IGP Researcher Discusses How Parents Can Protect Children Online

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On March 22, Jen Weedon, a researcher with the Institute of Global Politics’ (IGP) Tech and Democracy Initiative, joined a panel at the Rowan Center to discuss how parents can help their children navigate online risks.

The event marked the official launch of KidSafeHQ, a first-of-its-kind digital platform designed to help families across Connecticut manage the safety challenges children face both online and offline. The platform provides parents with “age-specific guidance” for children across the K-12 system, offering real-life situations that parents may encounter as children navigate boundaries, friendships, and digital risks. Alongside Weedon, the panel featured a distinguished lineup of experts, including Brian Herrick, vice president of Thorn’s Victim Identification Program; Sarah DeGue, founder of EVOLVE Violence Prevention; and Dahlia Locke, policy and education manager at World Without Exploitation.

Weedon emphasized that online safety challenges extend beyond the content children see, highlighting the importance of understanding how technology shapes kids’ behavior, attention, identity, and relationships. Weedon gave the example of AI companions: “AI companions aren't just search engines, [...] many are forming what feel like real relationships with these systems: going to them for advice, for homework, and for emotional support, on both their home and school devices.”

Given this reality, Weedon stressed that parents must understand the different uses of these tools, how they work, and what limits should be imposed to help protect their children. Because digital literacy programs aren’t evolving quickly enough, she said that responsibility increasingly falls on parents to recognize the stakes of their children’s interactions, especially given that emerging technologies are driven by engagement incentives rather than prioritizing well-being.

Reflecting on her experience as a parent, Weedon added that “awareness without a path to action can just cause anxiety, which then leads to disengagement.” She noted that media coverage and litigation have heightened concern among families, often without offering parents clear guidance on how to effectively protect their children. The existing toolkit of interventions, such as parental controls and screen time limits, can reinforce this dynamic, as they are often overprotective or difficult for parents to navigate. Effectively communicating these strategies is challenging. As Weedon observed, parents are often given isolated tips rather than a systems-level perspective, which limits their understanding of the risks in children’s online experiences.

As the panel concluded, Weedon underscored the need for public-interest infrastructure that translates digital risks into actionable guidance. Without it, families are left navigating uncertainty alone. Investing in initiatives like KidSafeHQ, she argued, is essential because they provide parents with practical tools while also creating space for children’s voices to shape the solutions meant to safeguard them.