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A throwback to our DigitalParenthood Summit back in June! NYT Best-Selling Author and Clinical Psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy sat down with award-winning, Emmy-nominated journalist Poppy Harlow at o...
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Today's AI chatbots have come a long way from simple question-and-answer programs. These advanced systems can now generate conversations that feel remarkably like real relationships. Many are even ma...
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Our latest "Tech/Life Balance" resources are now available to the DigitalParenthood community! The first installment in our series is focused on social-emotional health and gives parents the tools...
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Understanding Your Child’s Digital Social Activity
How Digital Social Activity Changes Over Time: What Parents Should Know Teenagers' digital lives are more complex than ever before. Unlike in the past when requests for rides, borrowing the car, or to have friends over gave parents a good pulse on their teen’s social connection, in the digital era, teens can be in the exact same spot in the house, doing the exact same thing (looking at their phones), and their social worlds can be rapidly changing. To make things even harder for parents, there is no one-size-fits-all for online social connection. Some teens are more active online, while others prefer a more selective, quieter presence. The question many parents face is not just how much time their teen is spending online, but whether these digital habits are supporting their well-being or potentially causing harm. As a parent, it can be difficult to know when those changes are a normal part of growing up or something that requires attention. In this article, we’ll explore Aura’s approach to tracking digital social activity, why understanding sustained changes in behavior matters, and how Aura’s Digital Social Personas help parents gain a personalized, dynamic view of their teen’s online interactions. How Aura Tracks Social Behavior Changes: Understanding the Shifts Social activity isn’t just about how much time a teen spends on apps, but about understanding how and why those behaviors change. Aura doesn’t just track the amount of time your teen spends on social platforms—it looks at their broader patterns and how those patterns evolve over time. The key to understanding teen social behavior lies in identifying meaningful shifts in activity rather than just daily fluctuations. For example, a teen might start engaging more online because they’ve joined a new social group, or perhaps they’re trying out a new platform or app. On the other hand, a decrease in activity could reflect a retreat from socializing due to stress, changes in peer relationships, or other underlying emotional factors. Aura looks at a variety of behaviors to build a holistic profile of your teen’s digital social habits, including things like total time spent on social apps, time spent messaging versus viewing or scrolling through content, and how long and frequent they’re on different social apps. These behaviors are continuously tracked over time, creating a personalized social persona of digital activity. By looking at trends over time, Aura can detect significant changes in activity that might indicate a shift in your teen’s digital social engagement. This brings us to how Aura captures these shifts through its AI-powered approach. How It Works: Understanding Your Teen’s Digital Social Persona Aura takes an AI-powered approach to track your teen’s social activity, taking into account multiple aspects of their online behavior to create a personalized digital social persona. This approach doesn’t just track the amount of time spent on social apps—it looks at how your teen is spending that time. Some teens might engage heavily by messaging friends, while others may spend more time scrolling through content without engaging much in direct conversation. By tracking these behaviors over time, Aura learns what’s typical for your child and detects when and what types of changes occur. Aura identifies six digital social personas based on how teens engage with their digital spaces. These personas range from teens who primarily use just a few social apps, but when they do go on a social app, they are largely hoping on to send a message (The “Focused Texter”) to teens who use a variety of apps, for longer periods of time and largely spend that time viewing content (The “Social Scroller”) or spending a lot of time sending messages (The “Social Maven”). What makes this approach truly powerful is its ability to identify meaningful shifts even when teens may appear to be doing the same thing. For example, two teens could spend the same amount of time on social apps, but one might be spending more time scrolling through content while the other is actively messaging friends. While these may seem like similar behaviors at first glance, the AI-powered personas can highlight these differences, helping parents understand how their teen’s social behavior and connection is evolving. How to Interpret Shifts in Social Behavior Shifts in your child’s social behavior could reflect changes in mood, stress, or peer relationships. Here’s how to assess these shifts: Increased Social Activity: A rise in digital engagement can signal healthy social growth, like new friendships or positive interests. However, if this increase involves longer sessions or more screen time, it’s worth checking whether their online interactions are replacing offline connections and to ensure those digital connections feel positive to them. Decreased Social Activity: A decline in social activity might point to emotional changes or peer conflict. It could also suggest a desire for more offline socializing. If the drop in activity continues, it may signal challenges like stress, anxiety, or social withdrawal. Look for context—is there a life event (e.g., a school change, new friendships, or hobbies) that could explain the trend? Daily fluctuations are normal, but if the change persists for more than 14 days, it may be time to check in with your child. Tips for Parents: Supporting Healthy Digital Socialization While tracking social behavior is important, it’s even more critical to know how to respond in a way that supports your teen’s well-being. Here are some tips on how to approach social behavior changes: Encourage Open Communication: When you notice a shift in your teen’s online behavior, approach the conversation with curiosity, not judgment. For example, "I noticed you’re spending more time on social apps lately—what’s been exciting?" or "I saw you’ve been taking a break from messaging—anything on your mind?" Understand the Context: Changes in social behavior can be linked to real-life events. It could be a new friendship, a stressor like school pressure, or even a hobby that’s taking up their time. Ask questions to uncover the reasons behind the change. Balance is Key: Not all teens are the same. Some thrive on constant online interaction, while others prefer more selective, less frequent engagement. Focus on what’s typical for your teen and check in if something feels different. Model Balanced Social Behavior: Share how you manage your own online interactions with your child. Modeling healthy social habits helps reinforce the importance of balance. Aura’s insights allow you to see the bigger picture, not just isolated behaviors, making it easier to support your teen without micromanaging their every move.From Sleep to Social: Measuring What Matters in Your Child’s Digital Wellbeing
Technology is deeply woven into our kids’ lives—from schoolwork and socializing to entertainment and relaxation. As parents, it’s easy to wonder: Is my child’s screen time healthy? Is it supporting or interfering with their well-being? The reality is, screen time alone doesn’t tell the whole story. A child who spends hours online researching a passion project is engaging differently than one endlessly scrolling out of boredom. A teen who socializes primarily through group chats might not need as much face-to-face time as their peers. Context matters. That’s why Aura goes beyond simple screen-time limits. Instead of just measuring hours, we track patterns of digital behavior—helping parents understand not just how much time is spent on devices, but how that time impacts sleep, daytime activity, and social engagement. This article explores the three key areas Aura measures—sleep, daytime device use, and social activity—to help families build healthier digital habits without unnecessary stress. Why These Three Areas Matter When it comes to digital well-being, research consistently points to a few key factors that influence mental and physical health: Quality sleep – Poor sleep is linked to increased stress, difficulty focusing, and emotional regulation challenges. Device use can interfere with sleep, but healthy habits can also support it. Balanced daytime activity – Screen time that replaces movement, in-person socializing, or creative engagement can contribute to higher anxiety and difficulty focusing. Healthy social engagement – Digital social habits change over time. A sudden drop-off or spike in activity might reflect changes in a child’s well-being. Aura tracks how device behaviors influence these areas over time, giving parents a more complete picture of their child’s digital habits. Sleep: The Foundation of Well-Being We all know sleep is important, but for teens, it’s critical. Sleep regulates mood, helps with stress management, and is essential for academic performance. Yet research shows that most teens aren’t getting enough sleep—often due to late-night screen use. Devices can interfere with sleep in three key ways: Total Sleep Time (TST) – Teens need 8–10 hours of sleep per night, but late-night scrolling or gaming can reduce the time available for rest. Sleep Regularity – An inconsistent sleep schedule (staying up late some nights, or waking up early on other days) can throw off the body’s circadian rhythm and influence wellbeing. Sleep Fragmentation – Frequent nighttime notifications or the habit of checking a phone in the middle of the night can interrupt deep sleep, making it less restorative. How Aura Helps Aura measures Sleep window—the total offline time a child has at night—to assess whether screen time is cutting into total sleep time. Device downtime habits— when screens are used before bed and in the morning—to assess whether device downtime habits are supportive of a regular sleep schedule. Overnight usage—how often and for how long your child is using their device during sleep hours–to assess whether online usage is encouraging more sleep fragmentation. This provides parents with insights into whether screen habits are supporting or disrupting sleep—without needing to track every bedtime. Daytime Device Use: Finding Balance Screen time isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it supports learning, connection, and entertainment. But problems arise when long, uninterrupted sessions or excessive daily use replace essential offline activities like movement, socializing, and creative play. Rather than focusing on strict screen-time limits, research suggests looking at what screen time is displacing—a concept known as displacement theory. How Aura Helps Aura tracks: Long Sessions – Any screen use lasting over two hours without a break, which may contribute to screen fatigue, difficulty shifting between tasks, and reduced movement. Total Screen Time – A child’s daily screen time is assessed to see if it’s within a range that allows for offline activities like exercise, socializing, and sleep. By monitoring these trends over 14 days, Aura helps parents recognize patterns—like whether their child is taking enough breaks or if screen use may be starting to replace important offline activities. Social Activity: Not Just How Much, But How It Changes For teens, social connection is everything. Technology has made it easier than ever to stay connected—but it’s also introduced new complexities. Some kids socialize constantly online, while others engage in brief, focused interactions. Neither is necessarily a concern—what matters is whether their usual patterns shift. A sudden drop-off in social activity might indicate stress, isolation, or changes in friendships. A significant increase could mean excitement over a new community—or it could reflect pressure to stay constantly connected. How Aura Helps Rather than tracking individual messages, Aura looks at high-level social trends: Social Persona – Aura uses an AI powered approach to identify how kids fall into six digital social personas based on their engagement patterns, like session length, app diversity, and messaging frequency on social apps. Baseline vs. Change Over Time – Aura then assesses what’s typical for your child and helps you identify changes in their baseline, or typical way of interacting online. Highlighting Trends, Not Individual Activity – Parents see changes in social engagement levels, not private conversations, ensuring parents are aware of important changes to spot early warning signs to check in, while kids maintain their privacy. How Parents Can Use This Information Understanding digital habits isn’t about control—it’s about guiding kids toward healthy tech use. Here are some practical ways parents can use Aura’s insights: Look for patterns, not single data points – A late night on their phone or a high-screen-time day isn’t always a concern. Consistent trends over time are what matter. Encourage curiosity – Instead of enforcing strict limits, ask: What’s your favorite part about being online? What’s the hardest? Trying to understand their experience and approaching the conversation with curiosity can help you find boundaries that support your family’s needs. Focus on balance, not just reducing screen time – The goal isn’t to eliminate screen use, but rather scaffold teens toward screen usage that supports their wellbeing and is complimentary to other positive offline experiences. Aura gives parents the information they need to have better conversations, not tighter restrictions—helping families build healthier digital habits together.
Stay safe when chatting online: a guide for parents and families
These situations almost always involved a hypothetical stranger approaching us in person, which definitely makes it easier to identify if you know someone or not. Today, though, parents and kids have to navigate a different stranger danger: online strangers. It's a lot harder to tell if the person your kids are talking to online is who they say they are—and what their motivations might be. Luckily, many of the people your kids meet online through games and chats will be perfectly harmless. But it's still a good idea to talk to your kids about online safety—and when it is or isn't okay to chat with someone they don't know. Is it bad to chat with strangers online? Online communication with strangers isn’t an inherently bad thing. When kids play or chat together online, they can improve their communication skills, get to know people who differ from them, and have new experiences together. But this is only the case if your kids are chatting online with other young people—and doing so in an age-appropriate manner, too. Playing an online game with a real-world friend and chatting with their other friends as a result is a potentially safe experience—kind of like going to a classmate’s sleepover and meeting their friends from church or summer camp. Meeting strangers in an open forum and exchanging direct messages, though, carries more risk. What’s the safest way to talk to a stranger online? There’s no 100% safe way to talk to a stranger online. Even if your kids feel like they know the person they’re chatting with thanks to social media platforms and YouTube videos, things may not go as expected. Sometimes, it turns out that other people may not be who they say they are. They could even be an adult predator posing as a child—though this isn’t the most common issue kids encounter online. The biggest issue is actually cyberbullying, which affects an average of 31.2% of kids in middle and high school. But whether your concern is cyberbullies, scam artists, or potential predators, there are a few steps you and your kids can take to stay safe online. 8 Tips for staying safe when chatting with strangers online. Have your kids agree to use accounts set up by a parent, using approved gaming, social, and chat apps. Stress that your kids shouldn’t change their app or device privacy settings without talking to a parent first. Help your kids choose a username that doesn’t include their real name, email address, phone number, birthday, town, or age. Instruct your kids not to accept private chat invitations from people they don’t know—or switch from public social media comments to direct messages. Your kids should keep their interactions limited to public areas or group chats where multiple people are talking. Request that your kids stick to text chats, or voice chats when gaming. Tell them not to accept video chat invites and to keep their webcam turned off or covered. Have kids keep their online chats limited to the app you’re using or the game you’re playing. If the person they’re chatting with asks them to download another instant messaging app like Telegram or WhatsApp, your kids should say no. Encourage kids to keep conversations focused on the game they’re playing, or a specific shared interest that they’ve connected with the other person over. It’s best not to talk about personal experiences, school, family, or friends. When kids do this, they can unintentionally reveal private information that scammers and predators can use to learn more about them. Stress that your kids should talk to an adult if they have a conversation that makes them uncomfortable. If the chat room or forum they’re in has moderators, they can flag messages for a mod’s review, too. How can the whole family chat more safely online? Practicing good security habits can also help the whole family be safe when socializing, working, or learning online. A mix of parental control apps, VPNs, device encryption, and strong passwords can all help. The biggest thing you can do, though, is to talk to each other about what’s happening online. Whether it’s sharing a funny video you saw on Instagram or listening as your child talks through a tricky conversation they had with a friend while playing Fortnite, creating a safe space for family check-ins and questions is key.
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Join the conversation and see what other parents are wondering about when it comes to their kids’ online behavior.Ask an Expert
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As clinical psychologists and parents, Dr. Scott Kollins, PhD and Dr. Jessica Flannery, PhD have seen first-hand how technology usage, screen time, gaming and social media can alter behavior. Together, they aim to spotlight information parents need to raise a healthy and balanced generation. Here you can learn more about the latest research on kids and technology, developmental considerations for parenting connected kids and practical guidance to help set appropriate boundaries.
Start Exploring by Category
Child Identity Theft
Adults aren’t the only ones at risk of identity theft. As many as 1 in 50 children fall victim every year (Javelin). We’ve got the tools you need to keep them safe.
Cyberbullying
While bullying of any kind is dangerous and troublesome for children, cyberbullying has become extremely prevalent, difficult to stop, and can cause lasting damage. Learn how to protect your kids against cyberbullying here.
Gaming
Kids are spending more time gaming online than ever before, often playing on new platforms that most parents have never heard of. Here you can learn the basics of online gaming safety, what you need to know about commonly played games and how to protect your children from digital threats.
Internet Safety for Kids
Want to learn about online safety for your kids, but not sure where to start? You’re in the right place. We’ve got all sorts of ways for you to get started.
Online Predators
It’s natural for parents to worry about online predators. Instead of acting out of fear, arm yourself with these resources, designed to help you keep your kids safe online—and give you peace of mind.
Parental Controls
Worried your kids spend too much time online? Concerned about what they might see? Who they’re speaking with? It might be a good time to explore parental controls. From content filtering and screen time management to safe gaming and usage tracking, parental controls can help you find the balance that’s right for your family.
Social Media
Not sure if your child should use social media? Want to help them navigate it safely? Here, you’ll find resources to help answer many of your questions about kids and social media.
Tech Milestones
Whether your kid wants to use your iPad to play games or you’re considering getting your tween their own phone, we’re here to help you navigate some of the biggest technology milestones families face.
Youth Mental Health
Innovations in technology have made connection easier, education more accessible and increased efficiencies; but some concerns and challenges have come along with it. Check out our resources on youth mental health and digital wellbeing here.