A Parent’s Guide to Childhood 2.0 

At Bark, we consider one of our most important jobs to be educating parents and the general public about the difficult realities kids face online. And this certainly isn’t light work since most parents today didn’t grow up with the amount of technology that kids today have. So understandably, there’s a disconnect between parents' knowledge and their kids’ experiences in the digital world, especially with teen mental health, cyberbullying, and more. 

One tool that can help parents truly understand some of these dangers is the 2020 documentary Childhood 2.0, which showcases the incredible dangers facing kids in the modern age.

And the response to this documentary was telling — with over four million views and countless testimonies from parents, it’s clear this film was spot on about how parents and kids feel about the impact of tech and social media. 

If you haven’t watched it yet, we put together this guide to answer some questions you may have. Our hope is that this documentary serves as a powerful resource for your family and a point of connection between you and your child as you navigate the online world together. 

What is Childhood 2.0 About? 

If there’s one shared sentiment felt among all parents today, it’s the realization that our kids are experiencing a completely different childhood than we did. Even though we all feel it, it’s a difficult thing to fully put into words. So that’s the chief goal of Childhood 2.0 — to articulate exactly what’s different, why it’s different, and most importantly, what do we do about it?

Childhood 2.0 takes into account just about every perspective you can think of — experts such as pediatricians, teen mental health professionals, psychologists, cyber crime detectives, family tech advocates, and more. It also speaks frankly with real parents and kids. A well-crafted mix of personal testimonies and revealing statistics, Childhood 2.0 will both teach you something and give you a feeling of relief that you’re not alone in your experiences. 

Can I Watch It With My Child?

In our Facebook group, Parenting in a Tech World, we have parents tell us all the time that they watched this documentary as a family and it led to incredibly open and honest conversations about their child’s online experience.

However, it should be noted that the movie doesn’t shy away from more mature, heavy topics. We believe that while these topics may be uncomfortable to discuss with your teen, it’s becoming more important than ever to ensure that kids hear it from their parents, not just from encountering it online by themselves. Even if kids don’t come across porn or toxic body image content in your home, they most certainly could at school, at a friend’s house, or anywhere else. 

This being said, Childhood 2.0 may not be suitable for all ages, particularly younger audiences. We’d say this is appropriate for roughly ages 13 and up, but it really depends on what you as a parent are comfortable with your child watching. We highly suggest watching the film yourself first to gauge if it’s appropriate for your child.

Teen Mental Health, Screen Time Addiction, Cyberbullying, and More 

The movie covers many different areas to fully encapsulate the things kids and teens face online. Here is a list of topics covered in the film.

• Suicidal ideation
• Benefits of the internet
• Online dangers vs. real life dangers
• Body image and social media 
• Screen time addiction
• Emotional regulation 
• Cyberbullying
• Prevalence of porn 
• Dating, sexting, sending nudes
• Online predators 

Pro tip: Realizing that some parts of the documentary may not be suitable for younger ages compared to other parts, we divided the doc into segments and put them in a helpful playlist on YouTube. This way you can easily choose the more appropriate topics you want your child to watch (the list above includes links to these segments). 

How Can I Watch Childhood 2.0?

Childhood 2.0 is available in lots of places, but the most accessible way is on YouTube — for free, we might add! You can also find it on Apple TV, Google Play, Facebook, and Amazon Prime. 

You can even host a free screening of the film at your school, church, or community group! If you feel as strongly as we do that this movie communicates some important truths about child online safety, then you’ll want to spread the word to as many parents as possible. 

How Bark Can Help

After watching this documentary, we hope you feel empowered to tackle the challenges of the digital world with your family. However, you may also feel slightly overwhelmed and unequipped to do so. This is why Bark’s suite of parental control products are designed to make navigating tech as a parent as simple as possible. Whether you need to monitor your child’s social media, give your child a safer phone with built-in controls, or manage screen time in your whole home, Bark has exactly what you need to help keep your child safer online.