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Social media’s risks and rewards for kids

Danny LaBrecque is the creator and host of the children's show, Danny Joe's Treehouse. He also created Cookies for Breakfast for grown ups, where he explores the impact of social media on kids through conversations with media pioneers and educators. Credit: Stefani LaBrecque
Danny LaBrecque is the creator and host of the children's show, Danny Joe's Treehouse. He also created Cookies for Breakfast for grown ups, where he explores the impact of social media on kids through conversations with media pioneers and educators. Credit: Stefani LaBrecque

It’s documented that using social media -- the scrolling, the likes, the shares -- is addictive and seductive. If that’s its effect on adults, what about young kids?

Dr. Drew Pate, chief of psychiatry at LifeBridge Health, talks about the different ways social media influences the minds and moods of children.

Then Danny LaBrecque, creator of ‘Danny Joe's Tree House’ and ‘Cookies for Breakfast,’ says he’s wary of platforms that have plans to aim content at pre-teens. But he believes the control of a medium has more to do with education and intent than rules and regulations, “Whether it’s a stick, or a stone, or a smartphone, there are all these tools. We decide how to use these tools, not the other way around.”

Original air date: October 21, 2021.

Links: Danny Joe's Tree House, Cookies for Breakfast

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'