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Digital technology risks to child safety and health

Updated 1 time since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

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2026-09-25 04:23 UTC → 2026-09-25 17:57 UTC · added removed

Health and safety experts are raising concerns regarding the impact of digital technologies on children. Initially, medical professionals warned of an ‘infodemic’ as parents increasingly rely on AI, social media, and search engines for pediatric medical advice. Experts noted that online information often lacks critical context regarding a child’s specific symptoms or weight, which can lead to dangerous errors such as accidental medication overdoses. As the discussion evolved, the focus expanded to include the broader psychological and developmental risks of artificial intelligence. Tom Siegel, former Google executive Vice President of Trust and Safety and leader of the Youth AI Safety Institute, Institute at Common Sense Media, has argued that AI may pose more severe risks to children than social media, media. Siegel warns that the tech industry is repeating past mistakes by deploying rapidly evolving tools without sufficient safeguards, citing potential harms such as suicide, psychosis, and ‘cognitive offloading.’ While tech companies state they are implementing safety tests to identify minors, advocates continue to call offloading’—where children rely on AI for external regulation, reasoning instead of developing independent critical thinking skills. He also highlighted the risk of children forming ‘pseudo-relational or emotional bonds’ with chatbots. To mitigate these risks, Siegel calls for a slowdown in AI development, robust age verification, and the ability for parents or schools to easily disable AI-generated responses. features. In response to these concerns, some experts, such as Martin Gyurák, suggest that rather than banning the technology, educational systems should focus on teaching critical thinking and integrating AI into complex learning tasks to prepare students for a changing workforce.

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  1. 2026-09-25 17:57 UTC Digital technology risks to child safety and health
  2. 2026-09-25 04:23 UTC Digital technology risks to child safety and health

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