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Chapter 1: What are the dangers of the internet for children?
This is Women Road Warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Takaro from the corporate office to the cab of a truck. They're here to inspire and empower women in all professions. So gear down, sit back and enjoy.
Welcome. We're an award-winning show dedicated to empowering women in every profession through inspiring stories and expert insights. No topics off limits on our show. We power women on the road to success with expert and celebrity interviews and information you need. I'm Shelley.
And I'm Kathy.
For many parents, the Internet has become one of the most dangerous and unpredictable places their children can enter.
Chapter 2: How are online predators manipulating children on social media?
Where predators, traffickers, sextortion schemes, and harmful online influences can reach kids with just one click, one message. or one social media app. Our guest today has made it her mission to fight back.
Lynn Shaw is the founder and president of Lynn's Warriors, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending human trafficking, sexual exploitation, online predation, and the growing dangers children face in today's digital world. She's educating with awareness, advocacy, and legislative action.
Lens Warriors empowers parents by letting them know about the social media manipulation, the online predators, AI-related dangers, and the mental health impacts that technology can have on children and teens. The organization is actively involved in grassroots mobilization and policy advocacy.
They support legislation designed to strengthen online protections for minors, hold tech platforms accountable, and push lawmakers to address the rapidly growing crisis of child exploitation in digital spaces.
Before becoming a leading voice in this fight, Lynn built an extraordinary career in entertainment and media, producing projects connected to Broadway productions including Amadeus, The Crucible, Hairspray, and The Wedding Singer, while also creating major media and cultural events in New York and beyond.
She's using that influence and expertise to protect our next generation from dangers parents don't even realize exist. Please welcome the founder and president of Lynn's Warriors, Lynn Shaw. Lynn, thank you so much for being on our show.
No, thank you, Shelley and Kathy, for having me. It's a complete honor. I'm very humbled. And obviously, I just love the name Road Warrior. So here I am. And thank you for wanting to really jump into this very complex topic that most will back away from in media. Yes, I'm so excited about this. Thank you so much for being our guest.
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Chapter 3: What is sextortion and how does it affect teens?
Yes, thank you for what you're doing, Lynn. And you're right, the media does. They back away from so many things that they should be reporting. That's their job. And we need to keep the accountability out there and create the awareness. How did all of this begin? What motivated you to take up the gauntlet, if you will, and really start the fight to stop this?
You know, Shelley and Kathy, if you had asked me, you know, 10 years ago, I could never imagine I'm doing what I'm doing today. I mean, I came out of college and I used to write jingles for television commercials. When we had in the day live musicians and we did live, you know, for the ad agencies, we did live music. And then working on film scores, it was always music I was involved with.
Fast forward many years, I was working with a client who, well-known client, and I did work with a lot of celebrities, and she was writing a book about domestic violence. And in doing the research and ghostwriting and helping her get the word out, I came across the intersection. All my research, domestic violence, human trafficking, it all intersects.
i became a crazy woman i literally woke up one day and and said to my husband i am going to become a warrior he's like what i said i'm going to become a warrior i assure both of you i have never used that word before i've never used it and he's like what are you talking about i said i'm i'm going to at my age who's going to stop me i'm going to call myself an expert i'm going to educate my myself and i'm going to get out there
and just spread awareness and education. Because in entertainment over the years, it was always they came to us about all the other countries. You know, it was always like trafficking would be in Philippines or Thailand or let's, you know, raise monies for waters in Africa. And I'm talking about we are focused on America.
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Chapter 4: How does social media contribute to child exploitation?
This was happening in all of our backyards across America. And I couldn't understand. I had a great childhood, you know, and this is happening? And so that's it. That's really what sprung me into action. And I formed a nonprofit and I just started going places, meeting people, going to Washington. I had never done any of that before. And just getting out there.
And, you know, it's really a journey that's really only just begun, in my opinion. It's such...
a huge web to untangle. And I don't think people really have the awareness of this. I think parents think I have parental controls on the computer and on my kids' phones and that sort of thing. But I don't think they know exactly what's happening. Could you give a crash course, if you wouldn't mind, on what parents should look for? What is going on on the web?
Well, first of all, let's start with this is because this is a dark subject, right? Exploitation. Nobody could ever imagine their child, their teen might get involved in all of this. People tend to close the door, close their eyes.
Chapter 5: What are the risks associated with AI in relation to children?
They don't want to talk about it. That is the truth. Now, they do want to talk about it after something happens. But the most important thing is this awareness and prevention piece. Right now, because kids ages 9 to 17 have access in their homes to four different devices, the phones and Chromebooks and gaming laptops, that is the predator in your home.
This is the part, Shelley and Kathy, I don't understand. They think because their child or their teen is at home, you know, safe under their roof. that they're safe. But the predator was right there under our noses. Because when you give your child any device, it is like opening up your front door and just saying, come on in, everybody from across the world, just come on in.
And most of us don't do that. We don't keep our front or our back door just unlocked and welcome people in. And people don't understand when you hand your child a device, that is exactly you're handing them the world. So you have to, if you're going to buy that device, if you're paying for the internet, you've got the router in your home,
I really think you have a duty of making sure you talk to your child, number one. You put on any parental controls that are available on devices, right? And that you really are part of their lives and you form this family digital partnership. Because I could go on and on, you know, on this for hours. Number one is the awareness.
Don't think your child is safe just because they're in their bedroom with the door closed.
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Chapter 6: Why do parental controls often fail to protect kids online?
Actually, one of the things we recommend, no devices in the bedrooms. Number one, kids need their rest. We work with schools across the country. Teachers report kids are falling asleep on their desks. They're staying up all night scrolling. We know from all the studies that have come out, especially in the last two years, we have so many studies now because the Internet was born in 1996.
So now we basically have proof. We have 30 years of proof, right, that kids are addicted. Anybody can become addicted to the Internet, this infinite scrolling, these dangerous algorithms that we also know are fed to everybody because we have whistleblowers from the big tech companies. We have internal memos that have been disclosed to us.
And their job is keep a child, keep a person online, right? Eyeballs, it helps us with our ad dollars, and that's a client for life, keeping this child. So parents have to understand, you're not safe in your own home. But the number one key is also communication.
I was in a meeting today, and the number one thing was that children are reporting, and teens, anybody under 18 will say, I'm afraid to tell my parents anything. I'm embarrassed to tell my parents anything. My parents will yell at me. We gotta get over all of this. The kids are learning everything online from strangers. They're seeing everything, right?
Chapter 7: What is the Kids Online Safety Act and why is it important?
So let us be the leaders, right? Let us be the ones that talk to them. We all have done dumb things as kids, even as adults sometimes, you know, but we accept it and just say, okay, I'm that trusted adult, you know, come to me, we'll fix it. Because we have too many kids harming themselves from strangers. From strangers. So the thing is awareness.
The thing is, you know, like you eat and you brush your teeth and you go to school, you go to work. You got to talk a couple of minutes a day. You know, what games are you on? Who are you talking to? Let's talk about safety. Let's really concentrate. People have to do this. And that's the key that's missing because everybody's like, I'm tired. I'm overwhelmed. They're quiet if they're on an iPad.
Let me have a few minutes peace. And we get that. I mean, there's something called parental autonomy. We're not judging.
Chapter 8: What practical steps can parents take to ensure their child's online safety?
We're trying to help. And we're trying to educate. And we're trying to give you all these tips to make it easier for you. It really starts, number one. awareness, you have to educate yourself, and you have to talk to your kids. We don't know what 12-year-olds, what they're dealing with, unless we talk to them kind of thing. And even that, they're reluctant to come forward. Kids are savvy.
Kids are smart. They can get around safety controls. You may do everything perfectly in your home, but your child, as far as devices, Because we deal with a lot of parents. And what happens, your child goes to a friend's house and that other child shows them something anyway. So it's this overall environment for all of us that we have to keep talking about it.
We have to keep raising awareness and we have to hold those who cause harm accountable. That is another piece that's missing.
Absolutely. And they're things that children and teens should not be seeing or engaging in. I mean, this is a terrible manipulation. These are formative years, and the kind of harm that can be done is unbelievable. But you're saying that they're talking to people who... Where are they hanging out? What is going on? What exactly is happening?
Are there predators that are reaching out and getting them to meet somewhere? Because I've heard of that too. It seems like a myriad of terrible possibilities that can really, it's devastating for our kids.
Yeah. Well, we know we have a very well-documented youth mental health crisis. We've had FBI warnings about all of this. We've also just recently, HHS, Health and Human Services, put out a report about screen times and addictions. This was just, I think it was last week. Kids are online too much. We know children are spending up to nine hours a day online. Wow.
What's happening is up to and I'm always like, well, how do they go to school, sleep, eat? How do they do anything? And then there's nine hours. It's like so that goes into that addiction. They're scrolling all night. Right. And, you know, and it's just out of control. So if a parent saw something like that or a caregiver, my child is constantly addicted.
scrolling online and what we're actually teaching now, okay, in your homes, everybody put down devices for 15 minutes a day and then build up to 30 minutes. It sounds very elementary, but this is what we're teaching. We live in a digital world. It is not going away. And we're sitting on AI. That's a whole nother conversation. It's here. We are at the Warriors pro-innovation, pro-technology.
We work with great ethical technologists. We want the technology to work for us, for our children, to engage, empower, and educate them. We don't want to have our kids working for the technology, which is the way it is right now. Right now, kids are spending all their time on YouTube, Snap, and TikTok. Countless hours. What happens? Okay. Wherever the kids are, so are the predators.
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