Taking a Child-Centered Approach to Digital Media
An Interview With Kris Perry, Executive Director of Children and Screens
Like Culture Reframed, Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development takes a science-based approach to protecting young people from the harms of our digital culture. Under the leadership of Executive Director Kris Perry, this independent, nonprofit organization advances interdisciplinary dialogue, drives scientific research, and delivers accessible, evidence-based guidance to families, educators, and policymakers.
Perry began her career as a child abuse investigator, where she saw firsthand how family stress, often rooted in poverty, can undermine a child’s well-being. That experience led her to focus on prevention and systems change through early intervention services, family preservation, and strategic planning to help improve support for families. Prior to joining Children and Screens, she served as Senior Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Deputy Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, where she spearheaded the development of the state’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care and the expansion of access to high-quality early learning programs.
Her focus shifted with the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she recognized a new and pervasive threat to childhood: online safety. “As rapidly evolving advanced technologies, including generative AI, reshape childhood, our nation is at a critical juncture,” she said. At Children and Screens, Perry helps researchers communicate with a clear, powerful voice to industry, policymakers, and parents — clarifying the risks of digital media and advancing a child-centered approach to developing safe products for children.
In this interview, Perry discusses her journey to Children and Screens, addresses the complex challenge of digital media reshaping sexual development, and advocates for open communication between parents and children.
Why is it so important to incorporate interdisciplinary voices — like neuroscience, public health, and education — into conversations about children’s digital well-being?
Interdisciplinary voices aren’t “nice-to-have.” They are an essential way to understand how technology intersects with child development. Children, and the complex integrated systems that surround them, cannot be fully understood or optimized through a singular lens. Neuroscience tells us when brains are most sensitive; psychology explains mental health; pediatrics tracks sleep and growth; education links design to learning; law and policy set necessary guardrails; and data science provides meaningful insights. When these fields work together, we move from isolated research findings to holistic solutions.
In your view, what are the most pressing barriers or challenges to achieving digital wellness for young people today?
The biggest barrier to digital wellness today is the business model behind most major platforms. When revenue depends on capturing and holding attention, design choices directly compete with user well-being. Features such as endless feeds of suggested content, public likes and follower counts, and relentless push notifications are built to keep people engaged. Additionally, the default product design makes it difficult to manage privacy and content settings. Similarly, design dictates that the underlying algorithms recommend content to maximize users’ attention at the expense of health, learning, and safety.
This attention economy drives algorithmic curation, deceptive design, and invasions of user privacy across social media, music streaming, video platforms, and even search engines. We need to align product design with children’s well-being by funding independent research that links design to outcomes and identifies what actually works. We need transparency into data flows for researchers and regulators.
One of the most complex challenges is how digital media is reshaping sexual development and education. With hypersexualized content and the easy accessibility of pornography, how can parents and caregivers navigate this landscape effectively?
Starting in early childhood, be alert to online risks and build open channels of communication that are developmentally appropriate with your child. Parents and caregivers should strive to maintain a conversation about human sexuality and how it’s depicted that is factual and judgment-free. They should ask open-ended questions about what their children are seeing online and stay informed about the latest platforms and their unique features. This will enable them to intervene and offer timely support or guidance as needed.
However, families cannot manage these risks on their own. We need better product designs and safety features, more transparency from platforms on how underage users are interacting with inappropriate content, and stronger regulations that ensure accountability for systems that protect kids online.
There is a growing interest in youth-led prevention and peer-based education models. What potential do you see in these approaches, and how can they be supported to scale responsibly and effectively?
Youth have a great deal to say about this issue if we listen, and that matters because they are the ones living it every day. Youth voices have been left out of the conversation for too long, but that is starting to change. We’re seeing impressive youth-led organizations and movements driving necessary change around the nation. Peer-based prevention and education models have been hugely successful as adolescents gain independence. These approaches have significant potential because they help ensure that the information is accessible and meaningful.
However, it’s important not to assume that youth can do it all on their own. Guidance, resources, and systematic support are essential, and adults must stand alongside youth to help scale and sustain youth-led programs, as well as to act at levels that youth may not be equipped or empowered to address. We do not expect youth to solve drug and substance abuse on their own, simply through peer norms and education, but it can be a powerful piece of the puzzle.
If you could implement one major policy change regarding youth and digital media in the next year, what would it be and why?
We need strong data rights, ideally for everyone, but especially for children and teens. Unlike most major countries, the United States lacks comprehensive data and privacy protections, including the right to decide if and when your data is collected and how it’s used. Establishing these rights would reshape the business model that drives many of the harms, including the collection and sale of user data. The umbrella of data rights also includes protections against harmful uses of data. This obliges companies to handle user data with care, rather than for pure profit. Data rights won’t immediately stop harmful practices, but they give individuals and regulators real leverage and lay the groundwork for targeted safety rules that can meaningfully improve online experiences. Since all digital activity depends on data, these protections would be applicable to existing and future digital technologies.
What’s a current project, initiative, or research area at your organization that you’re especially excited about right now?
There is an extraordinary — and growing — body of research that can help us better understand how children are growing up in this increasingly digital world. I am most excited about our work in translating that evidence into accessible, actionable resources for parents, caregivers, and educators, so they can make informed decisions about healthy media use.
On our website’s Learn and Explore library, you’ll find a range of tools, including the new, comprehensive “Children and Screens Guide for Early Child Development and Media Use: Infants and Children Ages 0-5.” Next up: Comparison guides for older children and teens. To be the first to know about new releases, as well as upcoming events and research highlights, sign up for our newsletter.
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