Show Notes
Leslie Tyler is the Director of Parent Education at Pinwheel, where she's also known as the Chief Mom, and the editor of Your Healthy Tech Playbook. She co-hosts the Technically Parenting podcast, collaborates with leading researchers to build practical tools for families, and previously took an edtech company from startup through acquisition by GoGuardian. She's also a mom of two teenagers doing this work in real time. This conversation gets into what most parents are missing: the body image and hyper-masculinity content quietly targeting boys, why the bully now follows your kid into his bedroom, what AI is actually doing to kids' thinking and relationships, and how to teach self-regulation without setting your kid up to fail. If you've ever thought "he's in his room, what could go wrong," this one's for you.
Timeline Summary [1:02] – Why boys get lost in the conversation about social media risk [2:20] – Looksmaxxing, jawlines, and the body image content aimed squarely at boys [3:52] – What the Netflix series Adolescence revealed about hidden bullying [7:43] – Comparison versus inspiration and why kids can't tell the difference [9:17] – That photo wasn't their first take, and adults know it but kids don't [13:25] – How to interrupt the gut reaction when your son sees an idealized image [14:51] – The cupcake story and giving your kid grace [19:19] – Why exposing your own vulnerability opens the door to connection [20:24] – Middle school as the hardest age and where the filter disappears [22:48] – School used to end at the door, now the bully is in the bedroom [24:14] – Text monitoring as a window into your kid's friends' real character [29:22] – The story of a dad who said nothing and changed everything [31:25] – Leslie on losing her father and what her kids remembered about him [33:00] – The AI frontier: what's real, what isn't, and why critical thinking matters more [36:32] – AI is not your friend, it's a sycophant programmed to please [41:01] – Let kids fail when the stakes are low so they don't fail when they're high [42:42] – A practical path to self-regulation that starts with the parent [49:48] – The hallway phone is back, and why kids need a landline again
5 Key Takeaways Boys Are Being Targeted Too — Looksmaxxing and hyper-masculine content hits boys just as hard as thinspo hits girls, but there's no counter-message, so boys internalize it silently. The Bully Followed Them Home — Kids used to escape their tormentors when the school bell rang. Now the device sits in the bedroom and the bully is in there with them. Vulnerability Is the Doorway — When your kid feels inadequate, don't lecture. Admit you feel the same thing sometimes. That's the moment connection actually happens. AI Is Not a Friend — It's programmed to tell kids what they want to hear, and there's no give and take. That one-way sycophancy is the biggest AI risk facing children right now. Self-Regulation Is Taught, Not Assumed — Start with the parent setting limits and explaining why, then loosen them gradually. Kids will fail, and that failure is the actual lesson.
Links & Resources Episode shownotes: https://thedadedge.com/1505 Join the Dad Edge Alliance: https://thedadedge.com/join Bark (Dad Edge listener discount, 10% off): https://thedadedge.com/bark Dad Edge Boardroom Goal Setting Intensive: https://thedadedge.com/goals Pinwheel: https://pinwheel.com
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