IN THE NEWS
News Worth Knowing 🔥
📱 Apple's New Parental Controls Are Here | iOS 27 brings a redesigned Screen Time, an “Ask to Browse” approval before kids open a new website, and expanded Communication Safety that can blur detected nudity, gore, and violent content. These tools aren't a guarantee that kids will never encounter explicit content—which is why understanding the settings matters. For more information, go to Parent ProTech’s Apple Family Sharing materials here.
⚖️ Meta Settles Youth-Safety Case for ~$18 Billion | Multiple states, and some changes coming to how teens use Instagram and Facebook. More on what it means for your family and school below. ⬇️ Source: NPR
💛 988 Is Saving Young Lives | For Suicide Prevention Month, some real hope: a new study links the 988 Lifeline to roughly 4,400 fewer suicide deaths among teens and young adults than projected in its first two-and-a-half years. Source: PBS
THE INTERVIEW
A message from the U.S. Surgeon General 🎙️
“The best memories in life are not on screens.”
Our Co-Founder and CEO, Brock Murphy, sat down with Acting U.S. Surgeon General Stephanie E. Haridopolos, MD, DABFM, for an honest conversation about how screens are shaping childhood—and what families can actually do about it.
They unpacked the Surgeon General’s Harms of Screen Use Advisory, what current research tells us (including alarming myopia/nearsightedness rates), and the questions we’re still learning how to answer. They also explored three forces reshaping childhood right now: screen time, social media, and AI.
A few takeaways worth sitting with:
Screen time hours don’t tell the whole story. It's also worth asking what screen use may be replacing: sleep, movement, creativity, learning, nature, family time, and real-world relationships.
AI is changing the conversation. AI companion chatbots and other emerging technologies are creating new questions for parents around safety, relationships, and healthy technology use.
Replacing habits can work better than simply removing them. Instead of only asking, “How do we get them off the screen?” consider, “What can we help them do instead?”
Parents set the tone. Modeling healthier technology habits at home can be one of the most practical ways to help children build their own relationship with technology.
Our goal isn't to create fear or eliminate every screen. It's to give you clearer information, practical tools, and the confidence to make choices that work for your family.
WHAT IT MEANS
Meta's $18B Settlement, for Families & Schools 🏫
Last month, Meta agreed to an almost $18 billion settlement with states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict young users. The agreement will bring new limits and safety protections to teen accounts.
For parents: A default two-hour daily limit, an overnight midnight–6 a.m. block, and other safety changes are coming to teen accounts. The two-hour limit can be turned off with parental permission.
The takeaway: New defaults are a floor, not a finish line. Use this as a reason to revisit your family's own technology expectations.
Need help setting up parental controls? Parent ProTech's parent guides walk you through the settings that matter most.
MORE THAN SCREEN TIME
A Note for Suicide Prevention Month 💛
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Amid all the headlines about apps and settings, the most protective thing in any child's life is still a trusted adult who checks in. If your child needs someone right now, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7 (call or text 988).
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