1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 On this episode of the Dudes and Dads podcast, we talk with our friend Jack Davidson from Parent ProTech. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,920 You're listening to the Dudes and Dads podcast, a show dedicated to helping men be better dudes 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:19,920 and dads by building community through meaningful conversation and storytelling. And now, 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,360 here are your hosts, Joel DeMotta and Andy Laidman. Andrew. 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:25,760 Joella. Nice. 6 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,480 You like that one, don't you? Took me for a look. How are you? 7 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:34,560 I'm good. I'm good. And it's been beautiful here today. I got outside and mowed the yard, 8 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:36,240 till the garden. It's been... 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,520 From all signs, Andy, I can tell that the sun... You've been in the sun. 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:40,080 I have. 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:41,200 You got the nice watch. 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:42,160 I know. 13 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:46,480 And nice. That's how I know you've been up to something. 14 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:47,200 Something no good. 15 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:52,400 Yeah. Yeah. But no, it's been lovely out. It's been good. We've been... We're in deep, 16 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,240 and now we're getting into baseball season. 17 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,640 Yeah. You said you had a tournament this week. 18 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,080 We had a tournament this week. I didn't get to see all of it because not only are we in baseball 19 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:08,640 season. Andy, I attended... Please hold the applause. I attended my first ever cheerleader 20 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:09,600 competition. 21 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,120 You were the cheerleader or... 22 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:16,240 Thank you for asking. I'm so glad you did. No, Molly. 23 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:16,480 Oh. 24 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,760 Our shining star little girl. 25 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:20,640 Your youngest. 26 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:26,240 Our youngest child is in cheerleading now. 27 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,800 Fun. 28 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,680 Friends, if you're listening and you're like, "I'm not sure how Joel feels about Molly being 29 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:38,240 in cheerleading." That's because I don't know how I feel about Molly being in cheerleading. 30 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:39,600 Well, hey, there's that. 31 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,280 'Cause it was at the... So it's at the Fort Wayne Coliseum. If you've ever been... I think 32 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,960 you've done hockey... We've done hockey games there before. Big old place. Lots and lots 33 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:54,400 of little girls in their cheerleader outfits with a lot of very strong emotions and a lot 34 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,640 of parents yelling at those little girls... 35 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:57,360 Oh, man. 36 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:04,880 To get here, go there. It was a whole thing, but we managed. Molly did great. And so here 37 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:10,320 we are. 'Cause nothing helps me unwind after all of that. Sitting down at this table with 38 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:10,880 you, Andy. 39 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:12,080 So thank you. 40 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:12,800 Glad I can help. 41 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:21,200 So thank you. Thank you so much. Yes. Well, hey, what a lovely evening for a podcast. 42 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:28,080 We're so glad we've got our friend Jack Davidson, who's actually... I won't say he's a stand-in 43 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:28,880 because... 44 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:29,760 No, that's not... 45 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,720 Because he's not a stand-in. He's even... He's an upstandin. 46 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:34,000 I'm bringing him in. He's in. 47 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,760 Sure. Hi, Jack. Hello. 48 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,400 Hey, guys. How are you doing today? 49 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:38,960 We're so great. 50 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:39,920 Happy to be in the stand-in. 51 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:40,560 We're so... Yeah. 52 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:46,480 You're not a stand-in. So just to clarify for everybody, we've... So we were contacted 53 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,320 by Parent Pro-Tech and Neil wanted to know if we wanted to do an episode. And we're like, 54 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:50,880 "Absolutely." 55 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:57,360 This fits us. And Brock was like, "Let's go." And then we had to cancel on Brock because 56 00:02:57,360 --> 00:02:57,600 of... 57 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,080 We did Brock dirty. We did him dirty a few times. 58 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:01,040 One or two things. 59 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,360 Mostly, we both... Andy and I had some emotional breakdowns and we had to say, "Brock, we're 60 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,400 just not able to... We're not able to do this right now." 61 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,560 And so I emailed Brock. We had agreed on this date. We're like, "Hey, we can do this. It's 62 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,720 not Mother's Day. It's perfect." And I emailed him and said, "Hey, you're still good to 63 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,840 go." And he said, "Oh, shoot. No. I have a work trip that I'm on." But Jack would love 64 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:22,240 to do it. 65 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:26,080 Here's the thing. We feel like Jack is actually the person that should have done this interview 66 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,680 to begin with. We really should have just started with Jack. Little did we know. So... 67 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:31,200 But Brock, if you wanna come on later... 68 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:38,880 Yeah. And Brock, by the way, when and if Jack outshines you on this episode, I think we'll 69 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,880 have to have him back. Notice here's the deal. We'll have Brock back and then we'll do a 70 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,120 side-by-side comparison. We'll figure out who really... 71 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:45,360 Jack. 72 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:46,400 Who did the best. 73 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,080 Who did it better? Who did the show better? 74 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:49,760 Last audience. 75 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,600 Yeah, that's right. We'll put it out to the internet and we'll see what people think. 76 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:58,000 But seriously, Jack, thanks so much for joining us. We're so grateful to have you here. 77 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:58,480 Of course. 78 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:06,480 Really looking forward to the conversation. We periodically have discussions around here 79 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:12,960 about technology use, smart technology use, particularly as we're raising kids of all 80 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,520 different ages and different maturity levels and different life stages and all of that. 81 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:23,040 And it seems to us that the good people over at Parent ProTech are right in that conversation 82 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:28,000 with us at the forefront of some of the best work out there. 83 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:34,320 Joel, you did not do the dad stats though. 84 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,160 We should ask this dude what he's all about and what he's up to in life. 85 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,720 So we normally ask our guests and I can't believe Joel forgot. 86 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:42,240 I didn't. I was getting to it. 87 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:42,640 Oh, sorry. 88 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,960 It was a super long... I was really waxing eloquent on the introduction though. So I'm sorry. 89 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:48,800 Thank you, Andy, for keeping the show on track. 90 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,440 So dad stats are essentially, who are you? Are you married? You got kids? 91 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,600 Just tell us all about you first. 92 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,400 Whatever you want out on the internet, Jack. That's what we want to know. 93 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,080 Yeah. No, don't worry. No, I'm in a relationship. I don't have any kids. 94 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,280 I'm only 22. I'm about to be 23. 95 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:06,080 Got a boy. 96 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,760 I do have a goddaughter. 97 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,000 Nice. Good start. 98 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:11,920 Her name's Ellie. She's awesome. 99 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:18,400 We have a lot of fun together, but yeah, that's about... I was a camp counselor growing up, 100 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,360 so I've always tried to look out for the younger people. 101 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:29,680 And to be honest with you, COVID really, I realized young kids are really in harm's way 102 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:35,440 right now. And so that's been my how I am where I am now, I guess. 103 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:36,320 Gotcha. 104 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:42,160 And Jack, the fact that someone said, "Hey, we want you, young man, to be our child's 105 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:48,960 goddaughter or godfather. You're a godfather." Wow. That's a 22 year old godfather. That means 106 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,280 someone trusted you, which means that you're a perfect candidate to be on the show as well. 107 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:58,640 So congratulations on that. No one's ever named me a godfather of anything. Andy? 108 00:05:58,640 --> 00:05:59,360 I'm sorry. 109 00:05:59,360 --> 00:05:59,840 Andy? 110 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:00,240 Sorry. 111 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,800 Oh man. 112 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:07,680 I'm sorry, Jack. I didn't mean to bring this up in front of you. It's apparently a little 113 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,400 bit of an issue for me, even though we've never ever talked about it before. 114 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:13,680 Work through the time. 115 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:14,880 Yeah, all at once. 116 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:16,240 We'll do some work after the show. 117 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:24,720 Absolutely. So Jack, tell us about your background, what it is that you do over there at Parent 118 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:31,280 ProTech. And on top of what you do, where Parent ProTech came from, what birth was this 119 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,000 company and really the passion that you guys have for what you do? 120 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:42,720 Yeah. I mean, I'm going to take it way back. Right. So I'm 2001. That's whenever I was 121 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:47,840 born. I was pretty young. I was born with a computer in the house, fast working internet. 122 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:54,880 I wasn't allowed to play on it all the time or anything at all. But my age group in really late 123 00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:04,400 90s, early 2000s and on, we have lived and seen the world shift from a tech balance where maybe 124 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,640 the computer's in the computer room and that's the time that you use the computer. And other than 125 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:15,360 that, you're in the physical world. Point is, though, I grew up in a pretty healthy relationship 126 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:21,360 with tech, I would say. But I was able to see the iPads come into play and the young little kids get 127 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:28,000 addicted really early on. I was in Decca at school, which is like a business competition thing. 128 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:36,320 And that was around the same time as TikTok. It used to be called Musical.ly. That was getting 129 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:42,320 really popular back then. So I'm a little business high school kid. Me and a few of my friends were 130 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:48,560 like, "Let's find a way to make money off of this." And so I started managing Musical.ly 131 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:53,040 influencers back in 2017 while I was in high school. 132 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:53,540 Nice. 133 00:07:53,540 --> 00:07:58,160 The issue was... I didn't know how to monetize that. I didn't know how I could make any money. 134 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:04,800 Fast forward, I found a way to make money off of it. And I was doing a lot of music marketing 135 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:12,880 and all that kind of fun stuff. And so for me, I was really in the grit and grime. I was seeing how, 136 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:19,360 on the backside, how companies create trends online and how companies can use an influencer 137 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:26,560 who a ton of 14-year-old boys follow to funnel attention over here to their product or over here 138 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:32,960 to their show, whatever, XYZ. So I ran a pretty successful music marketing company and we expanded 139 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:42,400 to just be a marketing agency, really from 2019 through 2023. COVID was amazing for me. 140 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,600 TikTok was number one. Everyone saw TikTok. 141 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:46,100 Yeah. 142 00:08:46,100 --> 00:08:51,760 I was able to create a lot of awesome music trends and the dance trends and all that stuff. 143 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:58,640 And I started to realize this is not it. I have an eye for marketing, I would say. Not to pat 144 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:02,960 myself on the back. But I was getting great numbers and doing great things. But I was just 145 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,800 getting kids addicted to listening to a stupid song and a dance on their phone. 146 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:14,560 Brock and I had met at that time. And we both realized that society and this new age group just 147 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:22,240 has a problem. Brock was at the White House and the administration. And he was hearing from a lot 148 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,640 of politicians, "Hey, we don't know what to do online. Our kids are addicted to TikTok. What is 149 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:33,200 this? Our kids are addicted to VR in the early days." And so that birthed Parent ProTech. 150 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:39,440 And I was, of course, ready to help because my expertise, to be honest with you, was, 151 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:47,360 how do we hack these very malleable children and young adults and even late 20s, mid 20s? 152 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,520 How do I hack their attention span to be interested in what I want them to be interested in? 153 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:57,760 And that created Parent ProTech. We decided that's a problem and we need to stop it. 154 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:03,040 So what I hear you saying is you decided to use your powers for good and not evil. 155 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:14,000 Yes. So you mentioned the Parent ProTech. Can you explain to me what it is? So if I've never heard 156 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,880 of it, because actually, to be honest, I had never heard of it before Brock emailed me and said, "Hey, 157 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:23,600 we would love to be on the show." And so I know what it is now, but can you tell my listeners 158 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:28,640 what it is? Yeah. So I would say we're an up and coming company. And so if you haven't heard of us, 159 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:35,680 it's no big deal. A lot of schools, educators, politicians, from all over, administration, 160 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:42,240 school departments, they've heard of us. We are trying to really inform and equip every single 161 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:48,320 parent, every single adult, every single teacher, and honestly, even the students and kids with the 162 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:53,520 right information about how they should be acting online. And so for a parent, that really looks 163 00:10:53,520 --> 00:11:00,400 like we're logging into our platform. We have 100 videos, basically breaking down platform by 164 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:04,880 platform. Here's what you need to look out for on Reddit. Here's what you need to look out for on 165 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:12,400 YouTube Kids. If you're having a problem with your kid, and you've just introduced the iPhone to them, 166 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:17,920 and they're going to school with it, we have an onboard into technology for middle school, 167 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:24,080 or for elementary school, digital citizenship, pretty much everything to make sure that you're 168 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:29,040 creating and cultivating this good image of yourself online because it's going to follow 169 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:38,320 you forever. Yeah. Yeah. So your main audience, if you will, is... You mentioned teachers, 170 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,600 parents, so a little bit of everybody. Is that what I'm hearing? 171 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:49,600 Yeah. Yeah. We're trying to hit as big an audience as we can. While I was growing up, 172 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:54,720 we would get the projector coming down and we'd get a 30-minute cyberbullying that doesn't do 173 00:11:54,720 --> 00:12:01,280 anything. Honestly, it's attacking it on all fronts. It's the parents are learning about 174 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:06,080 cyberbullying. At the same time, the kids are learning about it. And in that one week span 175 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:12,080 where both parties... There's a better chance of conversation happening, and whatever truth there 176 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:20,480 is coming to light and so on and so forth. We tackle literally every issue that a sub 18-year-old 177 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:28,720 can definitely face on them. So as in front of our friends who head over to parentprotect.com 178 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:34,160 and check out your guys' site, which is... We'll make sure that we make obscenely available on our 179 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:39,200 show notes and over on our site as well. They'll see right away that you have a lot of existing 180 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:45,600 relationships with, as you've mentioned, educational institutions. When you approach a school, 181 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:52,320 how quickly... I would just be interested in what the conversations are that you're having 182 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:58,720 with educators, with school administrators, what that looks like and what your ultimate goals are 183 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:03,120 as you're just building those relationships and building those partnerships. 184 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:07,760 David Collum (00;15m 1s): I love it. I was always one of the kids... 185 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:12,480 I was kind of a nerd growing up in high school. I played tennis. And so I was one of those kids. I 186 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:20,880 had a stigma. I was friends with all my teachers, especially the cool ones. I think they have always 187 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:26,160 recognized that there was a problem even whenever it wasn't this rampant. COVID, just like how COVID 188 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:31,840 screwed up everything else, COVID really amplified all these online problems times 100, I would say, 189 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:38,800 if not even more. But growing up, everybody knew, teachers knew. And so I've had some really 190 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:43,360 amazing conversations with some of my old teachers or people who used to work at my old schools. 191 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:51,520 As you venture out and talk to different schools and different people, you hear crazy stories. In 192 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:57,360 Chicago, there's always just crazy, insane stuff. I've talked to a lot of people in Arizona and even 193 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:02,400 that. You get into drug issues, you get into all that. Everyone is very open to hearing a solution. 194 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:07,040 The biggest issue at the end of the day is funding. Funding is tight. Funding is... 195 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:14,080 You hear all these... The bureaucracy is always the issue, but it doesn't really stop us. We're 196 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:21,200 offering as many free solutions as we can. At the end of the day, we do have to survive. We do have 197 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:28,960 to make money ourselves. It's a balance. But yeah, I would say pretty much everyone is very aware 198 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:34,560 that it's a problem. Of course, you run into some admin or principals that are, "Get out of here. 199 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:39,920 We're not... We don't care. There's nothing we can do." And that's definitely a gut punch, but... 200 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,480 What can you do? 201 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:53,120 Adam: Yeah. And I wonder so much now, in terms of just thinking about from the parents' perspective 202 00:14:53,120 --> 00:15:00,720 and parent advocacy, approaching schools and asking... Really thinking about the relationship 203 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:06,640 with parents and with schools and what parents can be asking for and what parents can be looking to. 204 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:11,360 We're seeing right now, there is a beginning movement and I really... And I personally really 205 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:19,120 hope it continues. I think about what happens at my own children's schools, but this growing 206 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:27,760 movement of no phone zones at all, where no devices are accessible during the school day 207 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:36,560 at all. And it should be no surprise that the positive outcomes of all of this are pretty immense. 208 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:43,520 Is that the direction that you guys, if you could speak for your organization or in general, 209 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:48,640 is that the kind of direction that you guys, in terms of within academic settings, within school 210 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:56,240 settings, what you would advocate for specifically? Just less access, especially on the social media 211 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:56,560 side? 212 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:03,840 You know, what we always say is every family is different, everyone is different, every school 213 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,360 is different. And that's, at the end of the day, that's the reality. If I had to make a blanket 214 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:14,960 statement, which I'm totally fine doing. I fall somewhere in the middle personally, but I think 215 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:21,840 Parent ProTech as a whole, we are encouraging a healthy relationship with the school. It's not 216 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:26,480 necessarily in the classroom or outside of the classroom, it's both. There's always going to be 217 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:32,560 a kid with an Apple Watch that sneaks it by, and now we have the exact... I can scroll on TikTok 218 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:40,080 and my Apple Watch. And so that's... It's tricky because for us, of course, I want to say, yeah, 219 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,160 take out all the tech from the class and make it a safe place. At the end of the day, there's going 220 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,880 to be a kid who outsmarts the teacher. And now that rule is pointless, to be honest with you. 221 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:54,560 And everyone else is kind of at a disadvantage academically because maybe one kid can cheat now. 222 00:16:54,560 --> 00:17:00,560 In terms of the safety, yeah. If it was my opinion, I would say, you don't get online, 223 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:05,520 you have a closed version of the internet and you live in that. And that's my ideal. 224 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:11,920 Which is... The whole thing is kind of interesting because it's shifted from when Joel and you and I 225 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:18,720 were in high school, things have changed. And not even just the fact that there's all these social 226 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:25,200 media sites, but my kids, all of their homework is done on their computer. All of... They're always 227 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:32,000 on the computer. That's how they do school. And especially during COVID, everyone was on 228 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:38,960 Zoom all the time. And so times have changed. So I think that there's definitely a healthy 229 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,760 balance between technology, because we're going to live with it. These kids are going to grow up with 230 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:48,720 it. These kids have grown up with it. They were born with a computer in their hand, pretty much. 231 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:56,720 And so I think it's important as parents and educators and other adults to teach the 232 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:02,880 responsibility of how to do that responsibly. Because like you said, Jack, we're not gonna 233 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:08,160 get this out of all... We're not gonna take all technology away. And I don't know that that's 234 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:15,040 even a healthy thing, but I think it's important for us parents to stand in there and have an idea 235 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:20,640 of, "Okay, this is what we want. These are our rules." For instance, we've gone back and forth 236 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:26,720 with it and it depends on the time of the year, but there have been times that our family, as soon 237 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:32,240 as we get home, if we're not doing the homework and stuff with it, we put our phones down until 238 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:36,960 eight o'clock in the evening. That's parents included, because it's important for us to set 239 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:41,840 those examples as parents. And so yeah, that's how we do it. And important for us just to do that. 240 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,560 Right. In general. As a practice of general practices. Yeah, for sure. 241 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:51,600 For sure. So Jack, Parent ProTech, you guys offer a few different, really, 242 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:58,480 I think valuable resources. And so I just kind of wanted to run through a few of them and kind of 243 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:04,400 give a description of what it is that you guys do. What the deliverables are for you, specifically. 244 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:12,400 Obviously, one of the first things here is your family resource platform. And just the kind of... 245 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,880 I wonder if you can kind of talk through what those resources are, what is available, because 246 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:23,440 like you said, you've got to pay the bills, you got to keep the lights on, you got a team to 247 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:29,440 employ, you have a product to sell. But as we've said, it's a product that is used for good and not 248 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:36,160 evil. And so while plenty of products are being used for nefarious purposes and things that are 249 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,640 less than helpful, this one is truly an investment in wellbeing, especially for our kids. So 250 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:44,000 talk us through your family resource platform and what all that involves. 251 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:51,840 Yeah. Right now, I would say it's about 90 videos, each one anywhere from 10 to 20, 30 minutes. 252 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:59,040 We have segmented everything kind of by chapter. If you're familiar with Khan Academy, it's kind of 253 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:04,320 a similar platform. You hop in and we have it broken down by social media. We have a whole study. 254 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:11,280 We talked to a neuroscientist who has her own whole study on how tech in a developing brain 255 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:18,000 involves everything. The family platform is definitely our video catalog is what I would say. 256 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,280 We have a few hundred other videos that are getting edited over the summer. And so by next 257 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:29,040 school year, we'll be up and running with hopefully hundreds of really informative, awesome 258 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:36,240 videos made by teachers. And so we make sure that we're kind of translating the tech to them and 259 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,040 then they can translate it into, you know, adult. 260 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:49,280 And so you guys really get to be the one-stop shop for kind of the, for educating all of us 261 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:58,320 on better and more responsible tech usage. I know a lot of parents are like, they just 262 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,400 some of us, depending on the stage for life, we kind of want to be like, 263 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:08,400 just tell us what to do, right? Like just tell us, tell us the best thing that we can do. What has 264 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:13,280 your guys has been your approach? Is it, is it, Hey, we want to give you the information and then 265 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,880 you're making decisions about how you want to roll that out to your, to your children within 266 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:21,520 your administration. Or are there places where you guys come down and just say, Hey, listen 267 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:26,160 all the, all the info is in. Cause I feel like this way sometimes it's like, 268 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:31,040 listen, the research has been done. We are very clear on this, on this is the right, 269 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,960 this is the right thing to do. And this is the wrong thing to do. What does it look like 270 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,320 just in terms of your guys's resource about how you guys approach that question? 271 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:43,840 Jason Blum: We try to be very definitive and everything. And so of course, like by social 272 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:49,040 media platform, we kind of give you a conclusion video statement kind of thing where we say, Hey, 273 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:54,480 look, here's what we covered. Here are the, you know, five settings that you need to change in 274 00:21:54,480 --> 00:22:01,280 the next week or today, right now. And of course there is stuff that is very urgent and we have in 275 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:06,880 there urgently, you know, turn location settings off of Roblox, you know, turn voice chat, 276 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:12,080 functionality off and Hey, also while you're doing that, here's how you set up your parent 277 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:18,800 account and make sure it's connected to everything. And so of course we, we know that this is for some 278 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:23,440 people, this is not their land, right? Technology. They honestly are still not that interested. And 279 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:28,240 so we want to make sure it is as easy as possible. We're all they have to do. They spend five 280 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:33,520 minutes. They know their kid is on Roblox. They can watch the five minute video on Roblox and get, 281 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:38,640 you know, the five minute solution. Of course, that's not the big blanket solution that we all 282 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:43,200 want. And you know, water is still going to be seeking through the cracks, but at the end of the 283 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:49,280 day, like it, some stuff is very easy. That's the benefit of this technology world that we're in now. 284 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:57,520 You know, at the same time, there are some more complex things. You know, the family sharing, 285 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:02,160 that's a pretty complex one. You know, depending on how old your kid is, you might want different 286 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:08,080 things on different things off. You might want an all on. And so, you know, we, we do a pretty good 287 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:13,760 job saying, here's the stuff that you need to do and here's our best suggestions on some other 288 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:19,120 stuff. And then here's, we, we try to educate everybody. So at the end of the day, you can make 289 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:24,320 your own decision and feel, you know... Which I think is smart because like you said 290 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:29,360 before, every family is going to be different. You know, my kids are different than Joel's kids 291 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:36,640 and they may have different responsibility levels. And so yeah, ultimately, I mean, I think as 292 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,120 parents, that's the important thing for us is just to stay educated because, you know, I'm in 293 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:50,000 technology in my field and yet I'm not up to date on all of the things, right. You know, like I don't 294 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:57,200 play Roblox. There's a big forest out there. I was actually so glad Jack, that you actually did 295 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:06,800 reference Roblox because that is the one game I do know that my kids play amongst the many. So that's, 296 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:12,000 yeah, that's, that's really, really helpful. And, and I, so I would also imagine, you know, 297 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:18,480 as technology is evolving constantly and there are new things out in the marketplace constantly, 298 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:24,480 how do you guys feel about your, just your reaction time to all of that? And because I would, 299 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:30,800 cause that would be, I think a great resource to have. I knew, Hey, this is a place that I can go 300 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:36,560 where there are people literally, literally watching, watching the market as we speak and are 301 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:41,200 trying, you know, are trying to help us stay ahead of the curve. How have you guys approached that 302 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:48,080 as a company? That's us. We, we are the radar, you know, we are the radar turned all the way up 303 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:53,120 and, and if there's any, you know, we, we caught a Yik Yak update the other day. You've probably 304 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:57,760 never heard of Yik Yak. It was, yeah, it was really popular probably about 10 years ago. 305 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:02,400 It's a, it's a location based thing. High schoolers like it a lot because they feel like they're 306 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:09,440 anonymous and talking to people. Of course, it's not safe. I don't, if your kids use Yik Yak, don't. 307 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:17,040 But for example, we we've caught, you know, one line of an update in there and in our email blast, 308 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:24,000 which is completely free, it's called the ProTech playbook. It's weekly or biweekly, depending on if 309 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:29,440 there's anything super duper pressing, but you know, if there's a Snapchat update that comes out 310 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:35,520 where an urgent setting needs to be changed again, we'll send out, you know, a Wednesday random, 311 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:41,280 urgent, Hey, do this right now with red stickers up top so that everyone sees it. We're, we're 312 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:46,320 pretty on top of it. And at the same time, I would say we do have parents, we do have teachers who 313 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,880 are saying, Hey, look, I have this problem. Here's a new platform. One of them the other day was 314 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:56,880 Minecraft. If you guys know Minecraft, there was a Minecraft server and some kids were being bullied 315 00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:01,920 and basically banned another kid from their Minecraft server. And so we kind of helped them 316 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:06,560 through that. And I wrote a nice little response, but once you're banned, you're banned. So I can't 317 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:11,600 do anything. I'm sorry. But you know, and so it's just, it's stuff like that, but we are, 318 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:16,800 you know, we're really responsive. If there's ever a question or something that a parent catches 319 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:21,600 first, feel free to contact us about it. Even if you're not a subscriber yet or anything, 320 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:28,480 we'll help anybody. That's that's awesome. So you guys also do what you refer to as a, 321 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:36,000 you have a digital citizenship curriculum and digital citizenry now they're there. That just 322 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:41,120 rolls right off the tongue. Oh yeah. Jack, what is it? And why is it important? 323 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:48,480 You know, yeah, I would say being a good citizen in real life used to be a really big focus even 324 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:54,800 before my time. You know, early 2000s, people still cared about being a good person, but 325 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,680 nowadays you're literally living your life online. And so, you know, and everyone's in their own 326 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:05,040 bubble. You walk around with your AirPods in all day. Being a good citizen in real life is 327 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,600 a lot harder in many ways, but a lot easier in a lot of ways as well, because you don't have to 328 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,920 talk to people. Being a good citizen online has many different layers to it, right? That you have 329 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,720 to pull back where, you know, of course, like if you're in a fantasy football league, you might say 330 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,320 some choice words to your friends if they beat you that week, like, okay, whatever that, that probably 331 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:30,560 doesn't matter. But, you know, targeted harassment and, you know, you can't let go of 2015 and that 332 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:36,320 one guy beat you and he got you in that trade too. Like, you know, there's a level. And so 333 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,600 we're trying to teach kids, you know, cyber bullying is real. You know, you can sit there 334 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:44,000 and watch a 30 minute video on it, or we can give you guys, hey, here's the facts. Cyber 335 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:48,960 bullying has been around for 25 years now. You know, pretty hardcore. Here's the history to it. 336 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:57,200 Here's why it's not good. And really going through how to be a good person online and then why. And 337 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:03,280 the why is a big part that we don't think schools are really addressing these days. You know, those 338 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,760 are the hard conversations that parents have with their kids at home is normally the why, because 339 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:12,480 something tragic happened or, you know, some story in the news and you have to sit your kid down and 340 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:17,120 say, hey, look, here's a reality check, but like, you know, let's make sure we're on the same page. 341 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:22,800 We try to, I would say like, it's a ramp up, right? So like, we're trying to get everyone 342 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,360 kind of on the right path to where you as a parent, you don't have to worry as much. And 343 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:35,200 those conversations are a lot simpler. But yeah, I mean, what that looks like, I guess, is literally 344 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:40,480 like, here's what not to do online. Of course, we're not telling them like, here's a website, 345 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:46,000 do not search this website, because obviously they would search it. But it's complex, it's tricky, 346 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:52,480 and it's more of a learning process and, you know, a group thing and meant to be, talk to your 347 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:57,520 parents about so that you're understanding. It's not hard to be a good person online. Just when 348 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:02,000 you're little, it's easy to overreact. It's easy to be curious and stupid. 349 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:08,640 So one of the things that I see on the site, and I think this is top, and it's trending on the site, 350 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:14,000 and there's a reason for it, is it's summer screen time, you know, summer is here, and so is increased 351 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,840 screen time. How can I help my child? Because I think that's important. We as parents, a lot of 352 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:24,720 us, there's two parents working in, you know, at the house. So there's, may or may not be parents 353 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:30,960 home all day. And so just quickly, like, what are some tips that you can give us for that? 354 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:36,160 Yeah, because Jack, I plan on technology babysitting my children for the next two and a 355 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:41,920 half months. And if you're here to tell me that that's a less than great idea, I've got, I've got 356 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:46,160 some new arrangements to make. So here it comes. Let's find out what he has to say. 357 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,360 No, I would encourage healthy usage, right? And so, I mean, obviously, we're adults, 358 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:56,560 we know what that means. They can play, they can play all day. Like, it doesn't really matter. What 359 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:01,840 you don't want is the kind of negative things to start creeping in that normally do with playing 360 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:07,600 a lot and playing consistently. Me personally, like, depending on how old your kid is, I would 361 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:12,720 just set a hard time limit and say, you know, for every X amount you do, go outside, run a lap, 362 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:18,960 run the ball, whatever. Go play with your friends, go pop a water balloon, you know. A give and take, 363 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:25,680 find the balance for them. And if you get them on board before everything starts, then things 364 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,040 should go well. But of course, I'm not a parent yet. I don't know how that works. 365 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:36,240 I think that there are a lot of learning games depending on how old your kid is. For example, 366 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:41,120 Roblox back in the day actually taught me how to code. It's not like that anymore at all. But I 367 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:48,160 learned how to do like HTML in 2009, like in the very beginning. There's some other stuff that's 368 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:55,280 pretty comparable. You know, some iPad apps that are very... Duolingo is a fun one. If your kid is 369 00:30:55,280 --> 00:31:02,080 interested in learning another language, I would really suggest that once they're like 15 or 16, 370 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:07,600 they start to kind of decrease learning language ability. And so, really anything to gamify 371 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,680 learning still and keeping that going over the summer, I would highly suggest. 372 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:18,800 Also, science experiments and other things can be done online now, which is still pretty awesome. 373 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:25,280 But yeah, I would say for every X amount of screen time, and it depends on how old your kid is, 374 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:31,040 but definitely no more than two hours before you need to go outside, drink some water, stretch, 375 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:36,960 do something away from the screen for a while, and then come back. Another big thing... I'm so sorry, 376 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:42,320 I don't mean to cut you off. But as you're getting closer to school, definitely start to ramp down. 377 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:46,960 You know, start to introduce... And that's obvious. Y'all know that. But that's a big thing that we 378 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:52,080 run into where kids have the worst online behavior right whenever they're back in August and 379 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:56,960 September. So finding that balance form as time goes on is super important. 380 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:04,960 Yeah. I think for us, for me and my wife as parents, we found that, yes, obviously summer 381 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:13,040 is summer. And we all like relaxing and hanging out and doing whatever. But still, for us, 382 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:18,480 we found that some structure has helped too. So there may be... Every day, we have a list of things 383 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,880 that they have to do. And we put it pretty prominently in our kitchen on a whiteboard, 384 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,880 so that way they can see, they can mark it off, they can know what they need to do. 385 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:34,160 And then they have free time. And that free time is... Usually we say, you have an hour of screen 386 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,800 time or whatever that is, maybe whatever, maybe not an hour, but whatever. We have a limited 387 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,320 amount. We say, you can do this, but the rest of the time, go find something else to do. 388 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:56,640 No. We are prepping. We just did the ceremonial removal of the PS5 from the main media area. And 389 00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:06,240 tonight, Jackie, my wife, looked at me, she goes, "This is just gonna stay away for a while." I go, 390 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:10,880 "Fantastic." 'Cause the weather's changed up here, it's turned. They're really pretty much, 391 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:16,800 the kids can be outside every single day now for the most part. And we are at the place now, 392 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:22,000 we feel pretty comfortable with them riding their bikes into town and to our area park and all of 393 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:29,040 that. And so we just had this moment where we're like, there's a million other things that they can 394 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:36,560 legitimately do now. And I have four kids, so the older ones can be semi-responsible for the younger 395 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,800 ones. And when they go places and things like that, if they're gonna be taking walks and going 396 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:47,600 to the park and things like that. And so I had this moment where it's like, I don't feel bad 397 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:54,160 at all about just taking the game system away for now and just saying... And again, 398 00:33:54,160 --> 00:34:00,720 it's not even a disciplinary thing. It is a, I'm gonna help you make the most of your summer, 399 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:07,440 make the most of this time. 'Cause I know, and I'm guilty of it too, if the technology, 400 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:13,360 whatever the technology thing is, if it's there, it's gonna be a distraction and it's gonna rob me 401 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:20,160 of an opportunity. We only have, Jack, I know you being down there in Austin, apart from the 402 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:28,960 killer tornadoes, we only have three months of good weather here. That's it. And then it all just 403 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:39,040 goes... I'd like to say the end of the fall is nice and it can be, but it's a 180 real quick. 404 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:44,000 So yeah, yeah. See, you listen to the Southern person here. Do you see how amazed and terrified 405 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:49,680 he is? It's exactly right. We've normalized it up here. He hears me explain this. He's like, 406 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:56,160 I don't know how, how are you even alive? He doesn't even know how in the world. But 407 00:34:56,160 --> 00:35:02,320 just to make the most, I think to make the most use of the time of when we're in a season where 408 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:11,600 it's like, Oh man, be outside, do the things that you can do to fight away the... I don't know, 409 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:17,280 just that constant screen time. And my goodness. And Andy, as you mentioned already, and Jack, 410 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:24,400 you see it too. There's already enough mandated screen time in our lives. I have to be in front 411 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:31,760 of my computer so much. Andy definitely has to be in front of a computer pretty much for his entire 412 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:37,760 job. I think, and that's with our kids too, in the educational sphere. I mean, there's so much 413 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:44,240 that's required. Summer break can be a summer break from a lot of things and it can be an 414 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:49,440 entrance and an invitation to some other good stuff too. Well, and I know for me, my kids, 415 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:56,240 so I've got four kids also, and my oldest two, my oldest oldest one is working a full-time job 416 00:35:56,240 --> 00:36:00,320 this year again. So that's going to be good. That'll keep him busy. Attaboy, Micah. Stay out 417 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:07,040 of the house, make yourself some money. Go get it, son. Pay for your car. Namely pay for your car. 418 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:13,120 Yes. And then my second one is actually going to be in Germany for a while this summer. And so 419 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:18,480 he's actually taking a trip and he's going to be with the school. And so it's going to be a 420 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:23,600 different dynamic in our house because it'll be really mainly just the girls home. The youngins. 421 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:28,800 Nice. Yeah. And so it's going to be just a different atmosphere this year. Yeah, that's 422 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:35,280 interesting. Then we'll, you'll get to get to encourage them to of your kids and they'd be 423 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:41,200 interested. What are the, are the, who is there more interest on the technology side? Who are 424 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:46,480 you having to pull away from tech more? Is it the old Hattie Hattie, the, the, the, the, the, 425 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:51,360 the we want and she's sneaky about it too. Cause like I'll say like, you know, no doing that. Well, 426 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:56,320 I'm just listening to music. And the next thing I know every time watching something, it's like, 427 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:03,600 no, no, no, no, no. That's right. Joel, your wife did in our comments say that your kids rode their 428 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:09,040 bikes 20 miles today. So yeah. In total, actually, that's right. I'm glad she did the math. It was 429 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:17,120 like a nine, a nine mile ride and a 11 mile ride. Yeah. Which you guys are fine. Jack's like, if I 430 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:24,000 could distort the horror stories, I could tell you things like that. Things like here. Jack, 431 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:28,160 we look at it again. We, we see the, there's plenty of warning signs. I mean, the things 432 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:33,680 that you guys have listed we, cause we want to be really, really clear. And I, I have, 433 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:41,280 I think back to a couple of months ago, I had to go to my kids junior high cause he got his, 434 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,120 they have a no phones policy during the year. You have to like turn it off, put it in your locker 435 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:53,440 during the day. He, he forgot that he had his phone. And so it was taken from him. And when 436 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:58,720 his phone gets taken away, I have the strange amnesia that it's there at the school. I forget. 437 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:08,320 And I let that phone set there at the school office for several days on end. I have zero problem with 438 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:13,680 that. So I come into this school admin, I come into the administrator's office and she right 439 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:17,200 away knows what I'm there. Like when I'm there for she's goes and gets it. She's like, Hey, 440 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,720 that's been here a while. I was like, and I said the same thing. I was like, yeah, it's funny when 441 00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:24,800 the phone gets taken away. I seem to forget that it's here for a while. And one of the other 442 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,120 teachers who I know came over and just put his, put his arm around me and goes, you are one of my 443 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:34,560 favorite parents of all time. And then, but it was interesting. We had, there were about, there 444 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,000 were a couple of administrators and a couple of teachers that were all standing there and we had 445 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,440 this, we had this kind of impromptu conversation real quick. And I, and I just, I just said, 446 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:48,480 you guys see it on the front line. I know it because I've been in adolescent studies and 447 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,800 research for a long time about, about what technology and kids, the development of the 448 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:57,680 prefrontal cortex, judgment centers, all of that sort of thing, what it's doing, how it's rewiring. 449 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,840 And I, I just told him, I said, I said, listen, when you are given your kid, especially if we're 450 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:07,280 exposing our kids technology, if we're giving them phones, particularly at an early age, you're, 451 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:12,400 you're, it's like, you're putting a loaded gun in their hand. The bullets are just slower. And, 452 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:19,680 and, but that is, that is the case is that there is still an impact there. And and we know this and 453 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:24,080 you guys mentioned it. I mean, Jack, on your site, you talk about 60% of adolescent girls 454 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:30,240 have been contacted by a stranger who made them feel uncomfortable. 60% of adolescent girls, 455 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:37,520 32% of teens think social media has a mostly negative effect on their life. 32% of them like, 456 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:41,600 but they still do it. They right. They still do it. I remember, I remember surveying when I was, 457 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:47,360 when I was still in direct use service talking to high school seniors, every single one of them 458 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:51,520 said that they wished they had never gotten their phone, but they felt it was like a necessary evil. 459 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:55,440 Now they're like, they didn't know how they would function in life without it, but they knew, 460 00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:00,240 they knew it was not good. It's like, what, like any other situation we would be like, well, that 461 00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:07,920 okay. That's a problem. Right. Two children who are two times of the risk of anxiety and depression. 462 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:15,440 If they are spending three plus hours a day on, on their, in front of a screen on their, 463 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:21,920 on their device. Again, the research is all there. We have researched the crap out of this, Jack, 464 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:27,920 like you guys have, you have all the info. It's not a question. It really is a matter. Is it fair 465 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:31,600 to say it really just a matter of our follow through about how seriously we take this and 466 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:34,880 the steps and the diligence that we want to put forward to address the issue. Yeah. 467 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:40,560 To be honest with you. Yeah. Like I could run through some really dark stats like there, 468 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:45,840 and some people need that or whatever to slap on the face. I'm like, I don't want to do that 469 00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:50,800 tonight. I'm just going to tell you, it's a serious, serious, serious problem. Just like 470 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:57,280 suicide is obviously been off the charts for all age groups since COVID, but to be honest, 471 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:04,400 it's young men. That's the highest stat right now. Especially an increase just over the last 472 00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:11,280 few years. That's terrible. And of course, no life lost is okay. But like I've had friends who have 473 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:19,360 been personally affected and are not here anymore because of some just really rough stuff online and 474 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:26,720 that spills over into your personal life. And you know, high school is rough. Middle school is 475 00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:31,680 rougher. I would say, you know, and some of these kids are getting phones in elementary school. And 476 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:38,160 so in some ways they're at a social advantage starting when they're 11 or 12. And so that's, 477 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:41,920 you know, as a parent, you probably see all the pressures. I want a phone, I want a phone. It's 478 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:46,080 because it makes you cool. It's because it makes you, you know, you have more power than everyone 479 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,400 else. You're more responsible than everyone else. And that's tough because at the end of the day, 480 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:54,400 there's kids who are getting it that aren't responsible and aren't ready for it, 481 00:41:54,400 --> 00:42:00,400 but their parents are not really taking control and just kind of laissez-faire. And so I think 482 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:05,840 at the end of the day, every it's the parent's job. We're trying to get the teachers and the 483 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:10,400 admin a lot more involved as well. And so, you know, on our platform, for example, we have stuff 484 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:17,920 that's kind of teacher specific where it's help identify stuff in the classroom. But, you know, 485 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:23,360 it's, we're trying to build an ecosystem where everyone is acknowledging the problems and kind 486 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:29,200 of working together and sharing the best tips and sharing, Hey, you know, I found this new setting. 487 00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:34,640 It's worked. You know, I've been able to track my kids' text messages for the last week. There's 488 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:40,240 some softwares for that. There's all this other stuff. We have partners that can do pretty much 489 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:47,520 anything, even if it's hardcore data security. But we're trying to create an ecosystem just 490 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:52,240 where this problem gets attacked. You know, the one-stop shop is to be honest, spot on. 491 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:54,960 We're not there yet, but we will be really soon. 492 00:42:54,960 --> 00:43:02,000 Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. And Jack, I just have to say, I mean, I'm glad, 493 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:07,360 I'm glad you guys are out there doing this. I'm glad the resources available. 494 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:13,840 I think I speak for a lot of parents when I say, you know, for all of us who are just trying to 495 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:19,520 live life these days in this season that Andy and I are in, where it's like, it does, 496 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:23,200 we could use an extra few hours every day that we know we're not, we're not going to get like, 497 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:28,880 life feels very jammed full. And it really, the question that we ask so frequently is like, okay, 498 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:34,800 where am I going to find the bandwidth and the time to do the extra research, to do the extra 499 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:40,480 checkup? You know, and what I love is that whenever there is a resource of like, Hey, 500 00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:47,840 we are here to do this work for you, to give you a very clear and concise information and 501 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:55,520 step-by-step instruction, man, that is, that is what this dad right here needs more often than not. 502 00:43:55,520 --> 00:44:01,360 It's just like a shot in the arm. I mean, it's just an extra boost of an extra boost for us. 503 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:05,200 Cause again, you know, we don't have to, I mean, don't have to, isn't the right word, but it's, 504 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:09,840 it's an assistant, something like this, something like parent protect is an assistant for us where 505 00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:14,160 we don't have to go out and do all of the research ourselves. We don't have to go out, you know, it's 506 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:19,200 like having an army, you know, I can, I can do that. I can go out and do research on Roblox and 507 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:26,080 Minecraft and Snapchat and, and, and, you know, all of the things for when I don't want all this 508 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:32,080 stuff. I, you know, I, I purposely have never installed Tik TOK and I, I don't plan on it. And, 509 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,880 and so for me to do research on that is really, really hard. And so parent protect is a great 510 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:42,720 assistant for those parents like myself, like Joel, that just don't like, we don't have the 511 00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:48,800 time for it all. And yet, what we want to do is just streamline, right? Like if there was a 512 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:54,800 parenting one-on-one book for technology, of course you have some people who know the exact 513 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:58,240 problem and they're going to be able to find everything, but for someone who just has five 514 00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:02,480 minutes and you know, Oh wait, I can, I know I just got this subscription. I can look at it. 515 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:07,920 You know, we break everything down and it's kind of built where you can just flip anywhere you want 516 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,680 and it's useful and it's actually gonna, you're going to learn something and you're going to learn 517 00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:16,080 some really powerful stuff along the way as well, but I didn't mean to cut you off. I'm so sorry. 518 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:22,960 Yeah. And not even just that, but you know, as, as me, I, I, I work in the IT security field. And so 519 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:26,320 for me, like some of these things come natural. Some of them I look and go, yeah, there's no way 520 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:32,320 I want my kid to have that. But those of those parents who don't, aren't in security and think 521 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:37,120 security minded, aren't going to think about, Oh, this app has your kid's location. And you know, 522 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:39,840 they're sharing that with their friends. So, and things like that. 523 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:46,320 And people who they think are there for. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, we, we really 524 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:51,280 appreciate you coming on and we appreciate the Brock for being super persistent with us and 525 00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:58,560 patient with us. But we, we obviously can't let you go without doing the dudes and dads pop quiz. 526 00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:03,600 Now it's time for the dudes and dads pop quiz. Oh, thank you so much. All right. So the pop quiz, 527 00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:07,920 if you've never joined us is just a random time where we pepper Jack with questions that he can't 528 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:13,440 prepare for and probably don't have anything to do with parents or technology. Well, it may be 529 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:18,800 technology. I've got one, maybe on the air. We'll see. Are you prepared? Are you ready? 530 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:27,920 Say no Jack. You're not ready. Don't live a lie. Okay. Here we go. Go ahead. You go first. Okay. 531 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:32,320 Jack, we're gonna, we're gonna start off with a little bit of a softball toss here because I want 532 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:41,200 to ease you into these waters. What Jack is your favorite either IRL or online game? 533 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:54,240 To play, correct? Yes. Yes. Yeah. I love me. I love me some tennis, to be honest with you. 534 00:46:54,240 --> 00:47:00,720 Okay. I'm also, I'm also on a baseball team and so they would get mad at me if they saw this and 535 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:06,320 I didn't shut out the dirty Sixers. Dirty Sixers. Okay. That sounds like a team that only could 536 00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:16,000 exist in Austin. It is. Wow. Okay. What would be your best day ever? And you can't say tennis 537 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:20,320 because you just use that. So whoever your significant other that's listening, this is also 538 00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:26,320 we've set up a minefield for this poor guy. Okay. Let's go. Best date ever. I don't know if you guys 539 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:33,280 are familiar. There's, there's this nice park in downtown Austin called Barton Springs. It's this 540 00:47:33,280 --> 00:47:39,600 awesome natural fed kind of lake thing. Water, I think is like 63 degrees year round there, 541 00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:46,240 which for us Texans is freezing cold whenever it's, you know, 105 out. And so believe it or not, 542 00:47:46,240 --> 00:47:50,000 yesterday I had my dream date and we spent all day there, me and my girlfriend. 543 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:56,000 Went around and just had a beautiful day. It was kind of picnic-esque, but we had to sneak food in. 544 00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:02,560 So attaboy, Jack nicely done. Jack, if you had a time machine and you could travel on back to 545 00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:13,360 witness any historical event, where would you go? And I love history. So, you know, just, just 546 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:22,560 violent, you know, going through all the, I would have to say, I mean, I could get biblical here and 547 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:29,920 do that, but I would honestly have to say whenever some, just probably a big war way back in the day, 548 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:35,520 one of the group shade, obviously not in it, but I would love to be, 549 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,320 yeah. Like you're watching it from above. Right. You got the view above, 550 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:42,160 you get the popcorn and you're sitting alongside. Yeah. Yeah. I do. Exactly. There was, 551 00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:48,000 there was just not too long ago here. I want to say this is over in England. There was a site 552 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:55,920 uncovered of a, of a early, like it's like pre medieval battle. Okay. Maybe pre medieval or 553 00:48:55,920 --> 00:49:00,160 around the time this is because I'm not a historian where they, they were able to date 554 00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:06,000 the battle because the, the individuals were wearing an early version of chain mail, but, 555 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:14,640 but the battlefield injuries or so horrific, we're talking like spears through the head kind of thing. 556 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:20,320 And I just think to myself, what a, what a different, what a time to be alive, right? 557 00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:25,920 Like what a different reality of, of how just like intense and barbaric, you know, that, 558 00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:31,120 that all was so okay. Gotcha. Good, good answer. Keep it going, Andy. Which talent 559 00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:34,480 would you most like to have that you don't currently have? 560 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:39,600 You know, I learned how to juggle. I would've said juggle. I learned how to juggle like six 561 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:45,040 months ago and I'm pretty decent at it now. I juggle Andy's a juggler. Andy juggles chainsaws, 562 00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:50,080 though. It's no, no, no, no. Fire fire. Any juggles fire. Excuse me. Yeah. 563 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:54,720 I can get three tennis balls. If I do an Apple, some, it always drops and it just 564 00:49:54,720 --> 00:50:01,680 spoils the side of it. But tennis balls I have down pat. Nice. You know, I'm really jealous 565 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:06,240 of the people like thinking kind of woodsy now, like, have you ever seen the chainsaw guys who 566 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:12,880 make those perfect sculptures with the chainsaw? Man, like to be a sculptor and to like be a good 567 00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:17,600 artist would just be, you know, top tier. I'm not an artist. I'm good at writing, but like 568 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:22,240 not that good or anything. Being a good artist would just be my love. 569 00:50:22,240 --> 00:50:28,560 All right, Jack, my final question for you next time I'm in Austin, Texas, 570 00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,360 where am I going out to eat? 571 00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:40,800 Where are you sending me? No pressure. There's a place called in a DC burger. 572 00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:46,880 It's it's owned by a Michelin chef, but it's not a Michelin restaurant. It's a burger. Just 573 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:51,360 exactly how you would think a Texas burger should be right on spot on. 574 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:58,160 Well, I think you've successfully passed the dudes in Despont quiz. Well done Jack. 575 00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:09,600 Well, Jack, real quick, share with us for all of those that want to check out parent protect, 576 00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:13,840 give us all the platforms, all the places. Where can they find you? Because we're going to make 577 00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:19,680 those spots available over at dudesanddadspodcast.com as well. But tell us where can we find 578 00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:30,400 you? Yeah. Yeah. So it's just www.parentprotechprotec.com. We're pretty much on everything 579 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:37,120 parent protect as well. Twitter X now, Instagram, LinkedIn, if you want to see some behind the scenes 580 00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:43,600 business stuff. We're relatively active on everything. And we also have some interviews 581 00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:48,480 with kids on our YouTube as well. Just talking about, you know, kind of, you know, front lines 582 00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:53,600 of all this stuff. But yeah, parent protect everywhere. Yeah. Hop over the YouTube channel 583 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:59,120 as well. So hop over there too. You got to get your video fix. Oh, yeah. Awesome. Awesome. 584 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:05,280 Well, Jack, big, big, big fan of yours now. Thank you so much. As always, you can head over to 585 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:12,800 dudesanddadspodcast@gmail.com. You can email us at dudesanddadspodcast@gmail.com 586 00:52:12,800 --> 00:52:20,560 or at the website dudesanddads.com. Dudesanddads.com. You can leave us a voicemail. 587 00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:25,600 If you're into that, just dial a number. It's fine. It'll find its way to us. I caught Andy 588 00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:31,440 off guard. Hey everybody. We're so grateful for you hanging with us, checking out all the good 589 00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:36,640 stuff. Make sure you like, subscribe, share, share the love, all that good stuff. Hey, 590 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:41,760 until next time, we wish you grace and peace. 591 00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:56,760 (Music)