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October 23, 2024 • 13 mins
A WEB SERIES TO TEACH KIDS ABOUT BEING ONLINE I'm very excited to have Agnes from Social Smarts with Agnes, a very new web series that helps teach kids about social media and tech usage. Inspired by real conversations with her nephew, each episode is a quick 10-minute dive into the "why" behind social media. It is intended for parents to watch with their tweens for a fresh perspective and to help open an ongoing dialogue. In the very first episode, she unpacks why age 13 is the magic number for social media sign-ups. From the legal frameworks like COPPA regulations to data privacy and content suitability, she breaks it all down in an easy-to-understand way so parents can begin a dialog with their kids. A little about Agnes: she was on the early and launch teams for companies including TikTok and Tinder. Now, with this podcast, she's blending her professional expertise with a personal mission inspired by her efforts to educate my 10-year-old nephew so he has the tools to think smartly and safely about social media. With concerns about data privacy, online safety, and the legal battles over platforms like TikTok, "Social Smarts" offers timely advice that's relevant to what families are facing today.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Now. I'm very excited because I feel like I'm on
the leading edge of something that's going to be really big. Okay,
and what's going to be really big is a new
web series by a young woman named and I'm Agnes.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm probably going to.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Destroy your name, so just bear with me. Agnes Gomez Koizumi.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
That's right, Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Okay, perfect.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
And it's a web series designed to help parents, and
she says tweens, but.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
I think it could be.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Late elementary through early high school. I think the information
that she's putting together is really outstanding. And it's a
web series about social media designed for kids. Now, Agnes,
first off, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you so much for having me. Mandy, I'm really
excited to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, your new web series is called Social Smarts, and
I want you to tell people a little bit about
your background and kind of give them a little reason
of why you are doing this and why.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
You're an expert.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
So I've spent a number of years working for or
the top social media companies in the world, including launching
international expansion for Tender and TikTok as well. So at
the very early stages building out trust in safety, communications
education and working with external people including governments, and educating
parents about the different tips and safety measures that exist

(01:21):
to keep you safe and what the platforms had to
offer in terms of best practices. So having that insider
knowledge really made me look at social media and what's happening,
especially with young people right now, and being able to
have that insider perspective. And I have a ten year
old nephew and he is part of that first generation

(01:43):
that is growing up in a fully digital world. So
he started he got his first iPad I think when
he was five, maybe, but I've seen him develop and
grow through time and how social media is impacting him
what he's doing. But also having that front row seat,
I seequestion that he's asking and how he's thinking about
social media, And because I have this unique perspective, I

(02:06):
spend a lot of time talking with him about not
just what you should and shouldn't do or how social
media works, but why. And I think that that's been
the biggest thing for me is seeing him be able
to look at social media and what he's doing and
have the tools to think about it critically. Because this
is a different world than what I grew up in.
But teaching him these things now will set him up

(02:29):
for the rest of his life because it's not going
to change. It's going to be part of his life forever.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
You know, your story about doing this for your nephew
is a little bit reminiscent of how con Academy got started,
the math website that has saved my bacon as a
parent multiple times. That's why to Hunter gets into more
advanced math. But I have to commend to you for
putting together videos, and you've got three out so far.
You're putting together videos. You're not talking down to kids.
You're not trying to make it like a cartoon, You're

(02:57):
not trying to make it overly kid.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
I can't explain it.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
You're talking to them like they understand. And I think
that's a big difference than some of the other stuff
that's out trying to teach kids about social safety. I mean,
that's really what we're talking about here. So well done
on that. How do you decide what you're going to
do each episode on well So?

Speaker 3 (03:21):
I have three episodes out already, as you mentioned, the
first one is really like I think about it logistically.
So the first thing is is that kids want to
know why can't they have their own social media accounts.
So that's the first episode to talk about the laws
behind that. But to your point about why I'm talking,
I'm talking to kids the way that I would talk
to my own nephew and recognizing that he's not like
kids don't want to be talked down to. They want

(03:43):
to have the tool so that they can understand. So
what I'm trying to do with him is talk to
him the same way that I would talk to, say,
another person's parents. And I have a lot of friends
that ask me if their kids can come and listen
in while I talk to my nephew. But the reason
that it's geared boards, you know, like real information, is
because kids want to know, like you can't sugarcup things.

(04:05):
You want to give them the real truth and the why.
And so that's what I do for him that I
intend the intent is to have parents listen with their
kids do so that they can get that information and
they feel like it's not just the wild West out there,
it's something that they understand. And then after each episode
they're ten minute episodes because there's more to discuss, and
then parents can hopefully spend some time with their kids

(04:27):
to talk about the material that's being prisoned that. The
first episode was about why thirteen is the magic number.
The second one was about dangerous challenges, and I think
that that's because we've seen a lot of stuff happening
with kids and how they're they're really influenced to do
these different things because they're getting really popular, and what
can you do, how do you spot it? How can

(04:48):
you actually you know, prevent yourself from doing that, and
what the motivation is, like why do people do dangerous
challenges at all? And then the next episode that I
just released yesterday was about finding the truth online about
misinformation because there's so much stuff out there, and when
I think about what you're seeing right now, especially within

(05:09):
news cycles and social media. At one time, like when
I was growing up, there was, you know, a news
cycle that happened, and you would look at that as
being the truth. But now there are so many sources.
How do you actually identify what's real what's fake? And
how do you get those skills so that you can
actually look at things more critically. The next episode that
I'm releasing next week is about mental health because I

(05:33):
think that that's also something especially with what we've seen
recently with these different lawsuits that have come out and
the ages that have placed all these lawsuits, you know,
to social media companies about how the effects of social
media are detrimental to young people's mental health. So I
really I'm thinking about those things. And as the news

(05:53):
cycle comes out, or as I'm getting questions from different
people as well, I.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Have to ask an how old are you?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
And there's a specific reason I'm asking you this, not
just because you look so incredibly youthful, which you do,
but how what generation are you? Oh, I'm a Gen X,
So I okay, great, So because I will tell you
I watched the first episode about why you have to
be thirteen.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
I didn't know any of that straight up. I was like,
oh my gosh, I had no clue. And then I thought, thank.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
God, I'm not watching this with my daughter because I
would have lost all credibility at that moment. So you
want parents to watch this with their kids. But if
you're a parent of a certain age, because this was
all kind of thrust upon us, We're not digital natives, right,
This is not our normal state of being.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
And I'm going to be perfectly honest.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
I just had one of those moments with my fifteen
year old daughter where I handed her my phone and
I said, make Snapchat stop sending me things like make
it stop. I don't know how and I'm not going
to learn. Because she's like, well, let me teach you.
I go no, I don't want to learn anything else
about a social media platform.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
I'm done, I'm finished. I want no more.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
And she was like, okay, I'll fix it, and she did.
But there's a lot of information in these videos that
I need, not just my kids, because you really do
a deep dive on some stuff that I, frankly, as
an end user, I never even.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Thought about it until I watch these videos.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
So they're just I highly recommend, even if you don't
have kids and you're using the internet, like you should
know some of the things that.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Agnes is doing.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
And Agnes, I really would love I can't wait to
see your ten minute version on how social media companies
gather our data because I saw the social dilemma. I
made my daughter watch it with me, but that was
almost too at the time we made or watch it.
I think it was a little too much over her head,
just a tiny bit. So i'd love to see you
just kind of like talk about how much data is

(07:51):
being gathered and how it's being used against us, because
it is.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
You know, yeah, that's what I'm planning for the future.
But we can talk about that briefly because the truth
is is that data is a digital currency, and social
media is the content that people put out there. It's
designed to get views, but those views and I talk
about this in the mental health episode as well, and
then I have another episode of addiction that all of

(08:15):
those things are designed to keep you online. So it's
part of it. It's like the data that then the
longer that you're online, the more data that can be
captured that can talk about your viewing habits, and then
from there you can sell advertising and ultimately it's all
about advertising. So it's a really interesting feedback loop. But
the thing that young people don't understand is that that
data follows you and what you're making choices with right

(08:39):
now that will impact, like very long down the road,
how you're being targeted by different ads, not just online
but also in real life because all of these things,
the ultimate goal of digital online is like how do
you get irl right? How do you get in your life?
And that comes into a lot of different ways, whether

(09:00):
it's like mail, whether it's like phone calls, but also
whether it's like you know, different events or other things.
And so ultimately, when you think about it, you're looking
at social media as being something that's fun and you know,
a nice distraction maybe, or just something that's like fun
to do. But there's like a whole other system that's
in place that's really like monetizing, and the data becomes

(09:23):
critical to that.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
But yes, that for me is huge.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
I mean I always tell my daughter, like, whatever's free,
you are the product. If you have a free app,
you are the product. So just remember that they are
now selling you in some way, shape or form. I
sat in on a marketing sort of future of marketing
meeting where there were discussions about how rapidly we would
get to a point where your metadata was being gathered

(09:49):
at such a way that when you walked down a street,
a billboard would change to.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Be specific to you.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so you would have billboard space and the doorway
of a building that you will walking into, and as
you walked by, there would be an ad for your
favorite coffee brand or your favorite or whatever. It's going
to become that specific and that dial down.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
So all of these people.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
That are saying, oh, I don't care, I'm so uninteresting.
You have no idea what is coming down the pike
in terms of what they are going to be able
to use to market to you in ways you don't
even realize is as highly targeted. It's fascinating. I mean,
I work in advertising. This is what public radio. I mean,
this is what commercial radio does, right we I want
my advertise, my people to go to my advertisers and

(10:32):
buy things. So I can't knock it. It's just amazing
how specific it is getting.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
And also I think the social media and I talked
about this in then the episode that I just released
about truth detectives and how to spot you know, something
that's real or fake online. There's a lot of psychology
that goes into repetition and how how your brain actually
processes information that you see, and unlike radio, social media,
especially short forms, gathering information at a super fast rate.

(11:02):
Because the shorter the video, the more you're able to
get iterations of, you know, your viewing habits, and so
when you continue to see things, it affects how you
actually perceive it, and so it affects things like you know,
are you going to be more likely to purchase something?
But also, you know, are you more likely to believe
that something's true afterwards after seeing it so many times?

(11:25):
And we talk about this in PR but also back
in the days when I used to work in museums,
there's a lot of psychology in terms of like how
you present information that because social media is user generated,
people aren't that are producing it, aren't necessarily thinking it.
That the algorithm in the background is like putting all
these things together and it's affecting or taking advantage of

(11:46):
how your brain psychology already works.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
That is amazing and incredibly frightening at the same time.
The web series is called Social Smarts with Agnes, and
it's very very good, and I'd love for people in
this listening audience.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
I'm sure you know, Agnes that many schools, when the
kids come in the morning, they'll show a video or
something to kind of keep everybody entertained. This to me
would be the perfect kind of videos to work into
those scenes where kids could actually learn something in a
way that's very interesting. And Agnes, obviously you guys are listening.
She's very relatable and comes across really, really well. So

(12:22):
I'd love for my listeners to help spread the word
about Social Smarts because I think it has real value because,
as you said, kids that are getting and first of all,
I made my daughter wait until she was fourteen before
she was allowed to get any social media at all,
and that was after watching the Social Dilemma and after
doing all this stuff. And she will tell you like

(12:43):
she understands. She'll say something like, I don't know what
I clicked, but my algorithm is all screwed up, you know.
So she's aware of it, but she still doesn't understand
the magnitude. So I'm going to make her watch Social
Smarts as well, even though she's fifteen. But it's only
ten minutes so it'll be fine. But Agnes, I wish
you much success going forward, and I think you're going
to have it. I just think it's a great idea

(13:04):
whose time has come. And thank you so much for
making time for us today.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Thank you so much for having me

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