Step into a world where the focus is keenly set on what are health and safety concerns. Within the confines of this article, a tapestry of references to what are health and safety concerns awaits your exploration. If your pursuit involves unraveling the depths of what are health and safety concerns, you've arrived at the perfect destination.
Our narrative unfolds with a wealth of insights surrounding what are health and safety concerns. This is not just a standard article; it's a curated journey into the facets and intricacies of what are health and safety concerns. Whether you're thirsting for comprehensive knowledge or just a glimpse into the universe of what are health and safety concerns, this promises to be an enriching experience.
The spotlight is firmly on what are health and safety concerns, and as you navigate through the text on these digital pages, you'll discover an extensive array of information centered around what are health and safety concerns. This is more than mere information; it's an invitation to immerse yourself in the enthralling world of what are health and safety concerns.
So, if you're eager to satisfy your curiosity about what are health and safety concerns, your journey commences here. Let's embark together on a captivating odyssey through the myriad dimensions of what are health and safety concerns.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query what are health and safety concerns. Sort by dateShow all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query what are health and safety concerns. Sort by dateShow all posts
Cdc survey finds the pandemic had a big pimple cdc survey finds the pandemic had a big influence cdc survey finds the pandemic had a big fight cdc survey finds the pandemic had a big fall cdc survey finds the pandemic had a big day cdc survey finds the pandemic and mental health cdc survey finds the pandemic documentary cdc survey finds the pandemic book cdc survey finds the pandemic treaty cdc survey finds the words cdc survey finds the elapsed cdc survey finds the line cdc survey finds the volume cdc finds antibodies cdc finds on vaping phone call from cdc survey cdc survey on childhood immunization casper cdc survey brfss cdc survey
CDC Survey Finds the Pandemic Had a Big Impact on Teens' Mental Health
CDC Survey Finds the Pandemic Had a Big Impact on Teens' Mental Health
For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the
WHO
and
CDC
websites.
More than four in 10 teens report feeling "persistently sad or hopeless" during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Girls were twice as likely to experience mental health troubles compared to boys. And LGBTQ students were hit the hardest.
The CDC's findings were gathered from online surveys from a sample of 7,700 US students during the first six months of 2021. The questions presented were about mental health, drug use and violence at home or school.
The stress and adversity of the pandemic were not limited to just adults; teens and children felt it too. "It's no secret that kids are going through a lot right now. Knowing how to spot the signs of something more serious is vital," says Barb Solish, director of youth and young adult initiatives for the National Alliance of Mental Illness.
The survey suggests, however, that school can act as a protective layer for students and their troubles. Here's what to know.
44% of students reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless
Teen mental health has been top of mind as rates of depression, anxiety and loneliness have increased in kids. During lockdown, emergency room visits among adolescent girls for attempted suicide increased by nearly 51%.
"Approach suicide prevention and mental health in the same way you do with other safety or health issues for your children, by providing information, opening the door for questions and dialogue and reassuring them that help is available," says Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. "It is important to have these conversations before your child is a teen and to not be afraid to ask directly about suicide if you are concerned."
These CDC findings are the newest cause for concern on a persistent issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency for child and adolescent mental health in October. Even before the pandemic, mental health concerns have been an ongoing battle for parents. Reported "persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness" in teens rose from 26% in 2009 to 37% in 2019. The figure hit an all-time high in 2021 at 44%.
LGBTQ students were most affected
The pandemic affected all students, though the impact was more severe for some. The survey found higher levels of vulnerability among LGBTQ students, with worse mental health and more suicide attempts found. Nearly 50% of gay, lesbian and bisexual teens reported they considered suicide during the pandemic.
Mental health issues in the LGBTQ community have always been a concern. Previous research suggests that members of the LGBTQ community are at a higher risk for depression and anxiety disorders. A 2020 study found that transgender youth are twice as likely to experience depressive symptoms and consider or attempt suicide.
Many students reported emotional abuse and racism
The pandemic was a time of emotional distress for everyone. It limited kids to their home -- which wasn't always a safe place. A quarter of the students said that at least one parent lost a job due to the pandemic. As a result, 55% of students said they dealt with put-downs and other forms of emotional abuse from a parent. 11.3% said they experienced physical abuse. Rates of abuse were the highest among those who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
Part of the CDC survey asked about treatment in school based on race or ethnicity. 64% of Asian American students reported feeling like they were treated poorly or unfairly. Black and multiracial students were the second-highest, with 55% reporting a racist encounter at school. Students said that these encounters made it hard for them to concentrate on school and also reported more mental health problems.
Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images
School is crucial for kids' mental health
Virtual school was tough on kids, as anyone who went through it knows. It compromised their ability to connect with their teachers and other students. 66% of students said they had difficulty completing assignments during lockdown.
School is a crucial time for kids to feel connected. A silver lining is how schools could play a positive role in teen mental health. Mental health levels were higher in teens who felt connected. While virtual school made it difficult, students who could virtually connect with friends and family did fare better.
Mental health resources in school are essential to ensure that the burden of speaking up does not fall on children. As a part of the strategy to address the national mental health crisis, the Biden administration pledged $85 million in funding for schools to use for mental health awareness training and treatments.
Don't wait to talk to your kids about their mental health
Talking to your children about mental health topics is difficult. To start, you should pay attention to any changes in their behavior. The changes can be small -- the things they say, their grades or their interactions with friends and family members.
"All kids experience 'bad days' now and then, but if their negative emotions, thoughts or behaviors are getting in the way of their everyday functioning, it is important to take notice and take action," Solish says.
Sudden changes in your teen's behavior signify that they may need help. Communication is essential. You want to be straightforward and ready to listen to what they have to say.
SDI Productions/Getty Images
"Make sure that communication is open by approaching them with statements that indicate you are aware that many teens are concerned about their mental wellness. Car rides are good times to have conversations," says Mary K. Alvord, a psychologist and co-author of Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens and Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents. "I also suggest that parents ask their teens about what they value and what is most important to them now. It's a positive way to get a conversation going and that can then be explored in more depth."
As always, know when they need help that you can't give them. If you suspect your teen is having difficulties or they won't open up to you, encourage them to talk to a school counselor or a doctor.
"While mental health professionals are a key resource, it's important to note that everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention," says Moutier. "Having an open, authentic conversation about mental health with someone can be the first important step in staying connected for yourself or someone else and helping get support or treatment if needed."
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
Best multivitamins for 2022 double cab best multivitamins for 2022 best multivitamins for 2022 molina best multivitamins for 2022 stop best multivitamins for 2022 what news best multivitamins for women over 50 best multivitamins for kids best multivitamins for dogs
Best Multivitamins for 2022
Considering that more than 80% of all Americans take a vitamin supplement daily, according to a 2019 survey, it's no surprise that there is a huge market out there for multivitamins. Vitamins and minerals are essential for your body to function and develop as it should. Food is your primary source for these vitamins, but sometimes your diet isn't providing you with all the ones you need. That's where multivitamins and supplements come in.
Of all the vitamin sales in the US, multivitamin supplements make up 40%. But you should know that not all multivitamins are created equal. Vitamins are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which gives rise to cure-all vitamin trends that might not be worth your money. The best multivitamins include vitamins A through E with minerals and metals like calcium or iron. The exact composition and ingredients of a multivitamin will vary by product.
Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET
Nature Made is one of the most well-known vitamin brands out there, namely for the affordability of their supplements. Unlike other options, the Nature Made multivitamin is just one tablet that contains 23 essential nutrients. Including a solid dose of vitamin D, which many people don't get enough of -- especially in the winter.
It also includes vitamins A, C, D3, E, K and various B vitamins. This multivitamin has minerals like calcium, iodine, magnesium and iron. The iron included in the supplement gets you to 100% of your recommended daily dose. A significant excess of iron may cause gastrointestinal troubles in people who get enough iron. Before starting a supplement -- especially one so high in iron -- you should speak with your healthcare provider to ensure you need it.
This multivitamin has a third-party certification through United States Pharmacopeia, one of the best-known and most reputable certification organizations. Nature Made offers a wide line of vitamin supplements for men, women, older adults and kids. Overall, Nature Made might lack the flashy flavors or trendy packaging, but I like it for its reliability and solid nutrient content.
Ritual
Ritual is a popular direct-to-consumer subscription-based brand that offers multivitamin supplements for every stage of a woman's life. The multivitamins are clinically backed by a 12-week trial funded by Ritual and in partnership with Auburn University. The trial found that vitamin D levels in healthy women increased by 43% and omega 3 levels increased by 41%.
Ritual Essential is the best multivitamin for women. With Ritual Essential multivitamin, you get nine vitamins and minerals that women often lack in their diet -- including vitamin D, E, B12 and iron and folate. It's best for the average woman who eats a balanced diet but needs a little extra help. Ritual doesn't have all the nutrients and vitamins found in other products, but that's OK for the average person. It's not the best pick for someone who needs a more comprehensive multivitamin.
Ritual Essential multivitamins are gel capsules with a patented beadlet in oil design, which allows oily and dry vitamins to coexist in one capsule. It also features a delayed-release design for better absorption and a mint flavor intended to reduce nausea.
Where Ritual shines is its certifications. The manufacturing facilities are certified by the National Sanitation Foundation, which ensures that the products made meet FDA quality standards and Good Manufacturing Practices. It's also third-party tested by Eurofins and IEH laboratories.
Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET
One A Day is my pick for the best multivitamin for men. As the name suggests, you just have to take one pill each day to get your vitamin supplement rather than juggling multiple pills. One A Day has lines for men, women and older adults.
It's a complete multivitamin with over 20 key nutrients designed to support your heart health and immune system. It doesn't have the proprietary blends that many other options have. That means it's cheaper, and you know what's in it. There are no artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors. It's also free of major allergens.
The nutrient content of the One A Day multivitamin gets you close to (a little over for certain nutrients) recommended daily dose. Other vitamin supplements are packed with more vitamins that can get you over 3,000% of your daily recommendation. But it's possible to have too much of a good thing. That's why you should go with One A Day; there are few concerns about how much you're taking.
It also suits the average person's needs. Multivitamins are a good complement to a balanced diet. This might not be the best option if you're particularly deficient in certain vitamins. Bottom line: One A Day multivitamins get straight to the point. You take one pill each day and get exactly how many vitamins and minerals you need. And it's one of the most affordable options on the market.
Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET
If you're like me and liked the chalky taste of Flintstone kid's vitamins, you're probably looking for a high-quality gummy vitamin. SmartyPants is the best gummy multivitamin on this list because of its reliability and quality. Each batch is third-party tested to confirm quality, and it's NSF-certified. SmartyPants multivitamins are made in a cGMP-compliant factory.
SmartyPants gummies contain 15 essential nutrients, including vitamin D, B12, E, K and omega 3, to support immunity, energy and bone health. There are no synthetic dyes in SmartyPants gummy multivitamins, and they are made from non-GMO ingredients. It's also free of the top eight allergens -- peanuts, shellfish, fish, milk, egg, tree nut, wheat and synthetic colors. SmartyPants daily gummies are not an option for vegans since they contain gelatin.
Customer reviews suggest they taste great, and though they have fish oils in them, you don't get any taste of that when eating them. There is a significant amount of sugar in the gummies: You'll find added sugar in nearly all gummy vitamins, but SmartyPants is on the higher side of average. The serving size is six gummies and 8 grams of added sugar. That's something to keep in mind when shopping for your multivitamin match.
Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET
Garden of Life Mykind takes the spot for the best-certified vegan multivitamin. It's gluten-free, non-GMO and kosher. Garden of Life multivitamins are made with all organic ingredients and contain 16 vitamins and minerals. It's a certified USDA organic supplement and made from only plant-based ingredients -- over 30 powdered organic fruits, herbs and vegetables. You won't find any artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors. Garden of Life Multivitamins are also Carbonfree Certified, meaning it's environmentally responsible and carbon neutral.
Garden of Life vegan multivitamins include probiotics and amino acids that aid absorption, as well as vegan D3 and 10 milligrams of iron. You'll get 500% of your daily amount of vitamin B12. The iron content isn't the best out there, which is significant since it's the vitamin that vegetarians and vegans tend to need the most help with. This multivitamin also doesn't include iodine or calcium.
Garden of Life makes non-vegan products, including "raw" and vegetarian products that aren't certified vegan. So if you're shopping specifically for a vegan multivitamin, you should stick with the Mykind line. One drawback of this vitamin is how expensive it is. There's no sugar coating it; it's double the price of some other options on the list.
How we test multivitamins
There are lots of vitamins on the market, so it gets overwhelming when you're searching for the best of the best. To help your search, I've pulled together a curated list of the best multivitamins available based on a few key factors. I haven't tested these products in-house; the selections are based on product research for certifications and vitamin and mineral ingredients.
What is a multivitamin?
A multivitamin is a supplement that contains a mix of different vitamins and minerals that the average person needs. Some include other ingredients such as amino acids, herbs and fatty acids. Instead of juggling multiple pills for each type of vitamin, you just take a multivitamin. The goal of a multivitamin is to act as a safety net behind your diet, filling in any vitamin and mineral gaps you have.
Multivitamins come in different forms, though tablets, capsules and gummies are the most popular. Liquid and powder multivitamins are also available. Generally, you take a multivitamin once or twice a day. Some products have you take more.
Research on multivitamin benefits is divided. Some studies have found that they can help prevent heart disease; others do not support this finding. Taking vitamins has also been linked to lowering the risk of heart attacks and strokes, but some studies counter this.
Research shows that for the average person, the effect multivitamins have is minimal. If you eliminate full food groups or have certain medical conditions, you should consider a multivitamin to supplement your diet.
Benefits of multivitamins
Multivitamins are designed to lower your risk for vitamin deficiencies.
If you are pregnant, multivitamins help bridge the gap of the increased nutrient need.
Digestive troubles such as Crohn's Disease and other medical conditions can compromise your ability to absorb nutrients. Multivitamins can help.
Things to consider before taking a multivitamin
Some multivitamins may include things that have the potential to interact with medications. It's good to check with your doctor before trying any new supplements.
If you're not deficient in certain vitamins, a multivitamin has the potential to give you more than you need. Vitamin E and calcium supplements can negatively affect the body if taken in high doses.
Read more: What Are Vitamins and Why Are They Important?
How to choose the best multivitamin
Since the FDA doesn't regulate multivitamins, fewer requirements are available. When I chose the multivitamins to make up this list, I looked for third-party certifications that prove the product contains what it says it does.
Vitamin certifications to be aware of
Do you need to take a multivitamin?
The average person doesn't need to take a multivitamin as long as they eat a balanced diet. However, diagnosed deficiencies do require vitamin supplements. Multivitamins can be particularly beneficial for certain life stages where you need extra vitamins, like pregnancy or when your body naturally stops absorbing nutrients from food as you age. Vitamin supplements serve a purpose; they just aren't necessary for everyone.
Most multivitamins don't pose a risk. However, the lack of regulations means there may be ingredients in the vitamin that aren't listed, which may lead to drug interactions. If you're on prescription medication and are unsure if you should take a multivitamin, you should talk to your doctor about your nutritional needs. For instance, vitamin K can interfere with blood thinners.
Read more
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
Rachel Barkman's son started accurately identifying different species of mushroom at the age of 2. Together they'd go out into the mossy woods near her home in Vancouver and forage. When it came to occasionally sharing in her TikTok videos her son's enthusiasm and skill for picking mushrooms, she didn't think twice about it -- they captured a few cute moments, and many of her 350,000-plus followers seemed to like it.
That was until last winter, when a female stranger approached them in the forest, bent down and addressed her son, then 3, by name and asked if he could show her some mushrooms.
"I immediately went cold at the realization that I had equipped complete strangers with knowledge of my son that puts him at risk," Barkman said in an interview this past June.
This incident, combined with research into the dangers of sharing too much, made her reevaluate her son's presence online. Starting at the beginning of this year, she vowed not to feature his face in future content.
"My decision was fueled by a desire to protect my son, but also to protect and respect his identity and privacy, because he has a right to choose the way he is shown to the world," she said.
These kinds of dangers have cropped up alongside the rise in child influencers, such as 10-year-old Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, who has almost 33 million subscribers, with various estimates putting his net worth in the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Increasingly, brands are looking to use smaller, more niche, micro- and nano-influencers, developing popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach their audiences. And amid this influencer gold rush there's a strong incentive for parents, many of whom are sharing photos and videos of their kids online anyway, to get in on the action.
The increase in the number of parents who manage accounts for their kids -- child influencers' parents are often referred to as "sharents" -- opens the door to exploitation or other dangers. With almost no industry guardrails in place, these parents find themselves in an unregulated wild west. They're the only arbiters of how much exposure their children get, how much work their kids do, and what happens to money earned through any content they feature in.
Instagram didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it takes any steps to safeguard child influencers. A representative for TikTok said the company has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and pointed to policies to protect accounts of users under the age of 16. But these policies don't apply to parents posting with or on behalf of their children. YouTube didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"When parents share about their children online, they act as both the gatekeeper -- the one tasked with protecting a child's personal information -- and as the gate opener," said Stacey Steinberg, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of the book Growing Up Shared. As the gate opener, "they benefit, gaining both social and possibly financial capital by their online disclosures."
The reality is that some parents neglect the gatekeeping and leave the gate wide open for any internet stranger to walk through unchecked. And walk through they do.
Meet the sharents
Mollie is an aspiring dancer and model with an Instagram following of 122,000 people. Her age is ambiguous but she could be anywhere from 11-13, meaning it's unlikely she's old enough to meet the social media platform's minimum age requirement. Her account is managed by her father, Chris, whose own account is linked in her bio, bringing things in line with Instagram's policy. (Chris didn't respond to a request for comment.)
You don't have to travel far on Instagram to discover accounts such as Mollie's, where grown men openly leer at preteen girls. Public-facing, parent-run accounts dedicated to dancers and gymnasts -- who are under the age of 13 and too young to have accounts of their own -- number in the thousands. (To protect privacy, we've chosen not to identify Mollie, which isn't her real name, or any other minors who haven't already appeared in the media.)
Parents use these accounts, which can have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, to raise their daughters' profiles by posting photos of them posing and demonstrating their flexibility in bikinis and leotards. The comment sections are often flooded with sexualized remarks. A single, ugly word appeared under one group shot of several young girls in bikinis: "orgy."
Some parents try to contain the damage by limiting comments on posts that attract too much attention. The parent running one dancer account took a break from regular scheduling to post a pastel-hued graphic reminding other parents to review their followers regularly. "After seeing multiple stories and posts from dance photographers we admire about cleaning up followers, I decided to spend time cleaning," read the caption. "I was shocked at how many creeps got through as followers."
But "cleaning up" means engaging in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to keep unwanted followers at bay, and it ignores the fact that you don't need to be following a public account to view the posts. Photos of children are regularly reposted on fan or aggregator accounts, over which parents have no control, and they can also be served up through hashtags or through Instagram's discovery algorithms.
The simple truth is that publicly posted content is anyone's for the taking. "Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it," said Leah Plunkett, author of the book Sharenthood and a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School.
This concern is at the heart of the current drama concerning the TikTok account @wren.eleanor. Wren is an adorable blonde 3-year-old girl, and the account, which has 17.3 million followers, is managed by her mother, Jacquelyn, who posts videos almost exclusively of her child.
Concerned onlookers have pointed Jacquelyn toward comments that appear to be predatory, and have warned her that videos in which Wren is in a bathing suit, pretending to insert a tampon, or eating various foodstuffs have more watches, likes and saves than other content. They claim her reluctance to stop posting in spite of their warnings demonstrates she's prioritizing the income from her account over Wren's safety. Jacquelyn didn't respond to several requests for comment.
Last year, the FBI ran a campaign in which it estimated that there were 500,000 predators online every day -- and that's just in the US. Right now, across social platforms, we're seeing the growth of digital marketplaces that hinge on child exploitation, said Plunkett. She doesn't want to tell other parents what to do, she added, but she wants them to be aware that there's "a very real, very pressing threat that even innocent content that they put up about their children is very likely to be repurposed and find its way into those marketplaces."
Naivete vs. exploitation
When parent influencers started out in the world of blogging over a decade ago, the industry wasn't exploitative in the same way it is today, said Crystal Abidin, an academic from Curtin University who specializes in internet cultures. When you trace the child influencer industry back to its roots, what you find is parents, usually mothers, reaching out to one another to connect. "It first came from a place of care among these parent influencers," she said.
Over time, the industry shifted, centering on children more and more as advertising dollars flowed in and new marketplaces formed.
Education about the risks hasn't caught up, which is why people like Sarah Adams, a Vancouver mom who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted, have taken it upon themselves to raise the flag on those risks. "My ultimate goal is just have parents pause and reflect on the state of sharenting right now," she said.
But as Mom Uncharted, Adams is also part of a wider unofficial and informal watchdog group of internet moms and child safety experts shedding light on the often disturbing way in which some parents are, sometimes knowingly, exploiting their children online.
The troubling behavior uncovered by Adams and others suggests there's more than naivete at play -- specifically when parents sign up for and advertise services that let people buy "exclusive" or "VIP" access to content featuring their children.
Some parent-run social media accounts that Adams has found linked out to a site called SelectSets, which lets the parents sell photo sets of their children. One account offered sets with titles such as "2 little princesses." SelectSets has described the service as "a classy and professional" option for influencers to monetize content, allowing them to "avoid the stigma often associated with other platforms."
Over the last few weeks, SelectSets has gone offline and no owner could be traced for comment.
In addition to selling photos, many parent-run dancer accounts, Mollie's included, allow strangers to send the dancers swimwear and underwear from the dancers' Amazon wish lists, or money to "sponsor" them to "realize their dream" or support them on their "journeys."
While there's nothing technically illegal about anything these parents are doing, they're placing their children in a gray area that's not explicitly sexual but that many people would consider to be sexualized. The business model of using an Amazon wish list is one commonly embraced by online sugar babies who accept money and gifts from older men.
"Our Conditions of Use and Sale make clear that users of Amazon Services must be 18 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian," said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement. "In rare cases where we are made aware that an account has been opened by a minor without permission, we close the account."
Adams says it's unlikely to be other 11-year-olds sending their pocket money to these girls so they attend their next bikini modeling shoot. "Who the fuck do you think is tipping these kids?" she said. "It's predators who are liking the way you exploit your child and giving them all the content they need."
Turning points
Plunkett distinguishes between parents who are casually sharing content that features their kids and parents who are sharing for profit, an activity she describes as "commercial sharenting."
"You are taking your child, or in some cases, your broader family's private or intimate moments, and sharing them digitally, in the hope of having some kind of current or future financial benefit," she said.
No matter the parent's hopes or intentions, any time children appear in public-facing social media content, that content has the potential to go viral, and when it does, parents have a choice to either lean in and monetize it or try to rein it in.
During Abidin's research -- in which she follows the changing activities of the same influencers over time -- she's found that many influencer parents reach a turning point. It can be triggered by something as simple as other children at school being aware of their child's celebrity or their child not enjoying it anymore, or as serious as being involved in a car chase while trying to escape fans (an occurrence recounted to Abidin by one of her research subjects).
One influencer, Katy Rose Pritchard, who has almost 92,000 Instagram followers, decided to stop showing her children's faces on social media this year after she discovered they were being used to create role-playing accounts. People had taken photos of her children that she'd posted and used them to create fictional profiles of children for personal gratification, which she said in a post made her feel "violated."
All these examples highlight the different kinds of threats sharents are exposing their children to. Plunkett describes three "buckets" of risk tied to publicly sharing content online. The first and perhaps most obvious are risks involving criminal and/or dangerous behavior, posing a direct threat to the child.
The second are indirect risks, where content posted featuring children can be taken, reused, analyzed or repurposed by people with nefarious motives. Consequences include anything from bullying to harming future job prospects to millions of people having access to children's medical information -- a common trope on YouTube is a video with a melodramatic title and thumbnail involving a child's trip to the hospital, in which influencer parents with sick kids will document their health journeys in blow-by-blow detail.
The third set of risks are probably the least talked about, but they involve potential harm to a child's sense of self. If you're a child influencer, how you see yourself as a person and your ability to develop into an adult is "going to be shaped and in some instances impeded by the fact that your parents are creating this public performance persona for you," said Plunkett.
Often children won't be aware of what this public persona looks like to the audience and how it's being interpreted. They may not even be aware it exists. But at some point, as happened with Barkman, the private world in which content is created and the public world in which it's consumed will inevitably collide. At that point, the child will be thrust into the position of confronting the persona that's been created for them.
"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult, as many will already have notions about who that child is or what that child may like," said Steinberg. "These notions, of course, may be incorrect. And some children may value privacy and wish their life stories were theirs -- not their parents -- to tell."
Savannah and Cole LaBrant have documented nearly everything about their children's lives.
Jim Spellman/WireImage
This aspect of having their real-life stories made public is a key factor distinguishing children working in social media from children working in the professional entertainment industry, who usually play fictional roles. Many children who will become teens and adults in the next couple of decades will have to reckon with the fact that their parents put their most vulnerable moments on the internet for the world to see -- their meltdowns, their humiliation, their most personal moments.
One influencer family, the LaBrants, were forced to issue a public apology in 2019 after they played an April Fools' Day Joke on their 6-year-old daughter Everleigh. The family pretended they were giving her dog away, eliciting tears throughout the video. As a result, many viewers felt that her parents, Sav and Cole, had inflicted unnecessary distress on her.
In the past few months, parents who film their children during meltdowns to demonstrate how to calm them down have found themselves the subject of ire on parenting Subreddits. Their critics argue that it's unfair to post content of children when they're at their most vulnerable, as it shows a lack of respect for a child's right to privacy.
Privacy-centric parenting
Even the staunchest advocates of child privacy know and understand the parental instinct of wanting to share their children's cuteness and talent with the world. "Our kids are the things usually we're the most proud of, the most excited about," said Adams. "It is normal to want to show them off and be proud of them."
When Adams started her account two years ago, she said her views were seen as more polarizing. But increasingly people seem to relate and share her concerns. Most of these are "average parents," naive to the risks they're exposing their kids to, but some are "commercial sharents" too.
Even though they don't always see eye to eye, the private conversations she's had with parents of children (she doesn't publicly call out anyone) with massive social media presences have been civil and productive. "I hope it opens more parents' eyes to the reality of the situation, because frankly this is all just a large social experiment," she said. "And it's being done on our kids. And that just doesn't seem like a good idea."
For Barkman, it's been "surprisingly easy, and hugely beneficial" to stop sharing content about her son. She's more present, and focuses only on capturing memories she wants to keep for herself.
"When motherhood is all consuming, it sometimes feels like that's all you have to offer, so I completely understand how we have slid into oversharing our children," she said. "It's a huge chunk of our identity and our hearts."
But Barkman recognizes the reality of the situation, which is that she doesn't know who's viewing her content and that she can't rely on tech platforms to protect her son. "We are raising a generation of children who have their entire lives broadcast online, and the newness of social media means we don't have much data on the impacts of that reality on children," she said. "I feel better acting with caution and letting my son have his privacy so that he can decide how he wants to be perceived by the world when he's ready and able."
Tiktok parents are taking advantage of their kids it needs to be fixed tiktok parents are taking advantage of their kids it needs assessment tiktok parents are taking advantage of their kids itchy tiktok parents are taking advantage of their kids itunes tiktok parents are taking advantage of opportunities tiktok parents are taking advantage quotes tiktok parents are taking supplements tiktok parents are taking laxatives tiktok parents are taking amino tiktok parents catch son sneaking out
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
Rachel Barkman's son started accurately identifying different species of mushroom at the age of 2. Together they'd go out into the mossy woods near her home in Vancouver and forage. When it came to occasionally sharing in her TikTok videos her son's enthusiasm and skill for picking mushrooms, she didn't think twice about it -- they captured a few cute moments, and many of her 350,000-plus followers seemed to like it.
That was until last winter, when a female stranger approached them in the forest, bent down and addressed her son, then 3, by name and asked if he could show her some mushrooms.
"I immediately went cold at the realization that I had equipped complete strangers with knowledge of my son that puts him at risk," Barkman said in an interview this past June.
This incident, combined with research into the dangers of sharing too much, made her reevaluate her son's presence online. Starting at the beginning of this year, she vowed not to feature his face in future content.
"My decision was fueled by a desire to protect my son, but also to protect and respect his identity and privacy, because he has a right to choose the way he is shown to the world," she said.
These kinds of dangers have cropped up alongside the rise in child influencers, such as 10-year-old Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, who has almost 33 million subscribers, with various estimates putting his net worth in the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Increasingly, brands are looking to use smaller, more niche, micro- and nano-influencers, developing popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach their audiences. And amid this influencer gold rush there's a strong incentive for parents, many of whom are sharing photos and videos of their kids online anyway, to get in on the action.
The increase in the number of parents who manage accounts for their kids -- child influencers' parents are often referred to as "sharents" -- opens the door to exploitation or other dangers. With almost no industry guardrails in place, these parents find themselves in an unregulated wild west. They're the only arbiters of how much exposure their children get, how much work their kids do, and what happens to money earned through any content they feature in.
Instagram didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it takes any steps to safeguard child influencers. A representative for TikTok said the company has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and pointed to policies to protect accounts of users under the age of 16. But these policies don't apply to parents posting with or on behalf of their children. YouTube didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"When parents share about their children online, they act as both the gatekeeper -- the one tasked with protecting a child's personal information -- and as the gate opener," said Stacey Steinberg, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of the book Growing Up Shared. As the gate opener, "they benefit, gaining both social and possibly financial capital by their online disclosures."
The reality is that some parents neglect the gatekeeping and leave the gate wide open for any internet stranger to walk through unchecked. And walk through they do.
Meet the sharents
Mollie is an aspiring dancer and model with an Instagram following of 122,000 people. Her age is ambiguous but she could be anywhere from 11-13, meaning it's unlikely she's old enough to meet the social media platform's minimum age requirement. Her account is managed by her father, Chris, whose own account is linked in her bio, bringing things in line with Instagram's policy. (Chris didn't respond to a request for comment.)
You don't have to travel far on Instagram to discover accounts such as Mollie's, where grown men openly leer at preteen girls. Public-facing, parent-run accounts dedicated to dancers and gymnasts -- who are under the age of 13 and too young to have accounts of their own -- number in the thousands. (To protect privacy, we've chosen not to identify Mollie, which isn't her real name, or any other minors who haven't already appeared in the media.)
Parents use these accounts, which can have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, to raise their daughters' profiles by posting photos of them posing and demonstrating their flexibility in bikinis and leotards. The comment sections are often flooded with sexualized remarks. A single, ugly word appeared under one group shot of several young girls in bikinis: "orgy."
Some parents try to contain the damage by limiting comments on posts that attract too much attention. The parent running one dancer account took a break from regular scheduling to post a pastel-hued graphic reminding other parents to review their followers regularly. "After seeing multiple stories and posts from dance photographers we admire about cleaning up followers, I decided to spend time cleaning," read the caption. "I was shocked at how many creeps got through as followers."
But "cleaning up" means engaging in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to keep unwanted followers at bay, and it ignores the fact that you don't need to be following a public account to view the posts. Photos of children are regularly reposted on fan or aggregator accounts, over which parents have no control, and they can also be served up through hashtags or through Instagram's discovery algorithms.
The simple truth is that publicly posted content is anyone's for the taking. "Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it," said Leah Plunkett, author of the book Sharenthood and a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School.
This concern is at the heart of the current drama concerning the TikTok account @wren.eleanor. Wren is an adorable blonde 3-year-old girl, and the account, which has 17.3 million followers, is managed by her mother, Jacquelyn, who posts videos almost exclusively of her child.
Concerned onlookers have pointed Jacquelyn toward comments that appear to be predatory, and have warned her that videos in which Wren is in a bathing suit, pretending to insert a tampon, or eating various foodstuffs have more watches, likes and saves than other content. They claim her reluctance to stop posting in spite of their warnings demonstrates she's prioritizing the income from her account over Wren's safety. Jacquelyn didn't respond to several requests for comment.
Last year, the FBI ran a campaign in which it estimated that there were 500,000 predators online every day -- and that's just in the US. Right now, across social platforms, we're seeing the growth of digital marketplaces that hinge on child exploitation, said Plunkett. She doesn't want to tell other parents what to do, she added, but she wants them to be aware that there's "a very real, very pressing threat that even innocent content that they put up about their children is very likely to be repurposed and find its way into those marketplaces."
Naivete vs. exploitation
When parent influencers started out in the world of blogging over a decade ago, the industry wasn't exploitative in the same way it is today, said Crystal Abidin, an academic from Curtin University who specializes in internet cultures. When you trace the child influencer industry back to its roots, what you find is parents, usually mothers, reaching out to one another to connect. "It first came from a place of care among these parent influencers," she said.
Over time, the industry shifted, centering on children more and more as advertising dollars flowed in and new marketplaces formed.
Education about the risks hasn't caught up, which is why people like Sarah Adams, a Vancouver mom who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted, have taken it upon themselves to raise the flag on those risks. "My ultimate goal is just have parents pause and reflect on the state of sharenting right now," she said.
But as Mom Uncharted, Adams is also part of a wider unofficial and informal watchdog group of internet moms and child safety experts shedding light on the often disturbing way in which some parents are, sometimes knowingly, exploiting their children online.
The troubling behavior uncovered by Adams and others suggests there's more than naivete at play -- specifically when parents sign up for and advertise services that let people buy "exclusive" or "VIP" access to content featuring their children.
Some parent-run social media accounts that Adams has found linked out to a site called SelectSets, which lets the parents sell photo sets of their children. One account offered sets with titles such as "2 little princesses." SelectSets has described the service as "a classy and professional" option for influencers to monetize content, allowing them to "avoid the stigma often associated with other platforms."
Over the last few weeks, SelectSets has gone offline and no owner could be traced for comment.
In addition to selling photos, many parent-run dancer accounts, Mollie's included, allow strangers to send the dancers swimwear and underwear from the dancers' Amazon wish lists, or money to "sponsor" them to "realize their dream" or support them on their "journeys."
While there's nothing technically illegal about anything these parents are doing, they're placing their children in a gray area that's not explicitly sexual but that many people would consider to be sexualized. The business model of using an Amazon wish list is one commonly embraced by online sugar babies who accept money and gifts from older men.
"Our Conditions of Use and Sale make clear that users of Amazon Services must be 18 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian," said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement. "In rare cases where we are made aware that an account has been opened by a minor without permission, we close the account."
Adams says it's unlikely to be other 11-year-olds sending their pocket money to these girls so they attend their next bikini modeling shoot. "Who the fuck do you think is tipping these kids?" she said. "It's predators who are liking the way you exploit your child and giving them all the content they need."
Turning points
Plunkett distinguishes between parents who are casually sharing content that features their kids and parents who are sharing for profit, an activity she describes as "commercial sharenting."
"You are taking your child, or in some cases, your broader family's private or intimate moments, and sharing them digitally, in the hope of having some kind of current or future financial benefit," she said.
No matter the parent's hopes or intentions, any time children appear in public-facing social media content, that content has the potential to go viral, and when it does, parents have a choice to either lean in and monetize it or try to rein it in.
During Abidin's research -- in which she follows the changing activities of the same influencers over time -- she's found that many influencer parents reach a turning point. It can be triggered by something as simple as other children at school being aware of their child's celebrity or their child not enjoying it anymore, or as serious as being involved in a car chase while trying to escape fans (an occurrence recounted to Abidin by one of her research subjects).
One influencer, Katy Rose Pritchard, who has almost 92,000 Instagram followers, decided to stop showing her children's faces on social media this year after she discovered they were being used to create role-playing accounts. People had taken photos of her children that she'd posted and used them to create fictional profiles of children for personal gratification, which she said in a post made her feel "violated."
All these examples highlight the different kinds of threats sharents are exposing their children to. Plunkett describes three "buckets" of risk tied to publicly sharing content online. The first and perhaps most obvious are risks involving criminal and/or dangerous behavior, posing a direct threat to the child.
The second are indirect risks, where content posted featuring children can be taken, reused, analyzed or repurposed by people with nefarious motives. Consequences include anything from bullying to harming future job prospects to millions of people having access to children's medical information -- a common trope on YouTube is a video with a melodramatic title and thumbnail involving a child's trip to the hospital, in which influencer parents with sick kids will document their health journeys in blow-by-blow detail.
The third set of risks are probably the least talked about, but they involve potential harm to a child's sense of self. If you're a child influencer, how you see yourself as a person and your ability to develop into an adult is "going to be shaped and in some instances impeded by the fact that your parents are creating this public performance persona for you," said Plunkett.
Often children won't be aware of what this public persona looks like to the audience and how it's being interpreted. They may not even be aware it exists. But at some point, as happened with Barkman, the private world in which content is created and the public world in which it's consumed will inevitably collide. At that point, the child will be thrust into the position of confronting the persona that's been created for them.
"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult, as many will already have notions about who that child is or what that child may like," said Steinberg. "These notions, of course, may be incorrect. And some children may value privacy and wish their life stories were theirs -- not their parents -- to tell."
Savannah and Cole LaBrant have documented nearly everything about their children's lives.
Jim Spellman/WireImage
This aspect of having their real-life stories made public is a key factor distinguishing children working in social media from children working in the professional entertainment industry, who usually play fictional roles. Many children who will become teens and adults in the next couple of decades will have to reckon with the fact that their parents put their most vulnerable moments on the internet for the world to see -- their meltdowns, their humiliation, their most personal moments.
One influencer family, the LaBrants, were forced to issue a public apology in 2019 after they played an April Fools' Day Joke on their 6-year-old daughter Everleigh. The family pretended they were giving her dog away, eliciting tears throughout the video. As a result, many viewers felt that her parents, Sav and Cole, had inflicted unnecessary distress on her.
In the past few months, parents who film their children during meltdowns to demonstrate how to calm them down have found themselves the subject of ire on parenting Subreddits. Their critics argue that it's unfair to post content of children when they're at their most vulnerable, as it shows a lack of respect for a child's right to privacy.
Privacy-centric parenting
Even the staunchest advocates of child privacy know and understand the parental instinct of wanting to share their children's cuteness and talent with the world. "Our kids are the things usually we're the most proud of, the most excited about," said Adams. "It is normal to want to show them off and be proud of them."
When Adams started her account two years ago, she said her views were seen as more polarizing. But increasingly people seem to relate and share her concerns. Most of these are "average parents," naive to the risks they're exposing their kids to, but some are "commercial sharents" too.
Even though they don't always see eye to eye, the private conversations she's had with parents of children (she doesn't publicly call out anyone) with massive social media presences have been civil and productive. "I hope it opens more parents' eyes to the reality of the situation, because frankly this is all just a large social experiment," she said. "And it's being done on our kids. And that just doesn't seem like a good idea."
For Barkman, it's been "surprisingly easy, and hugely beneficial" to stop sharing content about her son. She's more present, and focuses only on capturing memories she wants to keep for herself.
"When motherhood is all consuming, it sometimes feels like that's all you have to offer, so I completely understand how we have slid into oversharing our children," she said. "It's a huge chunk of our identity and our hearts."
But Barkman recognizes the reality of the situation, which is that she doesn't know who's viewing her content and that she can't rely on tech platforms to protect her son. "We are raising a generation of children who have their entire lives broadcast online, and the newness of social media means we don't have much data on the impacts of that reality on children," she said. "I feel better acting with caution and letting my son have his privacy so that he can decide how he wants to be perceived by the world when he's ready and able."
Bye bye baby baby monitor add a parent monitor baby monitor baby monitor with monitor baby monitor with monitor babyping video baby monitor baby monitor video monitor new video baby monitor baby monitor with screen this baby don t cry
This baby monitor eased my parenting nightmares and sleep scares for my little one
This baby monitor eased my parenting nightmares and sleep scares for my little one
Choosing a baby monitor can be one of the most stressful purchases of all of the new-parent gear to buy. Monitors hold the promise of peace of mind, sending instant motion alerts and constant monitoring of your baby's sleep pattern and vitals. What you don't know right away is the fear of your camera being hacked or randomly stopping working -- a common problem parents face.
I looked at dozens of cameras, and none of them were perfect for me as a first-time parent. But the Nanit Pro Camera came pretty close. Since setting it up, I've gotten better sleep at night, knowing that my monitor will alert me if my child wakes up or moves around, or if the app loses the camera's connection. Plus, it celebrates his milestones, like sleeping through the night and his birthday.
Here are the features that, for me, make the Nanit Pro better than the rest, with the features I wanted, all within my budget. For more, here's our look at the best baby monitors to help narrow down your search. And here's how Uber can deliver baby essentials.
Nanit's mobile app gives you complete control of your monitor
The most basic baby monitor often includes a camera and audio to give you live updates on what's happening with your baby. For me, I always want to know what's going on when my child is in his room. Most baby monitor apps show a live view with night vision and send motion-triggered alerts. But I love that Nanit gives me more insights and control from the app without disturbing my little one's sleep. Here's what else Nanit can do.
See a live view of any activity and zoom in for a closer look.
Soothe him back to sleep with the camera's two-way audio.
Control the night light and its brightness.
Turn the camera on and off.
Enable Night Mode to darken my phone screen but still keep an eye on my baby without the screen locking.
Play back clips from motion-triggered alerts.
The app is easy to use and immediately displays what I am interested in. When I open the app, the first thing I see is how long my baby has been sleeping or when he woke up. Nanit also has an Amazon Alexa skill, so I can use voice commands to control the baby monitor.
If you want more details and guidance on your child's sleep, a Nanit Insights subscription lets you track your kid's sleep patterns and stores videos for more than two days, along with other monitoring tools. One year of Nanit Insights is included with the Nanit Plus and Nanit Pro cameras, but it only includes two days of data -- which is enough for me. After the first year, the basic subscription is $5 a month. For $10 a month, you can store for 30 days, and for $30 a month, you can get unlimited storage.
Nanit's dashboard gives you details about your baby's sleep
I'm so glad that I had this camera during my baby's many sleep regressions. Nanit's Insights' dashboard lets me look back at my baby's sleep patterns over the past week to see changes in his sleep patterns. It's helpful if he's sick, going through developmental changes, or just having a rough night.
The dashboard is easy to access at the bottom of the app. The dashboard shows sleep onset so I know how long it takes my child to fall asleep once in bed. And it shows how long he has been asleep, how many visits I make to soothe my snoozer, and sleep efficiency to see how well he slept through the night.
The app also displays a movement map and shows my baby's preferred sleeping position, as well as which area of the crib he slept in most.
And I can watch a playback of my baby's night, too. These features make the Nanit Insights subscription worth it for this feature alone.
The Nanit community connects me with other parents
Of all the parenting groups I'm a part of, I love how a community of parents and experts came with my camera purchase. Through the Nanit community, I can ask questions and get advice to help me navigate new parenthood. And I can share my own insights on everything related to child upbringing and parenting -- feeding, sleep, personal time and more. The community is divided into different categories, so I can join groups that interest me most. Plus, the Nanit community can help me troubleshoot issues and offers tips to make the most of my camera.
The Nanit accessories I regret not buying
Like the Owlet Smart Sock, Nanit has a few accessories that can help give parents peace of mind. I started with the Nanit Pro with the included wall mount, with the idea I would add other accessories as needed. These are a few accessories you might find useful.
Nanit has Smart Sheets that can measure your baby's growth and breathing, and heart rate monitors that your child can wear that you can check from the app. You can also travel safely with your Nanit camera with the travel case. For more control over your camera, you can get a floor stand or what the company calls a multistand (which I do plan to buy) that lets you easily move the camera between rooms and get a wider angle view of a room.
How I dealt with privacy, safety and security concerns
You may have read about hackers reportedly taking control of baby monitors. Before choosing the Nanit Pro, my fiance thoroughly researched Nanit's security measures. To be on the safe side, we changed our Wi-Fi username and password and changed passwords for other linked devices in the house before we connected the camera to our Wi-Fi. So far, everything has been smooth sailing. For extra protection, Nanit offers two-factor authentication (which we enabled). We also can turn on the camera using the app for privacy.
For my toddler's safety, Nanit's monitor is designed to hide the cord in the wall mount, so my little one doesn't even know it's there.
If you're looking for other first-time parent must-haves, here's what we think about the MamaRoo (another personal favorite) and everything to know about the Snoo before you buy one.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
How to follow tiktok how to stop following on tiktok i need to know tiktok need to know tiktok please remember my answer is you tiktok please remember my answer is you tiktok how to follow tiktok i want to watch tiktok tik tok whatsapp group link tiktok wantsomemolly tiktok wanshika 26 tik tok whatsapp group link
TikTok Wants to Remind You to Take Breaks From the App
TikTok Wants to Remind You to Take Breaks From the App
What's happening
TikTok is releasing more tools in the coming weeks to enable people to limit screen time.
Why it matters
It's another example of how social media companies are responding to criticism that their apps have harmful mental health impacts, especially on young people.
TikTok users who spend too much time mindlessly scrolling through the app's short-form videos will soon have another way to limit their screen time.
TikTok said in a blog post Thursday that it's releasing a new tool in the coming weeks that'll enable you to schedule reminders to take a break from the app after a certain amount of time. TikTok currently has a tool that can prompt you to enter a passcode if you've spent 40, 60, 90 or 120 minutes on the app. The new screen-time tool includes an option to set reminders for whatever amount of time you choose such as 10 or 20 minutes. TikTok also said it will also remind users between the ages of 13 and 17 about the screen-time tool if they use the app for more than 100 minutes in a single day.
TikTok does allow users under 13 years old to use the app, but their experience is limited so they don't have access to certain features such as sharing and commenting on videos or maintaining a profile or followers. The company didn't respond to questions about how screen breaks apply to users under 13.
TikTok will let you schedule breaks from the app.
TikTok
In addition, TikTok is releasing a screen time dashboard that will give you a sense of how much time you're spending scrolling through videos. The dashboard includes data about daily time spent on the app, the number of times you open TikTok and how much you use the app during the daytime versus the night time. TikTok also published a new mental well-being guide in its Safety Center that includes tips about how to respond to friends and family who are struggling with their mental health.
"Having a positive relationship with digital devices and apps isn't just about measuring screen time," Jordan Furlong, product manager for digital well-being at TikTok, said in the blog post. "It's also about feeling in control of how we use technology and ensuring that the time we spend online contributes positively to our sense of well-being."
The release of new tools that encourage screen time limits is another example of how social media companies are responding to criticism that their apps are harming people's mental health, especially teenagers. In March, a group of state attorneys general said it was investigating how TikTok harms young users and what the company knew about those harms.
Last year, The Wall Street Journal published an investigation that showed how TikTok's algorithm can send users down a rabbit hole of content by using data such as how long users linger on a video. That can be problematic if the app continues to show sad videos to someone who is depressed or pushes more extremist content to conspiracy theorists.
The potential negative mental health impacts of social media on users have been an ongoing discussion for many years. Concerns about this issue, though, reached new heights after Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower, leaked documents, including one that showed how Instagram can make teenage girls feel worse about their bodies. Facebook, now Meta, said that its research was mischaracterized and that Instagram can also help teenagers connect to their family and friends.
US lawmakers have held a series of hearings related to the topic and heard testimony from various social media companies including TikTok that say they're taking the mental health of their users seriously.
Social media apps have been trying to give people more control over how they use the platform. In 2018, Facebook and its photo-and-video service Instagram released tools to limit time spent on the app. Instagram also unveiled new parental controls in March.
In 2020, TikTok released parental controls that allow parents to limit the amount of time their children spent on the app. It's unclear whether these tools have been working or are widely used among TikTok's more than 1 billion users. TikTok hasn't released data about how many people use daily screen time limits.
Youtube how to use roundup weed killer how to use roundup weed killer for lawns how to use roundup weed killer is it safe to use roundup weed killer how to use roundup with a wand how to use roundup excel farm use roundup
Use Roundup Weed Killer? You May Be Owed Money
Use Roundup Weed Killer? You May Be Owed Money
If you've purchased Roundup, HDX or Ace weed and grass killer in recent years, you might have some money coming to you. Agricultural giant Monsanto, which produces all three, has agreed to a $45 million settlement in response to a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of failing to warn customers that the glyphosate-based herbicides could potentially cause cancer or other adverse health effects.
The payout is unrelated to the tens of thousands of personal injury claims filed against Monsanto and its parent company, Bayer, by people diagnosed with cancer after using Roundup. The claimants in this suit alleged Monsanto was negligent in not warning them of the danger.
Read on to find out what the Roundup case is about, who can file a claim and how much class members can expect to receive. For information on other class-action cases, see if you qualify for part of T-Mobile's $350 million payout.
What does the class-action lawsuit accuse Monsanto of?
The suit, first filed in US District Court for the District of Oregon in 2019, claimed Monsanto promoted and sold various weed and grass killers without disclosing their potential cancer risks.
The products all included glyphosate, one of the most common herbicides in the world. While the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2015 classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans," the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined there is "no evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans."
Monsanto denies any wrongdoing but in 2021 agreed to pay between $23 million and $45 million to resolve the case. On June 21, 2022, US District Judge Vince Chhabria provisionally approved the maximum payout.
Which Monsanto weed killer brands are included in the settlement?
There are 19 Monsanto herbicide products containing glyphosate in the agreement, including Roundup Ready-to-Use Weed & Grass Killer, HDX Weed & Grass Killer Ready-to-Use and Ace Weed & Grass Killer Concentrate.
You can find a complete list of products here.
Who is eligible to file a claim in the Monsanto settlement?
Anyone in the US who purchased one of the varieties of Roundup, HDX or Ace weed and grass killer covered by the suit for any other reason than resale or distribution is eligible for a cash payment.
The class period depends on the state in which a product was bought. You can locate the specific time frame for your state here (PDF).
Do I need to have a Roundup receipt to file a claim?
According to the provisional settlement, no.
"Recognizing that many consumers will not have receipts or will not wish to go through the effort of locating them, proof of purchase will not be required to claim up to one Product for each year of the class period," the settlement said.
The only exception is for the largest and highest-priced concentrated products, which will require valid proof of purchase.
Bayer's San Francisco offices. The German pharmaceutical company bought Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018.
Sundry Photography/Getty Images
How do I file a claim to be part of the Roundup class-action settlement?
To participate in the settlement, you need to file a claim that includes your contact information, proof of purchase or information about the product you purchased, the retail location of the purchase including city and state and the approximate date of purchase.
You can file a claim here.
How much money could I get in the Monsanto settlement?
The payment will be between 55 cents and $33 -- or about 20% of the average retail price, depending on where the products were bought.
If the class member has proofs of purchase, there is no limit to the number of units they can claim.
Without proof of purchase, they can claim they bought between two and 11 units, depending on the state the items were bought in.
With the exception of the three largest concentrated products, though, claims without proof of purchase are limited to one item a year within the period covered by the settlement.
When is the deadline to file a claim?
The deadline to submit a claim or opt out of the settlement is Oct. 19, 2022. While the deadline to object to the settlement is Dec. 5, 2022.
When will class members receive their money?
A final hearing to determine the fairness of the settlement is slated for Jan. 12, 2023. If approved, payments would begin to be issued at some point after that.
The claimants in this most recent suit don't allege they developed cancer result of using Roundup and other Monsanto weedkillers, but that the agricultural company was negligent in not warning them of the danger.
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/ AFP/Getty Images
Does accepting a settlement mean I can't sue if I used Roundup and develop cancer later?
The settlement does not relate to personal injury -- it only covers false advertising, consumer fraud, breach of warranty and other economic claims, according to the Top Class Actions website.
The settlement language "needs to scream from the mountaintops that if you participate in this settlement and later get sick from non-Hodgkin lymphoma your participation in this settlement does not preclude you from suing Monsanto," Chhabria, the district court judge, said in an April hearing, Courthouse News Service reported.
How has Monsanto responded to the allegations?
Neither Monsanto nor Bayer responded to a request for comment. But Bayer has publicly repudiated the claims in the suit and reiterated that the EPA has found glyphosate is not carcinogenic.
"Therefore, a cancer warning label on Monsanto's glyphosate-based products would be illegal misbranding," a Bayer spokesman told Law360.
Bayer's support for a settlement "is not due to any safety concerns," it said, "as the weight of scientific evidence and the conclusions of all expert regulators worldwide continue to support the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides."
There have been at least three high-profile civil suits involving the potential links between Monsanto's weed killers and cancer: In 2018, a San Francisco jury awarded $289 million to a groundskeeper who used Roundup products and developed late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
In March 2019, a federal jury awarded $80 million to another California man after determining Roundup was "a substantial factor" in causing his lymphoma. In May of that same year, another jury awarded more than $2 billion to a California couple in their 70s who had both been diagnosed with the same illness after using Roundup for decades.
Courts, including the Supreme Court, have rejected Bayer's appeals and, in 2020, the company agreed to pay $10.9 billion to settle nearly 100,000 more lawsuits from individuals claiming glyphosate in Roundup and other Monsanto weed killers caused them to develop cancer.
Last year, Bayer announced it would remove glyphosate from its retail lawn care products by 2023, to "manage litigation risk in the U.S. and not because of safety concerns."
