HB Woodlawn PAC Meeting Notes: February 17, 2026

Thank you so much to Dr. Katia Fredriksen, a pediatric neuropsychologist, for presenting “Social Media – What Parents Should Know” at the February PAC meeting. Dr. Fredriksen works at the Stixrud Group in Silver Spring, MD and McLean, VA. She is also an author, with her colleague, of the Different Thinkers children’s book series. For more information visit: neuropsychmoms.com or stixrud.com/staff/katia-fredriksen.

Full presentation

Social Media Guidance for Parents:

1. Talk about it:

• Listen, validate, share concerns, reflect, educate, and provide data.
• Topics to cover:
• Never send nude pictures of yourself
• Don’t post anything on social media/online that you wouldn’t want announced on a loudspeaker at your school
• Don’t share information about your identity online or while gaming
• Don’t assume that texts or Snapchats are private
• Ask parents first about bodies/sex rather than searching online
• Remember that your time is valuable

2. When to start?

• On average, U.S. kids get their 1st smartphone around age 11, and almost 40% of kids age 10-12 use social media.
• Recent international research indicates a big difference in mental health outcomes depending on whether a child receives a smartphone at 12 versus 13.
• Dr. Twenge and many other researchers advise:
  -no social media until 16 or later
  -no smartphone until 16 or later (basic phones earlier)
  -avoid giving kids their own tablet or gaming console
• While likely to be highly unpopular, it’s never too late to make changes based on scientific advances! Consider cigarettes
  -parental controls
  -deleting apps/features
  -switching to flip phone

3. Set rules

• Develop a clear family media contract and stick to consequences
  ○ having a phone is a privilege, not a right
  ○ different families, different rules
• Protecting sleep is key
  ○ no screens for an hour before bed or in the bedroom overnight
  ○ family charging station
  ○ parental controls to shut down from bedtime through wake-up time
• Establish phone-free hours and spaces, and model good screen use
  ○ dinner time, vacation, etc.
  ○ if needed, use productivity apps during homework

4. Monitor

• Set up parental controls – via operating system and/or third-party software
  ○ don’t download apps without permission
  ○ set time limits, and set controls for night-time, school
  ○ block inappropriate websites/social media
• Periodically check texts, browser history
  ○ pornography, cyber bullying, self-harm, disordered eating, toxic ideologies, etc
• Game with your kids
  ○ See what’s motivating them
  ○ 1-1 time

Additional Resources:

• “10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High Tech World, by Jean Twenge
• Common Sense Media
• Be Internet Awesome, by Google
• Family Online Safety Institute, www.fosi.org
• “Good Picture, Bad Pictures,” by Kristen Jenson
• “Slaying Digital Dragons,” by Alex Packer”
• Adolescence; The Social Dilemma; Screenagers – show, movies