Family IT Guy Podcast

Titania Jordan is the Chief Parenting Officer at Bark. She sat down with Ben Gillenwater to walk through what she's seeing in how kids actually use their phones, what scares her most, and what you can do about it without being technical. They get into a lot: why the free apps your kid uses aren't really free, why your kid is already using AI and who should be teaching them, the slang and rating sy...

How do you talk to your kids about pornography before the internet does it for them? Chris McKenna founded Protect Young Eyes to help parents answer exactly that, and his approach surprises most people: the fix is not a better filter. It is a braver and more frequent conversation. Most of us are scared of this talk, so we put it off, and putting it off is the one move that leaves a kid alone with...

For years, giving a child their first phone meant starting with a device designed for adults and then trying to lock it down afterward. Apple just announced a major shift. With iOS 27, kids' devices can start as a blank slate—no wide-open access, no endless game of chasing settings and blocking apps after the fact. Parents decide what gets added and when. This is how child-safe technology should w...

Meta's new Instants feature has drawn comparisons to Snapchat for one simple reason: both are built around disappearing photos and messages. For parents, the important question isn't which app your child is using—it's whether they understand how these features actually work. Platforms market disappearing content as temporary, but "disappearing" doesn't mean private. Content can be screenshotted, s...

Age verification laws are spreading fast, and the "prove your age to use the internet" approach will make every family less safe, not more. Governments across the US and around the world want everyone to prove their identity before going online. In places like California, that's moving down to the operating-system level, so you'd have to verify who you are just to use your own computer. It sounds...

One of the most important skills parents can teach kids today is how to think critically about business models. Because if kids don’t understand how internet companies make money, they can’t fully understand what these platforms are designed to do. In this video, I break down: • Why “free” apps are never actually free • How social media companies really make money • Why attention is the product be...

If you're new here, welcome. My name is Ben Gillenwater, also known as The Family IT Guy. I’m a dad and a cybersecurity expert with 30 years of experience, and my mission is simple: help families keep kids safe online while raising healthy, capable humans in a digital world. In this video, I break down the two biggest online threats facing kids today: • Addictive algorithms • Anonymous online chat...

This video is dedicated to Avery, a 15-year-old boy who died after buying MDMA through Snapchat. Avery grew up with strong boundaries around technology. Waldorf education. Outdoor adventures. Shared screen time rules. Minimal exposure to social media. But once Snapchat entered the picture in high school, everything changed. Within a year, Avery bought drugs from a local dealer through the app. He...

A growing number of adults and teens are using AI chatbots for therapy, emotional support, advice, and difficult conversations. Some people say it helps them feel less alone. Others are relying on it daily for mental health guidance. But there’s a major problem most people are missing: AI can sound caring, wise, and authoritative without actually understanding you, your situation, or the consequen...

If you are trying to keep your kids safer online, this is where I would start: keep internet-connected devices out of bedrooms. Bedrooms should be calm places. Places for sleep, rest, conversation, quiet, and recovery. But phones, tablets, gaming systems, and social media feeds bring noise into that space — not just sound noise, but mental and emotional noise. In this video, I explain why removing...

Most people crop photos for aesthetics. Few realize that every photo can also contain hidden metadata. When you take a picture on your phone, it may include location data, timestamps, device information, camera details, and other digital markers that create a larger story over time. In this video, I break down a simple privacy habit that takes less than a minute but can reduce how much information...

Mike Lemon investigates crimes against children for a living. He's done it for over 20 years. He trains 5,000 parents a year on what he's learned. He still built layered defenses for his own kids' devices, because he knows no child can handle a professional predator alone. We talked for almost 90 minutes. AI sextortion, how Snapchat was really designed, the evolution from physical predation to onl...

A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for knowingly putting children in danger on Facebook and Instagram. It's being called a historic win, but is it really a win for kids? In this video, I break down exactly what happened in court, what evidence the jury saw, and most importantly, what's coming next and why the proposed "solutions" may actually make things worse for your family. Chap...

At least 20 states are pushing bills that claim to protect your kids online. I've read them. I testified against one in South Dakota. The problems they're trying to solve are real. The bills don't solve them. I'm Ben Gillenwater — dad, cybersecurity expert, 30 years in the field. In this video I break down exactly what these laws would actually do, why the last major child safety law passed in 199...

Dr. Carrie Mackensen is a clinical psychologist with 25 years of experience directing addiction and eating disorder treatment programs. She's raising two boys without iPads and is writing a book on parenting in the digital age. In Part 2 of our conversation, we dig into the places where parents actually get stuck: the meltdowns when you take devices away, how to tell if screens are the problem or...

Is Roblox safe for kids? In this interview, Chris Hansen shares findings from his investigation into predators, grooming tactics, and why thousands of families have reported harm on the platform. Chris Hansen, who has exposed online predators for over two decades, explains how grooming works on modern platforms, why Roblox has become a growing concern for families, and what parents can do right no...

Mike McLeod is a speech-language pathologist and ADHD executive function specialist who has worked with over 500 families to eliminate screens since 2016. He hosts the ADHD Parenting Podcast and has two books that released in January 2026. In this conversation, we get into the hard stuff: why screen addiction looks identical to drug addiction, what the withdrawal period actually looks like when yo...

For the first time, social media executives are being forced to answer to a jury for the impact their platforms have had on children. This trial in Los Angeles (MDL 3047) brings together claims from more than 2,000 families who allege that platform features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications, and reward systems were intentionally designed to encourage compulsive use in kids and teens...

Dr. Lisa Strohman spent 30 years studying what hurts kids—from profiling at FBI Quantico after Columbine to serving as an expert witness in New Mexico v. Meta. Her conclusion? The phone in your child's pocket is more dangerous than a gun on your kitchen table. At least the kid knows to be afraid of the gun. We get into the CDC data, what she saw inside Meta's own research, why 400 girls at one sch...

How do you protect your kids online when even adults can’t tell what’s real anymore? AI-generated videos, deepfakes, and synthetic audio are not just a tech issue. They are showing up inside the apps our kids use every day, mixed in with cartoons, music clips, and “safe” educational content. Most children, and plenty of adults, are being trained to trust whatever looks and sounds real. In this epi...

In this episode of the Family IT Guy Podcast, I sit down with Shawnna Hoffman, CEO of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), for a raw and deeply personal conversation about online exploitation, AI-enabled scams, human trafficking, and the growing risks facing kids and teens online. Shawnna shares her journey from decades in Big Tech and AI leadership to leading a glo...

Earlier this year, I spoke with Jason Sokolowski about the loss of his 16-year-old daughter, Penelope, after she was targeted by the online criminal network known as 764. This video is an update — and the situation is escalating. 764 is a decentralized exploitation network targeting vulnerable kids, primarily girls ages 10–17, across platforms like Discord, Roblox, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat....