The Center for Family Studies is officially launching its First Family Technology Initiative today, bringing together several years of original research on the effects of smartphones, social media, and online pornography on health. the mental health of children and the quality of adult relationships. Our research has made IFS a leader in creating model policies for state and federal policy makers. Working in partnership with other groups, we’ve seen more than a dozen laws enacted across the country to make the internet safer for children, as Americans increasingly think that how technology can benefit families, not harm, families and children’s well-being.
Over the next several years, the Family First Technology Initiative will produce original reports, develop model policies, and assess the impact of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, on the lives of the American family. I recently spoke with IFS executive director Michael Toscano about this exciting new initiative. (The following discussion has been edited for clarity).
Chris Bullivant: As executive director, he is overseeing the launch of the First Family Technology Initiative and will be personally involved in the research and policy aspects. Please tell us what inspired it.
Michael Toscano: In September 2019, IFS Founder Brad Wilcox and I were invited to give a talk to a group of mothers with children enrolled in private schools in the Richmond area. Our comments were directed to the discussion of our past research, and we ended our speech with an encouragement to those who accepted us to be ambassadors of marriage. After that, about six mothers engaged us in a conversation that completely surprised us. They politely thanked us for our work but wondered if we had “anything to do with social media and smartphones.” As we learned, their daughters and sons were very addicted to this technology, and they were worried that there was something wrong with them. It’s one of the things that inspired our interest in this issue and led to several of our reports on technology and the family.
Overall, it is no longer possible to deny the powerful effects of social media and smartphones on our children. We can all see it with our own eyes, but research, including our own, has also reached a consensus on this. In his latest book, GenerationsPsychologist and IFS Fellow Jean Twenge examines the mental health issues of Gen Z, the first generation of so-called “digital natives.” He finds that loneliness, self-harm, suicide attempts, anxiety, etc. have increased since 2012, when access to smartphones and social media became a part of life, even for children. “The [negative] traditions are remarkable for their consistency, breadth and magnitude,” he writes. His work is fully supported by a May 2023 advisory from the US Surgeon General, who declared that social media poses “a significant risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and youth.” Likewise, by Jonathan Haidt Anxious Generation do a A compelling case, with many facts, that early access to smartphones and social media is harming our children.
Over the next few years, the Technology First Family will continue to explore how these tools and platforms impact our lives and our families.
A warrior: What about the policy side? What is the history here?
Tuscany: Our strategic work is motivated by our growing sense that something needs to be done. So, we convened a task force in June 2022 that included Clare Morell at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), Adam Candeub at the Center for Renewing America and Michigan State University, Jean Twenge, Brad Wilcox and myself. We came up with ideas that we thought would help parents have more control over what their children see and do online. We released the brief two months later in August 2022, and to our surprise, Governor Spencer Cox of Utah saw it online, was inspired by what he read, and it became law there. nine months later. Since then, several other countries have followed suit.
Alas, Big Tech lobbyists are trying to get this type of legislation defeated in the Court, even though we believe we have the upper hand in the end. In the meantime, we have actively contributed to the development of laws requiring age verification of porn sites in 19 states. And we have contributed to the development of model regulations to make app stores safer for children, who are still active at the federal level, and Representative John James (R-MI) recently introduced an amendment based on federal legislation. We were also proud to sign the Kids Online Safety Act (which the House has to wait and pass in a way that is faithful to the Senate bill). It has been an amazing journey, to say the least, with many more to come.
The Family First Technology Initiative is a necessary response to help families in their ‘David vs. Goliath’ battle against Big Tech.
I must emphasize that it was a completely collaborative effort. We’ve worked closely with the Center for Ethics and Social Policy, the Center for American Innovation, the National Institute on Sexual Abuse, Protect the Little Eyes, the Digital Progress Institute, the American Principles Project, and the Heritage Foundation—which gave us generously with EPPC. A joint Innovation Award for this work—to name just a few. I want to talk specifically about the Family Policy Alliance, which has emerged as a champion in these matters, which has put the advocacy power behind these policy ideas. We are against Big Tech, an industry that has power beyond understanding. Doing this job requires a team effort.
A warrior: Explain more about how the First Technology Family fits into the overall mission of the Institute?
Tuscany: Ten years ago, the Center for Family Studies was established to analyze and correct the problem of families. At that time, we saw that marriage and family were in trouble, but what was actually happening and why? Answering those questions has been the core of our work. However, in recent years, other critical challenges facing the American family have emerged, and in response we have expanded the scope of our work to solve them: in this case, the technology problem.
The Family First Technology Initiative, in part, is about helping parents. Today, due to the immersion of our children in the world of electronic devices from their earliest years, raising healthy children has become more difficult, if not impossible. possible.
But there is also the issue of adult relationships. In a 2023 study, Wendy Wang and I found that couples, where one partner is a heavy phone user, are more likely to consider divorce and feel lonely in general. So, this issue is also an issue of marriages. Parents who are addicted to their phones—which is basically all of us—have to give extreme discipline in order to give our children the attention they deserve. As a rule, parents prefer to browse electronic media without space instead of being present with their families. This causes incredible psychological damage to our children and others.
The Family First Technology Initiative is a necessary response to help families in their David vs. Goliath battle against Big Tech.
Bullivant: As you know, we are in the midst of a revolutionary era with new amazing but also scary technologies, like AI. Will the First Family of Technology Initiative have something to say about themselves?
Tuscany: Yes. The Family First Technology Initiative will seek to do two things related to new technology: conduct and disseminate research to determine how new technologies affect families, better or worse; and, in collaboration with leading technologists, to explore ways in which technology can be designed and used to improve family life, empower parents, and, hopefully, reignite local economies give parents the best professional options and flexibility to make the choices they want. childcare provision.
This great change in society also offers a rare opportunity, in which it is possible to put the family at the center of our technological life. Instead of technology being developed for the benefit of the military and businesses, and then, as a final test, being sent to families – can families be the first thought in the minds of the technology industry and can they invent technology for this purpose? special interest in promoting the family? What that might look like in principle and in detail are open questions.
A warrior: What can we expect in 2025 and 2026 from the First Family Technology Initiative?
Tuscany: Well, Wendy Wang and I have a couple of new findings coming out based on technology analysis with YouGov. Next, we’ll be breaking new ground on AI relationships, AI boyfriends and girlfriends, and how Americans feel about them.
We also have a great research report with a great expert—more on that soon—on “Failure to Start,” which will cover a wide range of problems, but will focus on electronic addiction, especially— video games hall. Every year, we’ll be taking a deep look at the ways that immersion in the digital world has completely changed us and our families. As for the policy side, I’d rather keep it under my hat. Surprise is one of the few advantages we have.
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