About this episode
This interview with former Congressional staffer Patrick Lyden gives parents an understanding of how our children are currently protected when they spend time online and what legislation is needed. The biggest takeaway for me is that parents need to speak up about what we want regarding kids online safety. We also break down what's happening with the TikTok "ban," social media age restrictions, the current state of tech in schools and much more in the digital safety space. NOTE : This conversation took place on April 8th. There have been legislative updates since then related to the safety bills discussed, in addition to the TikTok "divest-or-ban" bill. Visit my Instagram ( @scrolling2death ) to get real-time updates on all of these topics. Resources mentioned in the episode: Visit house.gov to find your member of Congress and voice your concerns about online safety for children. (form is on the top-right of the webpage) Children and Screens Institute BrightCanary monitoring platform More about Patrick: Patrick Lyden is founder of CurrentStrategic, a government relation, business development, and strategic initiatives firm based in Washington, DC. Patrick brings more than 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, including in Congress and political campaigns. Over his career, he has maintained strong bipartisan relationships in and out of government. From start-up to the largest private sector companies, Patrick has led clients to successfully engage with government stakeholders and develop partnerships with leading organizations and businesses. A skilled communicator, Patrick leverages his broad understanding of the legislative process and decades of relationships across the federal government, foreign governments, business, associations, and non-profits to assist clients in crafting and meeting their strategic and policy objectives. Patrick uses his extensive experience in building and engaging in coalitions to drive forward client priorities. Prior to founding CurrentStrategic, Patrick led strategic initiatives for a robotics startup and co-led Congressional advocacy efforts for Uber Technology with a focus on the new economy, the workforce of the future, and emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles. Prior to that, Patrick worked for leading Members of Congress as a Chief of Staff and as senior staff for several committees of the House of Representatives. Patrick lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Sarah Rittling, and their two daughters.