No one’s coming

Tech Won’t Protect Your Kids

Last night I watched Adolescence—the Netflix series everyone’s talking about.

It opens with a 13-year-old boy being arrested for murder. Not a whodunit, but a why. The story unspools from there, laying bare the brutal reality of growing up boy in a digital world that doesn’t care if it breaks them.

I watched it as the mother of a 13-year-old son.

I went to bed unsettled. I woke up heavier.

And over breakfast, I brought it to him.

We had one of those uncomfortable, frank conversations that require you to stay steady even when your heart’s in your throat. I asked about bullying. About boys and girls and group chats and jokes that aren’t really jokes. I told him about the show. About what happens when shame and rejection collide with loneliness and algorithm-fed masculinity.

He listened. I listened. We stayed in it.

That’s parenting now. Not reactive. Proactive. Relentless.

Because here’s the truth:

I monitor his phone.

I check his messages.

He doesn’t have social media.

He’s in sports. He has friends. He talks to me.

And still—I know how fragile it all is.

Because the pressure isn’t theoretical. It’s everywhere.

And no one is protecting our kids from it.

Not the tech companies designing these platforms.

Not the schools trying to keep up.

Not the government.

Not the culture.

And certainly not the businesses that profit from the chaos.

Business won’t protect your kids.

And it won’t protect you, either.

That’s the deeper realization Adolescence surfaced for me.

This isn’t just about boyhood. It’s about how systems work now.

A business model that feeds boys algorithmic toxicity until they implode or explode isn’t broken—it’s functioning exactly as designed. Attention, outrage, shame, identity crisis—it’s all monetizable.

And that model isn’t confined to kids.

Workers are burning out under unrealistic expectations—and the answer is to “build resilience.”

Leaders are rewarded for growth, not humanity.

Women are told to “lean in,” but when we shatter, the silence is deafening.

Marginalized employees are told they belong, but rarely feel safe to speak.

We keep hoping institutions will evolve.

That someone will fix this from the top.

That if we work hard, stay vigilant, raise our voices—someone in power will care.

But again and again, we see the truth:

No one’s coming.

So what now?

If you’re a parent:

Your vigilance isn’t overbearing. It’s leadership. Keep going. Stay in it.

If you’re a leader:

Culture starts with you. What are you modeling? What do your employees see you tolerate? What hard truths are you naming—or ignoring?

If you’re a human being in this world:

Stop waiting for the institution to lead with empathy. Be the buffer. Be the one who listens. Be the one who protects, even when it’s not your job.

We are in a world that rewards detachment and punishes vulnerability.

We can’t afford to look away.

Not from our kids.

Not from each other.

Not from the mirror.

No one is coming.

So we show up for each other.

Every damn day.