What’s Really Happening in the Group Chat

So we use this phrase, the digital world, a fair amount.

But I want to talk a little bit or have you talk a little bit about what actually constitutes the digital space.

I know for many people, especially parents and family, some of whom are probably watching this, it can feel like the platforms that young people are using to engage with each other are digital.

changing and evolving faster than we can keep up.

So can you give us just like a snapshot of the ways in which young people are accessing the online world and engaging with each other?

Yeah, sure.

And I appreciate that preface, Spencer, because it is it's like June 2026.

And if we record this in three months, I might be like, oh, whoops, we're talking about totally different things.

So, yes.

How are they accessing digital spaces? through every possible device they have.

I mean, you could literally talk about a smart TV as a way to access digital platforms, right? Cause you can watch YouTube on that.

You can play video games and talk to each other.

So really anything right now constitutes the digital space, which makes it sort of an amorphous term, but it's helpful in two ways.

I think about it as certainly all the social media platforms, as well as gaming.

I think about it as any place where kids are either connecting with other people, you

know,

or perhaps exploring aspects of the world that might not be accessible to them in their day-to-day lives.

And so that is certainly gaming, that's social media, that's AI now, right? It's even Netflix and streaming services, right? Everything sort of constitutes digital space.

And so that's why I'd say it's kind of all encompassing, but they are really accessing it.

I think the important thing for families and educators to understand is that kids are really accessing this all day long.

If they have access to a device, they have access to digital spaces and they're utilizing it.

Yeah.

I really appreciate that distinction between the ways they're interacting with each other versus the ways they're interacting with the broader world that would be otherwise unavailable.

Because I think we talk a lot about, and we'll get to this, the ways, the challenges that come with students interacting with each other directly online, but like you could take that away.

Like you could, and I'm sure there's ways to do this, but like you could ban your young person's device from having actual direct contact for people, comments, messages, texts, whatever it is.