Scrolling 2 Death

AI experts are warning us that the risks are real—and that we may be running out of time to get this right. So why are we racing to build it faster, and why are the people creating AI asking for guardrails while our government backs away from regulation? Nicki Petrossi brought in Sarah Gardner of the Heat Initiative to unpack the AI headlines keeping parents up at night, from a whistleblower’s war...

Five years ago, Frances Haugen walked away from Facebook and exposed what the company knew about the harms its platforms were causing—including the impact on children. Now, with  The Social Reckoning  bringing her story to the screen, Frances joins Scrolling 2 Death for a powerful conversation about what has changed, what hasn’t, and where we go from here. Frances opens up about what it was really...

What happens when the technology designed to connect us starts pulling us away from our humanity? In this deeply personal conversation, I’m joined by  Your Attention Please  director Sara Robin and parent survivor Kristin Bride to talk about the story behind the film—and the movement it captures. Kristin’s son Carson’s experience with cyberbullying became one of the threads connecting this documen...

We saw The Social Reckoning—and we have a lot to say. Sarah Gardner (of Heat Initiative) and I got an early look at  The Social Reckoning , and even after everything we thought we knew about Meta, we walked away with a deeper understanding of how Facebook became so powerful, addictive, and harmful. We talk about what surprised us, the bravery of Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen, what the film rev...

When is your child ready for their first phone or watch—and how do you make that transition without handing over too much, too soon? In this episode, I’m joined by psychologist  Dr. Carrie Mackensen  and  Titania Jordan of Bark Technologies  for a very real conversation about giving our kids their first devices. We talk about the iPad that often comes  before  the first phone, why “educational” sc...

What happens when Big Tech gets to decide what our kids learn? Technology companies have worked their way into our schools—not just providing the devices and software, but influencing curriculum, training teachers, lobbying lawmakers, and shaping what educators are told our kids need to succeed. In this episode, I sit down with  NY Times journalist Natasha Singer , author of  Coding Kids , to unpa...

What happens when two parents who have spent years saying “not yet” to devices finally decide their kids are ready? In this conversation, Nicki Petrossi and Sarah Gardner share their very personal experiences giving their oldest children a first device — the Bark Watch — and why they chose a tool designed for communication without opening the door to social media, browsers, games, or endless scrol...

What can parents actually do when their child's school is using too much technology? In the final episode of our  Ask the Experts: School Tech Edition  back-to-school series, I'm joined by  Emily Cherkin, The Screentime Consultant , a former middle school teacher, parent, author, and longtime advocate for healthier technology use in schools. Using questions submitted by parents, we tackle...

Part 3 with Dr. Jared Cooney-Horvath Is classroom technology actually helping children learn—or have we accepted a massive educational experiment without the evidence to support it? In Part 3 of our  Ask the Experts: School Tech Edition  mini-series, I'm joined by neuroscientist  Dr. Jared Cooney-Horvath  to examine what decades of brain science actually tell us about screens, AI, and learning...

Part 2: Chris McKenna of Protect Young Eyes Can your child access YouTube, AI chatbots, or the open internet on their school-issued device? And if so, who is responsible for keeping them safe? In Part 2 of our  Ask the Experts: School Tech Edition  mini-series, I'm joined by  Chris McKenna , founder of Protect Young Eyes and one of the nation's leading experts on digital safety for childre...

Part 1 with superintendent Dr. Greg Taranto Schools were promised that more technology would improve education. But did it? In this episode of  Ask the Experts: School Tech Edition , Superintendent  Dr. Greg Taranto  shares why his district made the bold decision to eliminate screens in K–2 classrooms, reduce technology use across all grade levels, and move away from EdTech platforms like IXL in f...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already woven into nearly every part of our children's digital lives—from Google searches and school-issued devices to Snapchat, Instagram, voice assistants, and AI chatbots. In this episode, Nicki Petrossi brings in Bark Technologies' Titania Jordan to unpack where kids are accessing AI, the growing risks parents should understand, and how families can navi...

The courtroom battles are still unfolding, and the evidence continues to grow. In this episode of  The Heat is On: Big Tech on Trial , Nicki Petrossi and Sarah Gardner chat with attorney Previn Warren, co-lead counsel on thousands of federal lawsuits brought against TikTok, YouTube, Meta, and Snap. They discuss the landmark case brought by Kayley (KGM), who won her lawsuit after evidence showed th...

This week, Nicki Petrossi and Sarah Gardner take listeners to Washington, D.C., following an emotional and powerful Social Media Victims Remembrance Day (SMVRD)—a day dedicated to honoring the children lost to social media harms and the families fighting to prevent more names from being added to the memorial each year. The episode explores why families, advocates, and lawmakers gathered on Capitol...

What really happens when a 13-year-old joins Snapchat? In this episode, we break down a disturbing new investigation from ParentsTogether Action and Heat Initiative that followed two avatar accounts posing as 7th graders on Snapchat for just one week — and what researchers found is deeply alarming. The report claims Snapchat recommended hundreds of unsafe videos to the teen accounts, including dru...

Apple wants parents to celebrate its latest parental control updates. But child safety advocates aren't buying the hype. In this episode, I brought in Titania Jordan of  Bark Technologies  and Chris McKenna of  Protect Young Eyes  to separate PR from reality. They discuss why Apple's changes arrived only after mounting lawsuits and legislative pressure, what the company still isn't doi...

Apple has built its brand on privacy, trust, and innovation. But when it comes to protecting children, has the company done enough? In this episode of  The Heat Is On , hosts Nicki Petrossi and Sarah Gardner examine Apple's long and controversial history with child safety. While Apple recently announced new parental controls and family safety features at WWDC 2026, critics say the company cont...

When schools hand children Chromebooks, iPads, Google accounts, and Microsoft Teams access, what’s really happening behind the screen? In this eye-opening conversation, Titania Jordan joins Nicki Petrossi to reveal alarming new data from Bark Technologies’s monitoring of school-issued technology used by millions of students across the U.S. The findings are staggering: 12% of children encountered c...

Legendary trial attorney Mark Lanier joins Nicki and Sarah for an emotional, behind-the-scenes look at the landmark social media addiction trial that ended in a jury verdict against Meta and YouTube. For nearly two months, we sat inside the Los Angeles courtroom documenting every moment — filling 589 pages of notes as grieving parents, advocates, reporters, jurors, and teams of attorneys battled o...

When parents log into Canvas, they expect homework assignments and grades — not ransom notes. In this urgent episode, I spoke with attorney Andrew Liddell about the massive alleged breach involving Instructure and its learning management platform, Canvas, reportedly affecting thousands of schools and millions of students, teachers, and college faculty worldwide. Here's a full list of the 8,000...

When kids are harmed online, the first question people ask is:  “Where were the parents?” In this episode of  Scrolling 2 Death , we challenge that instinct—and expose why it is doing more harm than good. Scrolling 2 Death host Nicki Petrossi is joined by Glen Pounder, Executive Vice President and Chief Safeguarding Officer at Scouting America, to unpack one of the most persistent myths in child s...

In this eye-opening conversation, Nicki Petrossi sits down with neuroscientist Jared Cooney-Horvath to unpack the claims behind i-Ready—one of the most widely used EdTech tools in U.S. classrooms. What starts as a discussion of Nicki’s data privacy lawsuit quickly expands into a deeper investigation: does i-Ready actually help kids learn? Jared breaks down the startling lack of credible, peer-revi...

In this mini-episode of Scrolling 2 Death, Nicki brought in Lila Byock to break down a major victory: the Los Angeles Unified School District has unanimously passed a sweeping new technology policy that limits screen use for students. After months of relentless advocacy from parents and teachers, the district is eliminating devices for its youngest learners, restricting platforms like YouTube, and...

So…I’ve sued another EdTech company.  Here's a direct link to information on the lawsuit . This time, it’s Curriculum Associates — the multi-billion-dollar maker of i-Ready, used by more than 14 million children in grades K–8, including my own. In this episode, I break down why we’ve filed a lawsuit alleging that Curriculum Associates’ core business model depends on harvesting massive amounts...

On March 25, 2026, after eight days of deliberation, the jury reached a verdict in the first bellwether trial against Meta and YouTube. The verdict: The jury ruled in favor of Kaley on all counts. Scroll down to the bottom of this description for the full verdict. This week, we take you inside the final, nerve-wracking days in the hallway and courtroom — the jury questions about expert testimony,...