Twitter. Instagram. TikTok. No matter which package of poison you pick, each respective social media site has its own tailor-made equation to maintain its audience engagement: the algorithm. While nearly unthought of by the average person, these algorithms play an integral role in keeping social media users scrolling and active, leading virtual networks to fully lean into this data-driven methodology to retain its user-base. While masterful at pinpointing an individual’s unique interests and providing them with subsequent content based on those parameters, things get much trickier regarding one growing population of social media users — children.
As such, sites like TikTok have come under fire for subjecting young kids to the addictive qualities of its algorithm, managing to pull them into becoming repeat, dependent users. Likewise, its compiled data has regularly presented youngsters with exposure to less-than-parent-approved subject matter, including drugs and pornography, which is then only amplified if an intrigued child lingers too long on one of these videos, subsequently cueing the algorithm in to show them more of this dangerous content. With kids of today now requesting their first cell phone at a consistently younger age than their predecessors, it should come as no surprise that some 66 percent of U.S. adults surveyed say it’s harder to parent now than it was two decades ago.
Having faced this very problem himself when looking to purchase his own son’s first cell phone, entrepreneur Stephen Dalby knew there must be a better way to provide our children with the positive aspects of technology without giving them free reign of the far corners of the internet. Thus, Gabb Wireless was born, Dalby’s children’s oriented phone network built to keep both kids and their parents happy.
Rather than loading Gabb Wireless’ signature Gabb Phone Z2 with apps and games like other modern cell phones, the Z2 keeps it simple, only allowing kids access to talk and text with an approved contact list, as well as creativity-inducing camera features and a calculator perfect for math homework. Now, kids can stay in much-needed communication with their parents, sans distractions, encouraging them to look up from their screens and into the world around them.
“The great thief of opportunity today is distraction; it’s technology and how much time these kids are spending on their screens,” says Dalby. “How many scholarships have been lost? How many friendships have been missed? How many academic achievements have been jeopardized, all because kids are glued to screens instead of becoming proficient in another area of their life. So instead of asking what this phone is trying to prevent, the real question is, what is the phone trying to enable kids to do and to become?”
For younger kids not quite ready for their first full-blown cell phone, Gabb Wireless likewise offers its signature standalone Gabb Watch, filled with the GPS tracking capabilities parents love and made from dirt resistant material sure to stand the test of time throughout recess and sports practice. A perfect device for younger kids on the go!
While avoiding the algorithm is all but impossible for most social media-using adults, Gabb Wireless and its line of innovative, kid-safe products can help delay this same fate for the nation’s children, helping solve the widespread youth internet dependency crisis one simple device at a time.
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