Axios: Talk to your kid tonight

Posted on May 29, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
Talk to your kid tonight
Illustration of a young child playing video games inside of a glowing protective wire frame dome.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
 
You probably don’t think twice when your kid disappears into their room for a few hours on Minecraft or Roblox. That’s exactly what makes this conversation worth having, writes Chase Reid, co-founder and CEO of Aslan, an intelligence platform for law enforcement, defense and intelligence professionals.

Questionable activity goes down on platforms kids use every day. Opening a conversation with them can be intimidating, but it’s worth it.

⚡ Threat level: Generative AI, deepfakes and autonomous chatbots are helping bad actors target susceptible kids more easily.🔍 

Reality check: You probably won’t find obvious warning signs on your kid’s phone.

What you might notice instead: withdrawal from longtime friends, a fixation on one online community to the exclusion of everything else, new language or memes that feel unusually dark, or sudden secrecy around their devices.

Here’s what parents can do:

1.  Talk about manipulation, not ideology.

The instinct is to frame this as a political problem: Don’t believe extreme ideas. But that’s not quite the right conversation.

Dangerous networks operate more like grooming operations than political movements. They find kids who are lonely, angry or searching for belonging, and they offer community. The ideology comes later.

2.  Build your kid’s sense of connection.

Teenagers are now the loneliest age group on earth, with 1 in 5 adolescents reporting chronic loneliness, according to a 2025 World Health Organization report.

The most vulnerable kids are the ones who feel isolated and purposeless. Your job is to make sure that void isn’t there — through dinner conversations, car rides and showing up for small moments (that are big to them).

3. 👁️ Know what you can’t see.

Most recruitment happens invisibly by design — closed servers, encrypted messaging apps and coded memes.

Parents, platforms and law enforcement are often all looking at the same blank wall. Your relationship with your kid is the most important safeguard there is.

The bottom line: One open conversation won’t fix everything. But it’s the right place to start. 

Resources worth bookmarking: Common Sense Media: platform-by-platform guides for parents. NCMEC: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a reporting tool for online exploitation. FBI Safe Online Surfing: internet safety curriculum for kids and families.
    
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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