Russell York of COSMO Technologies On What Tech Companies Can Do and Are Doing to Protect Our Children’s Mental Health From Technology and Digital Media
An interview with Pirie Jones Grossman
Acknowledge kids as a distinct user — This might seem obvious, but you would be surprised how much tech is marketed and sold to kids that is really just re-packaged adult tech. There is so much harm done by trying to repurpose platforms that were designed for adults and offer them to kids. It’s not enough to add bright colors and cartoon animations — you have to think about children as entirely distinct. Their mental and emotional development, technical literacy, wants and needs, all differentiate them from the users that 99% of tech has been built for to this point in time.
Tech companies keep iterating and moving forward. They are constantly working on furthering their goals. But as we all know, our mental health and our children’s mental health are sometimes at stake. Young people’s brains are still developing, and it sometimes seems that we need to fight against so much just to allow our kids a fair chance at healthy development and mental wellness. Are tech companies trying to help protect our kids’ mental health? What are some things companies are doing or should be doing to help protect our children’s mental health? In this interview series, we are talking to leaders of tech companies, as well as anyone who is an authority on the subject of “What Tech Companies Can Do and Are Doing to Protect Our Children’s Mental Health From Technology and Digital Media.” As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Russell York.
Russell York is the Co-Founder & CEO of COSMO Technologies. Russell founded COSMO with a vision to build a movement around a new generation of tech that safely connects kids & families. COSMO’s JrTrack Kids Smartwatch has become one of the best-selling safe kids wearables recommended by leading publications like Fatherly, Safewise, PCMag, and more. Russell writes and speaks frequently on the intersection of family and the future of tech that prioritizes privacy, safety, and wellness for families.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
In some ways, I stumbled into founding a family technology company. I spent the early years of my career working in military intelligence, cyber security, and public relations. Those experiences, especially in the intelligence and cyber security worlds, gave me a valuable lens to see some of the gaping holes in the digital privacy landscape — especially when it comes to kids. But more than anything, I think I saw the damaging effects that even early social media and cell phone addiction had in my own life and I wanted to be part of building the solution.
Can you share the most interesting story that has happened since you started your career?
It would be hard to narrow down to a single story, but something that has been a cool recurring experience while building Cosmo is sending our JrTrack Smartwatch to people who are considering investing or partnering with us, and invariably hearing the stories about what their kids thought of it. It’s very humanizing when every business relationship becomes personal, and we’re talking about what their 8 year old thought of our hard work. The fact is we are doing all this work for kids and those are the critics we care about most. Frequently the feedback we get is “my kid loves the device, and she won’t stop texting me, what have you done?”
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We’re very excited about what we’re working on every day at Cosmo. For the past two decades, tech innovation has been entirely focused on building big networks and monetizing attention. But now, we’re seeing this seismic shift happening. From parents to legislators, we’re seeing a backlash as the consequences of the attention-driven big-tech business models become painfully clear, whether it’s mental health, violence, bullying, you name it.
What we’re working on is building an entirely different ecosystem for safely connecting kids & families. It needs to be so much more than band-aid parental controls or screen time limits. For us, it means building entirely different devices and platforms that put child privacy, safety, and parental engagement at the core of design. Families are so eager for solutions like this and we’re excited to be part of leading the movement.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
A phenomenal book that I find myself gifting more than any other is called “Happy City” by Charles Montgomery. Even if you’re not a city planning geek, what I appreciate about its message is that imperfect systems can and should be changed. Simple ideas like designing cities for people instead of cars are only radical until you do it. Similarly in tech, I think a lot of trade offs made in the name of “the way the system works” are unnecessary and beg for disruption. Progress only requires a few people imagining a better way and committing to that path.
Fantastic. Let’s now turn to the central part of our interview. From your experience or research, can you help articulate some of the downsides of children having access to technology and digital media? Is there an amount of time, or certain content, that is just too much?
The problem kids & parents face today is actually pretty simple: it’s all or nothing when it comes to tech — or at least it has been until recently. Technology can be incredible, but there simply hasn’t been the right technology built thoughtfully and intentionally for kids and families.
We have an on-ramp approach for kids to enter into most things in life — from swimming to the education system to driving. But with tech, that on-ramp doesn’t exist. And kids are the victims when we recklessly throw them in the deep end with highly-addictive devices and access to dangerous content, all because there haven’t been better options for a step-by-step approach.
That’s why we’re in the middle of a crisis — too much, too fast. We’re talking about “how to limit kids screen time” or “how much time should kids spend on social media?” which are fundamentally the wrong questions. Instead, we should be talking about building better age-appropriate, on-ramp devices & ecosystems that give kids and parents the right tools one step at a time.
Let’s talk specifically about social media. How can it be harmful to young people’s mental health?
Social media is probably the top concern we hear about from parents. There’s been some excellent research in recent years showing how increased time on social media correlates with increased chances of young people experiencing depression or other mental health challenges. From explicit content, to cyber bullying, to aggravating attention deficits or creating screen addiction, the warning signs are everywhere.
Can you help articulate to our readers how big of a problem this is in our society right now? Why is this an urgent discussion to be having now?
I don’t think there’s any exaggeration in saying this problem is generational in scope. There’s a fantastic article everyone should read that was published in the Atlantic a few years ago titled “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The article highlights stunning research around changing sleep patterns, mental health issues, relational trends and how massive negative data shifts clearly correlate with the meteoric rise in youth smartphone adoption.
Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share five things that tech companies should do to protect our children’s mental health. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Absolutely. At COSMO, we talk about the idea of #BetterTech all the time. We’re not anti-tech — we’re advocating for a foundational change in how tech companies design, build, and monetize tech. I absolutely believe that the next-generation of transformational tech companies will be those that prioritize these five principles:
1 . Abandon attention-driven business models
Foundational change has to start at the business model. As long as companies are monetizing our data and attention, there can’t won’t be any real incentive to make changes that promote wellness or mental health.
2 . Prioritize child data privacy from the start
Data privacy for children is something that may get lip service but the underbelly of the issue is deep and dangerous. The new generation of tech companies need to commit to fully anonymizing kids’ data at every level. No child data gathering or targeting. Period.
3 . Design products from the ground up for mental health & wellbeing
It’s so important to realize that we’re all fighting an impossible battle against the devices in our pockets. They are carefully designed to hijack and manipulate our basic instincts to drive engagement. I’m a passionate advocate for the idea that this model needs to be fully deconstructed. It’s not about patches or quick limits — great tech companies of tomorrow need to design with healthy limits and mental & emotional health at the core.
4 . Empower parents
We’ve learned a lot about how Big Tech has worked deliberately to circumvent parents in their practices and design. That’s shameful and I believe that leading tech companies will empower the family by creating products that support parents, guardians, and caregivers.
5 . Acknowledge kids as a distinct user
This might seem obvious, but you would be surprised how much tech is marketed and sold to kids that is really just re-packaged adult tech. There is so much harm done by trying to repurpose platforms that were designed for adults and offer them to kids. It’s not enough to add bright colors and cartoon animations — you have to think about children as entirely distinct. Their mental and emotional development, technical literacy, wants and needs, all differentiate them from the users that 99% of tech has been built for to this point in time.
Are there tech companies currently doing work that you admire that are helping to protect children from the downsides of digital technology? We’d love to hear more.
There are some very exciting companies that are helping pioneer this new space alongside us. A great example is Gryphon, an amazing company making home wifi safer and simpler for families. We also love a company called Aro: they’ve built a simple, beautiful phone charging box and companion app that helps families build mindfulness practices and incentivizes time spent away from phones.
I also love what Bark is doing with AI to make devices safe for older kids and teens. They are absolutely a leader in the family technology space and have been out in front of this issue for a long time. I think Cosmo and Bark share that vision for how family technology should be.
Of course, parents and guardians are the players who are most responsible for the young people under their care. So what are some things that they should do to protect young people’s mental health from the downsides of digital tech?
I really don’t think parents and guardians are the ones to blame. We’re talking about fighting against massively financed companies, building science-driven, sophisticated algorithms. But I’m happy to say that parents and guardians are starting to get better options! A few things we love to recommend:
- Start simple and slow. This is where starting with a smart watch for kids or even simple GPS tracking device can help keep families connected in gradual tech increments.
- Create a tech plan for your family. I love this shared family approach to building good practices with tech.
- Put limits in place, not just on time spent on screens, but on the where and when of screen and tech use.
- Keep the conversation going with kids and stay engaged.
What are the best resources you would suggest to a young person who would like to learn more about this?
The Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma is a fantastic place to start to help educate young people on the real story behind the devices they see everywhere. I always recommend parents watching this alongside their kids. It’s already gotten a lot of press, but for good reason!
What resources would you suggest to a parent or educator who would like to learn more about this?
There are some wonderful organizations doing important work in the digital wellness and awareness space. A few I always point people toward are our friends at Screen Time Clinic, Screen Sanity, and Wait Until 8th to name a few. Each has fantastic educational content and resources to help families navigate the challenges of raising kids in our digital age.
For any tech enthusiasts, creators, or business leaders, I’d also recommend following All Tech is Human — a great organization working on the messy details of how to make tech healthier and more human-centric at scale.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
It may be overused, but I’ve always loved the simple saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” Whether it’s starting a tech company, raising kids, or anything else, failure is a painful but necessary part of life. When we start to see our failures as guidance rather than end points, we get to see how those experiences form us into better versions of ourselves.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I hope this doesn’t sound like the easy answer, but honestly it’s what I’m trying to do right now. Technology — from smartphones to AI — is remaking the world before our eyes, and our relationship with that technology will change every part of our lives for generations to come. So getting that foundation right with principles like privacy, wellness, and human design — especially in relation to kids — matters profoundly. My greatest hope is that because of the movement we’re building today, families today can look back and say they were able to thrive not just in spite of technology, but more so because of it.
What is the best way our readers can continue to follow your work online?
For anyone interested in following along with the work we’re doing at Cosmo, and the family tech movement as a whole, I’d recommend following us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and visiting our website at www.cosmotogether.com.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About The Interviewer: Pirie is a TedX speaker, author and a Life Empowerment Coach. She is a co-host of Own your Throne podcast, inspiring women in the 2nd chapter of their lives. With over 20 years in front of the camera, Pirie Grossman understands the power of storytelling. After success in commercials and acting. She spent 10 years reporting for E! Entertainment Television, Entertainment Tonight, also hosted ABC’s “Every Woman”. Her work off-camera capitalizes on her strength, producing, bringing people together for unique experiences. She produced a Children’s Day of Compassion during the Dalai Lama’s visit here in 2005. 10,000 children attended, sharing ideas about compassion with His Holiness. From 2006–2009, Pirie Co-chaired the Special Olympics World Winter Games, in Idaho, welcoming 3,000 athletes from over 150 countries. She founded Destiny Productions to create Wellness Festivals and is an Advisory Board member of the Sun Valley Wellness Board.In February 2017, Pirie produced, “Love is Louder”, a Brain Health Summit, bringing in Kevin Hines, noted suicide survivor to Sun Valley who spoke to school kids about suicide. Sun Valley is in the top 5% highest suicide rate per capita in the Northwest, prompting a community initiative with St. Luke’s and other stake holders, to begin healing. She lives in Sun Valley with her two children, and serves on the Board of Community School. She has her Master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and is an Executive Life Empowerment Coach, where she helps people meet their dreams and goals! The difference between a dream and a goal is that a goal is a dream with a date on it!
