Sidey

Unfortunately, some parents don’t give their kids reassurance when they need it. For their development, kids need a supportive and safe environment, but when parents rarely comfort them, they take unhealthy habits into adulthood. 7 habits kids carry into adulthood when their parents rarely comforted them growing up: 1. They wish others noticed how they feel Liza Summer | Pexels Being given little to no comfort as a child can result in a person lacking emotional support as an adult. They don’t want to feel like a burden to others but desire comfort deep down. So, they often want someone to notice they’re down and to cheer them up. For once in their life, they want another person to offer comfort. But the problem is that as a child, their parents’ emotional neglect taught them that feeling comforted was a bad thing. RELATED: Kids Raised By Truly Narcissistic Parents Often Carry 13 Habits Into Adulthood 2. They deal with their struggles alone When people have emotionally neglectful parents but have other people who love them, …

7 Traits Kids Who Got Praised For Being The Easy Child Still Have As Adults

7 Traits Kids Who Got Praised For Being The Easy Child Still Have As Adults

Published by Jenni Sidey

Whether a child is really well-behaved or feels pressured to never get into trouble, they’ll probably be told how great they are for being so easy, and that will leave an unexpected mark. Stressed parents are focused on problems, and they can easily overlook children who don’t cause problems without meaning to. This teaches easy kids to develop traits that make them feel like less of a burden no matter how old they are. Kids who were praised for being the easy child of the family tend to have these traits as adults 1. They try their best to avoid conflict urbazon from Getty Images Signature via Canva Adults think they’re doing a good thing when they praise kids for being easy, but it can actually invalidate their emotions in a way that’s totally unintentional. It’s like they’re telling them that they’re most likable when they’re happy. Then those kids tend to think they’re doing something wrong when they get upset. Even when it’s perfectly reasonable for them to push back against someone else’s opinion …

6 Habits Kids Raised By Parents Who Never Asked Them Questions Carry Into Adulthood

6 Habits Kids Raised By Parents Who Never Asked Them Questions Carry Into Adulthood

Published by Jenni Sidey

Kids who grew up in homes where their parents hardly ever asked them questions missed out on important vocabulary and language lessons. They developed habits to compensate, and those habits followed them into adulthood. Language is an important part of a kid’s brain development, and research has shown that it’s directly linked to talking to their parents. What’s wild is, the more words they use and the more questions parents ask, the greater their kids’ vocabulary. Unfortunately, phone use is putting a serious dent in this statistic because instead of talking, everyone is distracted by their screens. Habits kids whose parents never asked them questions brought with them as they grew up: 1. They doubt themselves PeopleImages | Shutterstock Children learn by asking questions and talking things through, and parents can learn what children really want from them by asking questions back. It’s an important exchange of information.  Clinical psychologist Lisa Damour told CNBC that the most valuable question parents should be asking their children is, “Do you want my help or do you just need to …

Beyond ‘Make This Go Away’: Kids and Mental Health

Beyond ‘Make This Go Away’: Kids and Mental Health

Published by Jenni Sidey

“She has no idea how to navigate this.” “He is so overwhelmed, he doesn’t know how to navigate this.” Whether we are talking about kids who are wired to feel things more intensely, or any child caught in a tough moment, often the first place kids land with their emotions is confusion and discomfort. And hey, isn’t that where we all land first? But here’s what happens next for kids: They feel like there is nothing they can do but wait until the feeling goes away. They turn to us in their distress with the unspoken request: “Make this go away.” And of course, as parents, we want our kids to feel better, and we can and we should. But there’s a deeper way to do that than distracting or fixing things, and that is: helping our kids understand themselves better. Toward Is Forward: We Have to Go There With Our Kids So They Can Learn the Way Our most fundamental direction as parents: Toward is forward. Rather than steering our kids away from whatever …

Free-Range Kids Who Grew Up With Very Few Rules Struggle With 7 Things As Adults

Free-Range Kids Who Grew Up With Very Few Rules Struggle With 7 Things As Adults

Published by Jenni Sidey

Children who grew up with very few rules may look back on their free-range childhood as a time when they could do almost anything they wanted, but as adults, they realize they also needed guidance.  Walking to school on their own, or simply not having anything on their schedule, wasn’t necessarily a problem when they were kids, but as they grew up, certain traits they developed often began to cause issues as adults. These struggles may feel familiar to adults who remember having plenty of freedom and (very) little guidance as kids. Free-range kids who grew up with very few rules may struggle with these 7 things as adults: 1. They struggle with self-discipline Kids who had a lot of freedom as children, with little supervision, often struggle with self-discipline as adults. Permissive parenting is a parenting style in which parents may be very loving toward their children, but they set few rules or expectations. This might mean buying a toy after saying no or letting a teenager ignore their curfew without following up. The …

Kids Who Are Deeply Loved By Their Grandparents Usually Carry 6 Memories For The Rest Of Their Lives

Kids Who Are Deeply Loved By Their Grandparents Usually Carry 6 Memories For The Rest Of Their Lives

Published by Jenni Sidey

When grandparents truly love their grandchildren unconditionally, they prioritize making memories together. Grandparents are such a special thing, and are there for their grandkids from the moment they’re born. They offer support and spoil them endlessly, but they also create lifelong memories in childhood that they carry into the rest of their lives. 6 memories kids remember for life when they are deeply loved by their grandparents: 1. Special holiday traditions Mikhail Nilov | Pexels Deeply loving grandparents often create little traditions, especially when the holidays arrive. Maybe you have a grandmother who always baked her secret recipe pumpkin rolls every Thanksgiving. Or on Halloween, your grandparents invited you over so you could surprise them in your costume. These traditions may seem perfectly ordinary, but they have a special place in your heart. And even though you’re no longer a kid, you continue these traditions to honor your grandparents, looking back on lovely memories. As psychologist Michele L. Brennan said, “Holiday traditions are an important part to building a strong bond between family, and our …