Your teenager is still figuring out who they are. Big Tech’s algorithms act like they already know.
Sponsored by The Boston Foundation The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION (Photo by Robin Worrall/Unsplash) Your teenager is still figuring out who they are. Big Tech’s algorithms act like they already know. August 30, 2026 By Elise Rapoza My child doesn't have a smartphone or use social media. Until they turned 13, I thought that meant they were protected from its influence. I was wrong. I’m watching the culture of social media reach my child secondhand, both as a mother and the wife of a public school teacher. Online vocabulary travels offline, including increasingly precise categories young people use to understand differences in attention, personality, sexuality, gender, politics, and mental health. Some of this can be enormously valuable. A teenager with undiagnosed autism can discover an explanation for their differences. A gay or transgender teenager can discover that others feel the same way. But social media doesn’t simply provide access to information. It continuous...