As Kids Head to School Online, Pediatricians Warn Parents: Internet Advertisers Secretly Control Your Child’s Brain
Online marketing to children is everywhere. The American Academy of Pediatrics has new advice on how parents can fight back
Only once in our years living at the beach did I have to rescue one of my children from a rip current. We were paddling just beyond the toe-touch level, and suddenly my son started drifting away from me, fast. I grabbed his wrist hard and started working my way parallel to the shore until both of us could plant our feet on the bottom, panting with effort and relief. Rips are far too powerful to swim against; your best shot is to see them ahead of time and stay out. Your second-best shot is swimming sideways out of their grasp.
According to a new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), our children are in the grip of an online rip current, paddling along in the data stream, being drawn toward consumerism, unhealthy eating habits, nicotine addiction, alcohol, and marijuana use, and (capping our beach metaphor) indoor tanning.
But pediatricians also offer advice for parents to help us recognize the dangers and educate our children and teens to help keep them safe. Just as with…
