In a recent MPR News article, health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee profiles Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, an organization that advocates for children and families. Speaking with her, Rodrigues raised concerns about children’s growing interactions with AI chatbots, including her own son’s experience with a chatbot in his Bible app. She noted that many parents are uneasy about chatbots positioning themselves as children’s “best friends” and encouraging kids to share personal information.
Chatterjee reports that psychologists and online safety advocates share Rodrigues’ concerns, about chatbot use on children’s social development and mental health. Despite these risks, a Pew Research Center found that chatbot use is already widespread: 64% of American teens use chatbots, and nearly 30% say they use them daily.
In an interview with MPR News, Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician and researcher of adolescent digital media use at the University of California San Francisco, explained:
It’s a very new technology. It’s ever changing and there’s not really best practices for youth yet. So, I think there are more opportunities now for risks because we’re still kind of guinea pigs in the whole process. It is a period when teens are more vulnerable to lots of different exposures, whether it’s peers or computers.
Below, Chatterjee lists some of the ways Dr. Nagata and other psychologists believe parents can help minimize these kinds of risks for their children.
- Beware of risks: A new report reveals that 42% of adolescents use AI chatbots for companionship, leading to concerning interactions involving violence and sex. Psychologists warn that prolonged chatbot use hinders social skill development and poses mental health risks, including AI psychosis and suicide ideation.
- Stay engaged with kids: Parents should have open, frequent, and non-judgmental conversations with their children about the technology they use and the content they encounter. These conversations should be open-ended to encourage children to share any problems they encounter.
- Digital literacy: Parents and children should research the benefits and pitfalls of generative AI together, as chatbots can be helpful but also make errors. It’s important to teach children to be skeptical, fact-check, and verify information from other sources, says a psychologist Jacqueline Nesi at Brown University.
- Parental control: Children using AI chatbots should have their own accounts to enable parental controls, as there are numerous platforms they might be using, Nesi told. Open dialogue is crucial for parents to stay informed.
- Time limit: Nagata advises setting boundaries on children’s digital technology use, particularly at night, to prevent sleep disruption from engaging generative AI conversations. Parents should also set time limits or restrict content if overuse or misuse occurs.
- Seek help: Children struggling with mental health or social skills are more vulnerable to the risks of chatbots, which can exacerbate loneliness and isolation, suggests Dr. Nesi. Parents should monitor for warning signs of poor mental health, such as withdrawal from friends and family, and seek professional help if needed.
Finally, Nagata acknowledged that not only parents but the government have an important role to play in children’s lives. Recently, US lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation to ban tech companies from offering companion apps for minors and hold companies accountable for apps that produce or solicit sexual content for minors.
Acknowledgement: This summary was generated using AI writing tools as part of my experimental learning process. For more information, please refer to the original articles listed below.