• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• Almost every week, I send out Teen Health Today articles that are free for all to read - the most recent is “What Teens Say About Phones In Schools”

• In addition, I regularly curate collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• To read this whole post you’ll need to become a paid subscriber. It’s a bargain (only $5 a month), and even less if you use this 30% off coupon.

Get 30% off forever

In this edition:

• I’ve Studied Hundreds of Mass Shooters. Parents, I Hope You Know The Story Of Colin Gray.

• Cigarettes Are Back In Vogue. How Did This Happen?

• RFK Jr.’s Flawed Claims About Sperm Count and Fertility

• New Study Links ADHD Symptoms In Boys And Addictive Social Media Use

• How Do Young People Feel About AI? 7 Teens Weigh In

• They Watched TikToks About ADHD, Anxiety And Cancer. Then They Worried They Had Them

• The Phenomenon of Jimothy And What It Means About How We Treat “Wayward” Bodies

I’ve Studied Hundreds of Mass Shooters. Parents, I Hope You Know The Story Of Colin Gray. (Slate)

By Nina E. Cerfolio: On July 28 and 29, Colin Gray will be sentenced at the Barrow County Courthouse in Georgia. This March, he became the first parent in American history to be convicted of murder for a school shooting carried out by his child. A jury took less than two hours to convict him on 27 counts for his role in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School, where his 14-year-old son Colt killed two students and two teachers and wounded nine others with an AR-15-style rifle given to him by his father. Colin Gray didn’t carry out the shooting but was found guilty of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, cruelty to children, and knowingly allowing his son to have a weapon. He faces up to 180 years in prison.

It isn’t the first time a parent has been charged in a shooting carried out by their child. But it is the first second-degree murder conviction for a parent, establishing a new legal standard. It also raises a question the rest of us now have to answer: What are we going to do about the children we can still save? READ MORE

Cigarettes Are Back In Vogue. How Did This Happen? (Washington Post)

Read more

One of the places this change has shown up most clearly is in schools, where phone use has become a major area of contention. Teachers complain about how distracting phones are and how much they interfere with learning, and news reports say that phones are making fights both more common and more vicious.

In 2024, I shared what I learned from teaching in a middle school while it was implementing a new phone policy in “California Wants To Ban Cell Phones In Schools. I Have Strong Feelings.”

The proposal I discussed in that post, the Phone-Free Schools Act (AB 3216), was eventually signed into law, and it required public and charter schools in California to adopt policies limiting or prohibiting student smartphone use by July 1, 2026.

The newsletter explains the changes here:

“The Phone-Free Schools Act asked communities to decide what works locally and to involve students, educators, and families in shaping those decisions.

In other words, the policies students will experience this fall weren’t written by legislators. They were shaped in school board meetings, PTA conversations, principal offices, and student councils.

That shift may become one of California’s most important contributions to the broader movement distraction-free learning. The question is no longer whether or not schools should restrict phone usage on campus.

The question now is: How should communities design phone-free learning environments, and who should be involved in those decisions?

The California Partners Project also created this guide with specific suggestions for parents who want to make sure their school district has a clear plan and is going to actively implement it.

How To Get Youth Involved

Although this whole issue is about them, we often don’t hear that much about what young people think should be done. That’s why I was so intrigued to learn about the “Call Me Maybe” project from .

Here’s how its Executive Director, , explains the initiative:

In early 2025, as schools rushed to implement new policies before the start of the upcoming school year, we realized there was a small window to do something different. We accelerated our grantmaking process and launched a rapid response challenge, quickly funding organizations and school districts that weren’t just asking, “Should students have phones?” They were asking, “How do we build policies with young people instead of for them?”

Over the past school year, we’ve watched our grantees, four nonprofits and two school districts, take approaches that went far beyond simply restricting phones. They invited students into the policymaking process from the very beginning, helping them understand the “why” behind new rules and empowering them to become ambassadors for the changes. They paired phone policies with restorative justice circles to resolve conflicts before they escalated, and reimagined what students could do instead of scrolling by introducing music during lunch, opening outdoor spaces, and creating more opportunities for connection. In every case, the goal wasn’t just to reduce screen time. It was to build school cultures where young people felt ownership, trust, and belonging.

To tell this story as fully as possible, Young Futures partnered with documentary filmmaker Yoelle Gulko to capture these stories firsthand.

The first video in the “Call Me Maybe Storytelling Series” is out now. In it, Daniel Merrin from the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Climate and Culture takes viewers inside two Philadelphia high schools. Students and educators talk about what changed when young people were invited to shape phone policy instead of simply following it.

Hancock encourages you to watch this 10-minute documentary with a young person in your life, or share it with educators and policy makers thinking about the future of phones in schools. Future videos will focus on schools in New York and California.

“My hope is that it helps expand the conversation beyond whether schools should have phone policies and toward how schools engage young people in shaping their communities. Phone policies are one opportunity, but the larger lesson is that when students are trusted with meaningful responsibility, schools see stronger buy-in, and young people develop the kinds of skills that help them thrive now and long after they leave school.”

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• The Cast Of “This Is Us” Shares Our Parenting Advice

  How “acting like a cat” may help you connect with teens

• Should Parents Be Tracking Their 18- to 25-Year-Old Kids On Their Smartphones?

  Navigating the line between safety and autonomy. PLUS: A deep dive into Andrew Tate’s “empire of abuse,” and a look at who is fighting to keep Kratom legal.

• I’ve Worked At The Same Place For 24 Years. Today Is My Last Day.

  Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

• Pimples, Boobs, And Body Hair: On This Podcast, Teens Help Younger Kids Understand Puberty

  Kids have LOTS of questions about puberty. The teens on Brains On: Puberty give them real answers.

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

The United States is celebrating its 250th birthday this week. American readers, in addition to joining joyous “Take Me Home, Country Roads” sing-a-longs (which you should definitely do!), I would love to encourage you to think about the kind of country you want to live in, the values that are important to you, and how you’d like us to treat immigrants and refugees.

Seeing the wonderful mix of people visiting North America as part of the World Cup actually provides a great opening for this kind of talk. I’ve written up some questions for reflection in this post - feel free to bring these up with your friends and family, or just think about them for yourself.

Big love,
Christopher

Reclaiming The ‘Best Thing About America’

Recently, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg made the case that America should proud to be a land of immigrants:

“I just think it’s the best thing about America, quite simply. It’s the thing that we have historically done better than others. We absorb immigrants. We integrate immigrants. I still am very sentimental about the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty. Historically, we’ve gone through these periods of racial nationalism like we’re in right now, where people want to define America as an ethnic community, and periods of civic nationalism where America is about ideas and values that are open to anyone who is willing to do the work of embracing them.”

I think we all should be having big, broad conversations about immigration, and as a high school teacher of course I’d love to see teenagers participating in those discussions. Here are some prompts to get you started:

Big Questions To Consider

• How hard do you think it should be for people to come to the U.S. to work?

• How hard do you think it should be for people to become U.S. citizens?

• How welcoming do you think we should be to people who are fleeing war or violence?

• How welcoming do you think we should be to people who say they want better economic opportunities for themselves and their families?

• How big of a priority do you think border and immigration enforcement should be in the federal budget? 　　

• Do you think we should give amnesty to undocumented people who are already living in the United States, like Ronald Reagan did in 1986, or lay out some other pathway to citizenship?

• Do you think we should provide specific protections for people who were brought to the U.S. as children, like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)?

• Canada welcomes three times more immigrants on a per capita basis than then the U.S. Do you see anything in Canada’s immigration policies and goals that you think the U.S. should adopt?

Want More To Think About?

Listen to this special epiode of KALW’s “Notes From The Edge” about America at 250. Here’s how host describes it:

“We speak to the New York Times columnist (and Charlottesville resident) Jamelle Bouie, one of our leading voices on how history finds its way into our present-day politics and culture. We also speak to Paul Farber, the co-founder of Monument Lab, someone who has thought a lot about monuments, memory, and public space.

And in a segment we’re calling Music Notes, we pose the question — what is your ideal national anthem? — to three of our favorite artists: the musicians Leyla McCalla and La Doña and the film director, author, and multihyphenate artist Julian Brave NoiseCat.”

What I Learned From Visiting Ellis Island

History teacher Jenna Vandenberg recently wrote about the hope she found in a visit to Ellis Island:

Once upon a not-so-long-ago time, the USA quickly and efficiently processed millions of immigrants. Ellis Island processed 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954. Over a million entered the United States in 1907 alone. Most immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were processed in a few hours. No passports, visas, or papers were needed to enter the United States through Ellis Island.² For most people, getting through Ellis Island took only about 3 - 5 hours. And then they were off to their new lives in America.

When I tell this to my students, many of whom have helped their families sort through piles of immigration paperwork, their mouths drop open in flabbergastment.³

Those who say things like “immigrants today need to follow the rules, just like my ancestors did,” generally have no idea what they are talking about.

I’ve been to Ellis Island myself, and paid particular attention the exhibit on Norway, where I took this photo:

My family roots are in Norway. In the 1800s, things were pretty rough there, and like a lot of Norwegians, they came to the U.S. to escape poverty and famine, with hopes for a better life.

Even back then, immigration didn’t sit well with everyone in the U.S., according to this Washington Post story:

“For the vast majority of their shared history, including the period in the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s that comprised the biggest wave of immigration to the United States, Norway might have been on the president’s so-called manure pile.

European immigrants of that time fueled many of the same fears about immigration we see today, and politicians fought to close the nation’s borders back then as successive waves of migrants from different European countries faced hostility upon arrival in the United States.

Today, those immigrants are idealized as a fast-assimilating group that came over with nothing but the shirts on their backs, and handed their children the American Dream. Some place them in sharp contrast to what they see as the insular communities of present-day immigrants such as those called out by the president. But it only appears that those migrants assimilated quickly because past economists only looked at a moment in time, instead of following individuals throughout their lives.”Despite the challenges, I am so grateful that the United States made room for my ancestors, and made it possible for us to build a life here.

I appreciate the many immigrants who help make my community vibrant and wonderful, and I want our country to keep making space for newcomers and refugees. Warmly welcoming people who want to come here seems a lot more likely to produce a positive, bright future for our country than walls, bans, or raids.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• The Cast Of “This Is Us” Shares Our Parenting Advice

  How “acting like a cat” may help you connect with teens

• Should Parents Be Tracking Their 18- to 25-Year-Old Kids On Their Smartphones?

  Navigating the line between safety and autonomy. PLUS: A deep dive into Andrew Tate’s “empire of abuse,” and a look at who is fighting to keep Kratom legal.

• I’ve Worked At The Same Place For 24 Years. Today Is My Last Day.

  Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

• Pimples, Boobs, And Body Hair: On This Podcast, Teens Help Younger Kids Understand Puberty

  Kids have LOTS of questions about puberty. The teens on Brains On: Puberty give them real answers.

Hi Readers,

and I had a thrill this week when we heard actor Sterling K. Brown spreading the word about our book Talk To Your Boys on the “That Was Us” podcast with Mandy Moore and Chris Sullivan. There’s a clip avove, and here’s the full episode if you want to check it out.

Like many people, Brown first learned about the book when Priya Parker recommended it on The Ezra Klein show. For us, both first-time authors, having people share Talk To Your Boys with the world is just amazing. Thank you to all of you who have been spreading the word!

Big love,

Christopher

Fresh Advice For Parents Of Boys

In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing some highlights from a recent interview and I did on the The MOOBment Podcast. “MOOB” stands for “Moms Of Only Boys,” but most of the advice we shared applies to all parents. It’s always fun when Joanna and I get to talk together about all the things we learned while reasearching and writing Talk To Your Boys.

Some of the concepts we discuss here:

• Boys are often not getting enough emotional guidance at home, leading them to seek advice online, where they may encounter harmful influences.

• There is a generational shift: boys today are caught between old stereotypes and new expectations, often feeling left out of empowerment conversations.

• Boys benefit from having a wide range of options for self-expression, interests, and careers.

• In-person social connections and friendships are crucial for boys’ development; online interactions do not fully replace real-life experiences.

• Effective communication with boys involves curiosity, not assumption—ask open-ended questions and look for cues rather than imposing feelings.

• Conversations with boys often happen during shared activities or at unexpected times - our advice is to stay present and be ready to engage when opportunities arise.

• Respect boys’ interests and use them as entry points for connection and teaching empathy and responsibility. Yes, that might mean listening to them recount their latest video game victories in granular detail!

• Model your own emotional regulation and self-care out loud so boys learn healthy coping strategies.

• Community support (e.g., parent groups, book clubs) helps parents share experiences and strategies for raising boys.

• Men, pay attention to the advice Terry Real shares in our book - do your own emotional work to avoid passing on unprocessed issues to you children.

• Maintain open communication with boys from early childhood through young adulthood; don’t withdraw as they become teens.

• Cherish the teenage years as a time of growth and connection, not just challenge.

• Provide a safe space for boys to share, but also teach about privacy and boundaries as they mature.

The full interview is available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Youtube.

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• Should Parents Be Tracking Their 18- to 25-Year-Old Kids On Their Smartphones?

  Navigating the line between safety and autonomy. PLUS: A deep dive into Andrew Tate’s “empire of abuse,” and a look at who is fighting to keep Kratom legal.

• I’ve Worked At The Same Place For 24 Years. Today Is My Last Day.

  Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

• Pimples, Boobs, And Body Hair: On This Podcast, Teens Help Younger Kids Understand Puberty

  Kids have LOTS of questions about puberty. The teens on Brains On: Puberty give them real answers.

• Caffeine Pouches And Teens: What You Need To Know

  How much buzz is too much? PLUS: America’s masculinity crisis, and why are TikTok references being inserted into old books?

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• Almost every week, I send out Teen Health Today articles that are free for all to read - the most recent is “I’ve Worked At The Same Place For 24 Years. Today Is My Last Day.”

• In addition, I regularly curate collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• To read this whole post you’ll need to become a paid subscriber. It’s a bargain (only $5 a month), and even less if you use this 30% off coupon.

Get 30% off forever

P.S. Don’t Forget About Dads: Father’s Day is coming up soon, and I would love to encourage you to consider giving “Talk To Your Boys” to dads you know. Joanna Schroeder and I thought a lot about fathers as we were writing it, and it’s packed with tools that help adults connect better with tween and teen boys. I would LOVE to have more men reading it! Pick it up at your local bookstore or order it now:
Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Books-A-Million | Walmart |

In this edition:

• Behind Every Dad Bod Is a Healthy Dad Brain

• Can Smartphones Help Explain The Drop In Birth Rates?

• Men Are in an Epidemic, Just Not the One You Think

• How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet

• Andrew Tate’s Empire of Abuse

• Most Parents Track Their 18- to 25-Year-Old Kids On Their Smartphones. Is It Healthy?

• They Explain Autism — And Come Under Attack, Even From Within The Autism Community

Behind Every Dad Bod Is a Healthy Dad Brain (New York Times)

By : We already know that the children of engaged fathers show advantages across a variety of domains, from their self-regulation abilities to their social skills and educational attainment. We also know that hands-on dads relieve stress on mothers, improve their partners’ relationship satisfaction and can even buffer the risk of postpartum depression in mothers.

But as I discovered when researching my new book, becoming a committed father also directly benefits men. Men who prioritize fatherhood may lose some sleep, gain some extra weight and enjoy less free time, but they can also discover a richer life with greater meaning, purpose and connection. And when it comes to brain health and mental fitness, becoming a father is one of the best things you can do. READ MORE

Can Smartphones Help Explain The Drop In Birth Rates? (NPR)

By Scott Horsley: In a provocative new working paper titled “Is the iPhone Birth Control?” Economist Caitlin Myers argues that the spread of smartphones could explain between a third and a half of the decline in birth rates during that period.

To test that theory, she makes clever use of an accident of history that creates a kind of natural experiment. When iPhones first came out, they worked only with AT&T.

“In some areas of the country, AT&T had broadband coverage and you could get an iPhone, and in other areas, including where I live in Vermont, that coverage was much more limited,” Myers recalls. “And what you can see in this simplest of comparisons, births start to fall in the places where you can get one, and they’re not falling nearly as much in the places where you can’t.” READ MORE

Read more

I have some big personal news to share today, but before I get to that I wanted to tell you about a couple things:

• Don’t Forget About Dads: Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 21, and I would love to encourage you to consider giving “Talk To Your Boys” to dads you know. and I thought a lot about fathers as we were writing it, and it’s packed with tools that help adults connect better with tween and teen boys. I would LOVE to have more men reading it!
  
  Pick it up at your local bookstore or order it now:
  Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Books-A-Million | Walmart | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Mighty Ape (NZ)

• “Talk To Your Boys” for $2.99! If you want to read “Talk To Your Boys” on your Ipad, Kobo, or Kindle, now is a great time to pick it up, because the e-book version is on sale for only $2.99!
  Shop here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Kobo

Big love,

Christopher

Doors Closing, Doors Opening

Here’s my big news: I’m moving on from San Francisco Unified School District, where I’ve been working in since 2002. Starting in August, I’ll be teaching high school Health Education at Los Altos High School in the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District.

I know that may not seem like a big deal, but it is going to be a major shift in my day-to-day life, in large part because I’m returning to a full-time classroom teaching role. For the last 12 years I’ve been a “Teacher On Special Assignment,” supporting and coordinating the health programs in San Francisco schools. I loved this job, but it is really different than teaching high school every day.

How I Got Started As A Teacher

In 1997, I graduated from The University of Missouri-Columbia with a journalism degree, and promptly landed a job as an assistant editor at a magazine in Berkeley, California. After a couple years, I moved to online journalism during San Francisco’s dot com boom, helping ThriveOnline win a Webby Award for “Best Health Site.”

By the end of 2001, boom times had gone bust, I’d been laid off, and I was scrambling to find work. I was about to become a father for the first time, which put some extra pressure on the job hunt.

The unemployment office mentioned that they had a job retraining program called “Tech To Teaching” and asked if I had ever thought about becoming a teacher. I really had - I’d been doing volunteer work answering the phone at a hotline called San Francisco Sex Information, and we got a lot of calls from teenagers who needed basic information about their bodies, healthy relationships, and handling their emotions. It reminded me of the years I spent in college volunteering at my unversity’s Rape Education Office, where I’d often be sent out to deliver sexual assaualt prevention talks in classrooms, fraternity houses, and community spaces.

I got in touch with the health office at San Francisco Unified School District to find out if they had health teachers (they did!), and set up appointments to shadow some classes. I loved what I saw and quickly got enrolled in a credential program. My first teacher training classes started in January, and by August I was officially a health teacher with my own classroom.

Note: This was not a traditional route to teaching - I started on “emergency credential” and had to take teacher training courses at night and on weekends until I was fully certified. Instead of a year of unpaid student teaching, a professor came into my classroom and evaluated my teaching and lesson plans, consulting with me and giving tips for improvement after class was over. Supporting programs like this is often recommended by advocates like , , and as one way to help bring more men into teaching.

I Love Teaching

I was almost 28 when I started teaching high school, and I absolutely loved it. In high school health classes, we cover six big areas, all of which I found interesting:

• Nutrition and Physical Activity

• Growth, Development, and Sexual Health

• Injury Prevention and Safety

• Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs

• Mental, Emotional, and Social Health

• Personal and Community Health

I found that planning a high school class used a lot of the same skills I’d used as a journalist - taking scientific information and making it understandable and actionable, tailoring messages for specific audiences, and finding the right “hook” to pull people into a topic. It was a lot of work, but it suited me well.

What’s Changed Over Time

The world is different than when I started teaching - things like vaping, iPhones, and TikTok didn’t exist - and I’ve changed positions within my school district several times in the years since 2002. Job titles I’ve had:

• Health Education teacher - Lincoln High School

• Peer Resource teacher - Lincoln High School

• Health Education teacher - Balboa High School

• Health Education Teacher on Special Assignment - School Health Programs Department

That last one is the job I’ve had for the past 12 years, and I’ve primarily been focused on implementing the CDC’s “What Works In Schools” plan. This research-backed approach asks districts to use these three specific strategies in their schools:

1. Providing quality health education, including sexual health education.

2. Implementing systems to increase student access to health care.

3. Promoting activities to decrease bullying, increase parent engagement, and help students feel more connected to school.

One Big Frustration

In January 2026, I wrote about my worries regarding cuts to middle school health education:

In my school district, a semester of health education has long been a high school graduation requirement, and our program is seen as a model of innovation and excellence.

However, many students, families, and educators recognized that young people needed to get the information we cover before high school. That’s why, in 2015, SFUSD started its first middle school health education classes.

Since then, the program has grown steadily, with more middle schools adding health classes each year. Now most SFUSD middle schools had health classes on their rosters, and we have a terrific cadre of enthusiastic, well-trained middle school health teachers in place.

Unfortunately, we recently learned that this middle school health education program is at risk of being eliminated, and we’ve been kicking into action to save it.

I firmly believe that defunding, eliminating, or turning these classes into “electives” will harm young people. Today, I want to tell you about what we’ve been doing and why I think its important, both because we could use your support and because I think there are many lessons here that could be applied in other communities.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the outcome I feared came to pass, and SFUSD’s middle school health education program was dismantled at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

It’s an outcome that has left me frustrated, sad, and angry, and served as a signal that maybe it was time to move on.

What I’m Excited About

I’m now 51, and I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to make a fresh start.

I’ve haven’t had my own classroom in over a decade, and I’m really looking forward to stretching my “teacher muscles.” I’ll be teaching 10 sections of health ed next year - 5 classes in the fall semester, and 5 in the spring - which means I’ll be reaching hundreds of students. I’ll be working with a team of strong health educators and I’m hoping we can collaborate and share resources.

I’ve done a ton of teacher coaching over the last decade, and have learned a LOT about what works (and what doesn’t). I’m looking forward to bringing that knowledge back into the classroom and working directly with students.

It’s also important to me to keep advocating for high-quality health education in schools. Being able to speak directly about some recent experiences teaching health in schools will be really useful in that regard.

I’m already looking forward to being able to say “Welcome to health class!” to a fresh group of students in the fall.

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• Pimples, Boobs, And Body Hair: On This Podcast, Teens Help Younger Kids Understand Puberty

  Kids have LOTS of questions about puberty. The teens on Brains On: Puberty give them real answers.

• Caffeine Pouches And Teens: What You Need To Know

  How much buzz is too much? PLUS: America’s masculinity crisis, and why are TikTok references being inserted into old books?

• Kratom? Synthetics? How To Talk To Teens About Drugs Today

  An excellent new video series is here to help

• How To Get Teen Boys To Practice Kindness, Empathy, and Support

  What Next Gen Men has learned while running a Discord server for boys

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

Hi Friends,

I’m excited to share a new podcast series with you today. It’s called Puberty! (The Podcast), and it’s produced by the team behind the wonderful show Brains On.

I did a little behind-the-scenes work on the scripts, and I appear in “guest expert” mode giving some advice in Episode 4. The real stars, though, are the teen hosts who talk about their recent experiences with puberty. Their honest reflections and smart insights really make the show. Check out the trailer to get a sense of what it’s all about.

Big love,
Christopher

It’s Here! Brains On Universe Presents…Puberty! (The Podcast)

Puberty! It’s a lot. There are the awkward conversations and the questions we’re too nervous to ask and the sometimes uncomfortable experience of living in a body that’s changing fast (and publicly!).

This podcast is here to help. Hosted by Molly Bloom, of the award-winning science podcast Brains On, and co-hosted by high schoolers who’ve just been through it, Puberty! (The podcast) is for everybody — and every body.

Designed for kids 7-12, the show covers everything from brain chemicals to consent, in a straight-forward and digestible package. This is a safe space for young people to understand their bodies and their brains, and it’s a resource for parents to tackle otherwise difficult topics.

Experts, including Dr. Cara Natterson (Less Awkward), (Talk to Your Boys), Nora Gelperin (Advocates for Youth), and Erin Walsh (Spark & Stitch Institute), provide science-filled explanations and answer listener questions.

Find it wherever you listen to podcasts or at brainson.org/puberty.

Subscribe now

Episode 1: What Is Puberty Anyway?

Kids grow a lot during puberty, and they also go through changes that make it possible for them to eventually have kids of their own. But it’s not just your body that changes during puberty. Your brain goes through changes, too, as it rewires to become more like an adult brain!

It’s like your whole body is under construction. So it’s no wonder that our listeners have lots of questions about this period in life.

In this episode we’re covering the basics. What is puberty? What’s kicking off these changes? And when can you expect them to happen? Dr. Cara Natterson from Less Awkward is here to help us answer.

And remember: No two people go through puberty exactly the same way. It’s different for everyone!

Episode 2: Skin, Sweat and Hair

In this episode, we’re talking about some of the first body changes you might notice when you go through puberty. We’re answering a lot of listener questions in this episode including: Why do grownups have hair where kids don’t? Why do armpits get stinkier during puberty? Why do zits happen? Why do you get oilier when you’re a teen?

Dr. Cara Natterson, author of The Care and Keeping of You and host of the podcast This is So Awkward, joins us again to help us navigate tricky issues dealing with your skin, sweat and hair.

Episode 3: Growth Spurts

In this episode we’re getting into how hormones kickstart all types of growth, during puberty. We answer kids’ questions like: what’s the deal with growing pains, why and how do our voices change and why do we get breasts. Short answer... it’s hormones. Listen to hear how human growth hormone, and estrogen, progesterone and testosterone activate and change our bodies.

This episode’s word of the day will both put you to sleep AND wake you up! Tune in to find out.

Subscribe now

Episode 4: Reproduction

Ovaries and testicles are like hormone factories — and they also make the cells needed to create new humans! But what exactly do these body parts do? And how do they work?

In this episode, we’re getting to know the reproductive organs: ovaries and testicles (because understanding your body gives you the confidence to take care of it!). Pediatrician Dr. Cara Natterson and health educator Christopher Pepper are here to help us break it all down.

More Episodes On The Way!

Find them wherever you listen to podcasts or at brainson.org/puberty

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• Caffeine Pouches And Teens: What You Need To Know

  How much buzz is too much? PLUS: America’s masculinity crisis, and why are TikTok references being inserted into old books?

• Kratom? Synthetics? How To Talk To Teens About Drugs Today

  An excellent new video series is here to help

• How To Get Teen Boys To Practice Kindness, Empathy, and Support

  What Next Gen Men has learned while running a Discord server for boys

• My Favorite Mom On TV Is...

  10 writers reflect on the most memorable mothers on TV today

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• During the week, I send out Teen Health Today posts that are free for all to read - the most recent is Kratom? Synthetics? How To Talk To Teens About Drugs Today.

• I regularly send out curated collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• These Sunday news roundups are paywalled to give you a gentle nudge to upgrade your Teen Health Today subscription. Lucky for you, here’s a button that will give you a 30% discount:

Get 30% off forever

In this edition:

• America Has a Masculinity Crisis

• They’re Small, Discreet And Everywhere. Young People Are Obsessed With Caffeine Pouches

• A Flood of New, Deadlier Drugs

• For Far-Right Extremists, The Rise Of A New Enemy: Women

• Why Is TikTok in This Book From 2006?

• Looksmaxxing Isn’t Just A TikTok Trend – It Often Reflects Severe Body Image Issues In Teen Boys And Young Men

• Texas School Police Pepper-Sprayed, Tackled and Tasered Students

America Has a Masculinity Crisis (New York Times)

By Nadja Spiegelman, Frederick Joseph, and Ruth Whippman Young men are in crisis. While the left tells men to stay in their lane, members of the manosphere and the far right are welcoming them with open arms. In a conversation about masculinity in a post-#MeToo world, the Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman talks to the authors and about what a healthier version of manhood could look like — and how we can get there. WATCH

From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? Ruth Whippman’s book “Boy Mom,” and “Talk To Your Boys” are often paired up as reading suggestions, and I love that she and Frederick Joseph are helping more people have reflective, provocative conversations what’s going on with boys and men right now and what we can do about it.

They’re Small, Discreet And Everywhere. Young People Are Obsessed With Caffeine Pouches (USA Today)

By Rachel Hale: On an April evening, nearly a hundred bikini-clad saunagoers descend on Othership Flatiron, the sauna-and-ice-bath spa that has become an Instagrammable landmark of New York City’s wellness scene.

Inside, a DJ blasts house music as people rotate between 32-degree cold plunges and a cedar sauna, slipping small white pouches between their gums and lips. Palm-sized plastic canisters of the product are lined up in neat rows on the counter.The pouches – flavored Blue Raspberry and Fruit Punch – weren’t nicotine.

The event is hosted by Wip, a start-up behind flavored “energy pouches.” The products are part of a fast-growing category of caffeine pouches marketed as a trendier, cheaper and more discreet alternative to coffee, energy drinks and pre-workout powders. In recent months the pouches, which have circulated in social media mentions for some time, have been popping up more frequently in the wellness sphere and in social settings. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? There’s been a lot of focus recently on nicotine pouches, but I haven’t seen much coverage of this new pouch trend, and it seems like something we should keep an eye on.

Read more

I hope you’re having a good week! One of the most rewarding projects I’ve been involved with over the last few years is helping create TheNewDrugTalk.org, a site that provides “free, evidence-based resources to help families understand today’s drug risks—and have the conversations that matter.”

Today, I’m sharing some brand new videos from The New Drug Talk that focus on some of the biggest emerging topics in teen substance use.

As a health teacher, I understand how much drugs have changed in recent years, and know that adults need all the help they can get in keeping up with those changes and understanding how to to effectively talk with teens about them. I hope these resources help!

Big love,
Christopher

Is Kratom Safe For Your Teen?

Right now, a middle schooler—12, 13 or 14 years old—can walk into a convenience store in many states and buy a product that acts on the brain like an opioid, without anyone asking a single question. It sits on the same shelf as energy drinks and protein bars. It’s called kratom—and the most concentrated forms, like 7-hydroxymitragynine (7OH), are highly addictive, sold without warning labels and legal in most states.

In this New Drug Talk conversation experts explain what parents should know about the growing market of unregulated substances being sold to young people.

What you’ll learn:

• Where kratom originated and how it’s being deceptively marketed for health and well being

• What forms kratom is sold in: teas, gummies, shots

• How concentrated kratom extracts like 7-hydroxymitragynine (7OH) affect the brain

• Why adolescent brains are more vulnerable to addiction and substance dependence

• The gas station products teens may already recognize, including Feel Free and other brands

• Why “natural” and “legal” do not always mean safe

• How to start calm, informed conversations with your teen about kratom

What Are Today's Synthetic Drugs?

Xylazine (the “zombie drug”). Nitazenes. Fentanyl. Fake prescription pills. Today’s drug supply is changing faster than most parents—and even many professionals—can keep up with. A new wave of synthetic substances are appearing in communities across the country and reshaping overdose risk for young people.

Many counterfeit pills are designed to look exactly like real prescription medications, including Adderall, Xanax and Percocet. In many cases, the pill a teen thinks they’re taking is not the substance they’re actually taking.

In this New Drug Talk conversation experts explain what’s happening in the current drug supply, why today’s risks are different from previous generations, and how parents can have informed, practical conversations with their teens.

What you’ll learn:

• Why today’s drug supply is fundamentally different from the past

• What’s causing more overdose deaths in our country that any drug previous to it

• Why fentanyl has dramatically changed overdose risk for young people

• What xylazine—known as the zombie drug or 'tranq'—does to the body

• Why naloxone (Narcan) may not reverse all substances involved in an overdose

• What nitazenes are and why experts are concerned about their potency

• How counterfeit prescription pills are made to look identical to prescription medications teens are familiar with

• How to start calm, direct conversations with your teen about fake prescription pills

Your Teen Needs Your To Talk About Drugs

The drug talk has changed. It’s not one big conversation—it’s dozens of small ones, built on trust, curiosity and the right techniques. In this video, experts walk parents through the conversations that actually work—moving beyond fear-based warnings to real, lasting connections with your teen that support their mental health and well-being.

What you’ll learn:

• Why talking to your kids about drugs won’t put the idea in their head

• How to talk to your teen about substances without pushing them away

• What to say when you think your child is not doing well

• How to model healthy behaviors, especially outlets to stress

• Why your teen needs to hear your expectations out loud

• Tools to help your kid safely exit a peer pressure situation

• How everyday family habits build the resilience that keeps kids safe

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• How To Get Teen Boys To Practice Kindness, Empathy, and Support

  What Next Gen Men has learned while running a Discord server for boys

• My Favorite Mom On TV Is...

  10 writers reflect on the most memorable mothers on TV today

• Bigorexia, Betting, and Bros: Helping Boys Navigate Today’s World

  An extraordinary panel recorded live at the Common Sense Media Summit

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• I regularly send out curated collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff. The most recent is How To Get Teen Boys To Practice Kindness, Empathy, and Support.

• If you are currently a free subscriber, please consider upgrading your Teen Health Today subscription. Here’s a coupon that will give you a 30% discount:

Get 30% off forever

P.S. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at my life and work, and some of my tips for making it work financially, check out the latest edition of :

In this edition:

• More Than Half A Million American Teens Are Using Inhalants. A Doctor Explains The Dangers

• “I Spent Two Years Inside The Manosphere. Here’s What Most People Still Get Wrong.”

• Young People Are Crowding Underground Phone-free Parties. I Went To One.

• Britain Just Issued A Cigarette Ban That Would Shock Americans. The Reaction Here Has Been Something Else.

• A Promising New Depression Therapy Focuses On Finding Paths To Joy

• Gen Z Pout, ‘Influencer Voice’ And The Horror Of ‘Looking Cringe’

• Opinion: There Is a Better Way to Get Kids Off Screens

More Than Half A Million American Teens Are Using Inhalants. A Doctor Explains The Dangers (CNN)

By Katia Hetter: Social media trends are fueling a dangerous form of substance use among teenagers in the United States involving common household and commercial products, including inhaling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.

More than 500,000 American adolescents reported inhalant use in the past year, according to an estimate based on findings in a new study published in the journal Preventive Medicine.

I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen to learn more about inhalants and why they appeal to so many teens. Wen is an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at George Washington University. READ MORE

From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? As a health educator and a parent, I have to keep up with trends around substance use and be able to explain the risks to teens. This article pulls that information together well.

“I Spent Two Years Inside The Manosphere. Here’s What Most People Still Get Wrong.” (Women’s Agenda)

By Dr. Krista Fisher: I’ve spent time in corners of the internet most women have never heard of: 4chan, Discord, Odyssey, Rumble. Not as a regulator or a judge, but as a researcher at the Movember Institute, trying to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What do young men’s digital worlds actually look like, what are they doing to the boys and men who inhabit them, and what spills out to the world around them?

To answer those I walked in the shoes of a young man online – to see what he sees, scroll what he scrolls: So for the last two years I’ve had two TikTok accounts.

Mine: Krista, early thirties, Australian, female.

And “Liam”: seventeen, American, male. Built for my research.

The contrast between these feeds was disorienting. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? I appreciate the depth of perspective that Fisher provides here, especially her views on what young men need and what effective Manosphere alternatives might look like.

Read more

Hi Readers,

I hope you’re doing well! I know people have big worries about what boys are seeing and doing online. That’s why I’m glad to be able to highlight an online community that’s doing things right. It’s called the NGM Alliance, and it is curated by the the incredible Canadian nonprofit organization Next Gen Men.

NGM Alliance is an online Discord-based community created in 2020 to support boys and nonbinary youth through connection, mentorship, and positive peer relationships. NGM Alliance offers a safe, supportive, and engaging online space where youth can develop healthy identities while building belonging and connection. My own teenage son has been part of this community, and I’ve been able to see the good they are doing up close.

A new evaluation, which draws on interviews, photovoice activities, server analytics, and engagement data, helps prove that it’s working. The report finds that NGM Alliance builds belonging, supports mental health, and contributes to more positive attitudes and behaviors among its members.

In this interview, Next Gen Men’s Stephanie Wright tells us all about the server, the support it provides, and what they’ve learned about effectively engaging boys.

Big love,
Christopher

P.S. If you get inspired to set something like this up in your community, don’t miss the link to Next Gen Men’s free course at the bottom of this post!

TEEN HEALTH TODAY: When you are talking with parents, how do you explain what this project is all about?

• STEPHANIE WRIGHT: If you’re raising a boy, you already know how much time he spends online, gaming, hanging out on Discord, watching YouTube. The question isn’t whether boys will be online. It’s whether the spaces they’re in are setting them up to thrive. NGM Alliance is a free, safe online community hosted on Discord for boys and nonbinary youth in middle school and high school, built around gaming (think Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite) and run by trained Next Gen Men facilitators.

• Often it’s the gaming that draws teenagers in initially, but underneath that, something else is happening: boys are building deep friendships, talking honestly about how they’re doing, and encountering perspectives and experiences that are genuinely different from their own. One parent told us: “Thank you for providing this experience for boys to connect in an emotionally nourishing environment. He’s told me how good it feels to have someone to talk to.” That’s exactly what we’re going for.

How long has it been running, and how has it changed during that time?

• We launched in summer 2020 because the pandemic forced us to pivot away from in-person programming. We asked our youth what they wanted, and they were pretty clear: “We’re not getting on a Zoom, but we are on Discord.” From there, we started a small experimental server, originally called NGM Summer Camp, and honestly, everything has changed since then.

• Five years and nearly a million messages later (still blows my mind saying this), NGM Alliance has become so much more than we ever imagined. And the reason it’s grown into what it is comes down to one thing: our youth have led the way the entire time. We really do see it as their community. Every significant change we’ve made has been spearheaded by the young people in the server.

• Those changes have looked like a lot of things. Youth asked for a dedicated #support-channel because they wanted a space to talk about “what was really going on in their lives without it becoming a joke.” They told us that advertising the server as being about “positive masculinity” was not something they wanted to share with their friends (it was “not cool”), especially those who lean more conservative, so we shifted to gaming-forward language and watched our membership grow. They’ve voted on the server name more than once, because as the community evolved they wanted the name to actually reflect the space they’d built together. Our moderation practices have evolved continuously based on their feedback, all while we’ve kept building out our safety systems from scratch, because as far as we know no other youth-serving organization has built a Discord server quite like this.

• This year we’re focused on expanding our reach and welcoming more American youth into the community, and we’re genuinely excited to keep building out whatever our youth tell us they want to see next.

What are the advantages of having this community grow online?

• Honestly, for teenage boys and nonbinary youth, being online isn’t a compromise at all. It’s actually where the work needs to happen. Boys who would never in a million years walk into an after-school program will happily jump on a Discord server to play Valorant with their friends. 97% of teenage boys play video games, and yet there are so few programs for youth within those spaces. That’s just the reality of where boys are socializing, and we’ve learned that if we want to engage them, we have to go where they are and build spaces they actually want to be in.

• The reach is also something we simply couldn’t replicate in person. Our members come from across Canada and the U.S., from really different backgrounds and belief systems, people who would never end up in the same room any other way. I don’t know of any other youth program that could connect a rural kid from South Dakota with a kid living in downtown Toronto, but on our server those two kids know each other and hang out together every week. Our evaluation found that boys regularly described having their perspectives genuinely shifted, not because a facilitator told them what to think, but because they became actual friends with someone whose life looked nothing like theirs.

• There’s also something we didn’t fully anticipate about the online context when it comes to how deeply youth share with each other. Many members have told us they’ve shared things on the server that they haven’t told anyone else in their lives. When we ask why, they often say they just feel more comfortable sharing online and that the server feels like a safe place to do that. All of our youth use their first names, but there’s still this layer of anonymity. They don’t see each other in person, they don’t know what the other kids at school think of them, and in a way that seems to give them permission to just be themselves. To share honestly about what’s going on with school, friendships, dating, their identity. It’s something I genuinely never anticipated, and I still find it a little magical every time I see it happen.

When the server first started, new members had to get approval from parents. Now that that is no longer required, how do you keep it safe?

• This is one we get asked a lot, and we want to be honest with parents about the thinking behind it.

• For the first few years, we required a parent or guardian to register their child before joining. But over time, youth kept telling us that requirement was keeping some of their peers out, particularly boys from homes without supportive caregivers, or where a kid couldn’t explain why he wanted to join a server, or what a Discord server even was. We realized we were accidentally building a gate that blocked the young people who needed us most. So in 2023, after consulting with a law firm and developing a youth-friendly privacy policy, we made it possible for youth ages 13 to 17 to join on their own or through parent/guardian registration. Participation increased substantially.

• Online safety, and our system of safety, within NGM Alliance is our number one priority. Every new member goes through a screening process before getting access to the community, providing demographic information and an emergency contact from a trusted adult in their life. All of our facilitators hold police check screenings specific to working with minors. We also have volunteer alumni moderators, youth who grew up in the community and are now 18+ who came back because they wanted to give the next generation the same experience they had. Every single one of them has gone through police checks and formal training before stepping into that role. We run a confidential youth reporting system, a staff communication hierarchy, and a Get Help Now button that triggers an immediate facilitator response. Active moderation, both staff and bot-assisted, runs all the time. Since 2020, there have been zero incidents of raids or online exploitation, and we have never had anyone join who wasn’t who they said they were.

• At the end of the day, boys are going to be online whether we’re there or not. We’d rather they find us than somewhere we can’t protect them.

Is the server still focused mostly on boys? Do girls or nonbinary kids ever want to join?

• The server is designed specifically for boys and nonbinary youth, and that focus is actually a big part of why it works. Boys, especially the ones who might otherwise end up in more toxic corners of the internet, often check out of spaces that feel like they weren’t made with them in mind.

• That said, nonbinary youth are explicitly part of the community, and we have a 2SLGBTQ+ subcommunity within the server. What our evaluation kept showing us is that when you take the judgment away from the front door, young people with all kinds of identities find their way in and find each other. Some of our most meaningful outcomes came from members who joined with pretty fixed ideas about the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and then just got to know people through chatting and gaming together. They became friends and changed their minds about preconceived notions they had about certain groups. It wasn’t something we programmed or planned. It just happened organically through a shared sense of belonging in the space.

What has most surprised you about this project?

• Honestly, the depth of sharing and how many close friendships have been formed. Coming from an in-person youth programming background, I was a bit apprehensive at first. I really thought that in-person relationship building would always trump online connections. The youth we work with have proven me wrong.

• The candour and openness on that server genuinely moves me. Boys talking about how to know if a girl likes them, how to get closer to their siblings, what kind of person they want to grow up to be, their worries about AI and climate change, how to navigate rejection and heartbreak. And right alongside all of that, the willingness to show up for each other, to uplift one another, to actually say “I see you and you’re going to be okay.” I did not expect that from a Discord server. I really didn’t.

• Another thing that genuinely shocked me was how our anonymous confession bot has been used. We built it into our #support-channel so that members can share something completely anonymously. It has been used nearly 350 times. Not once has it been misused. What that tells us is that boys are genuinely hungry to talk about what’s going on in their lives. They just need to know that the people on the other end actually care about them and know how to help.

What are the most common issues that members ask for help with? What kind of support do they get?

• A lot more than people might expect. Mental health comes up most consistently, things like anxiety, low self-esteem, hard family situations, grief, and the particular weight that comes from growing up with really rigid ideas about what boys are supposed to be and feel. But members are also bringing questions like “someone is trying to blackmail me for pictures, what do I do?” and “is it a problem that I’m gambling online?” These are real questions that boys are sitting with, often without an adult they feel they can turn to.

• Support happens a few different ways. The #support-channel is a dedicated space with norms that the youth themselves designed. Facilitators are present and model what real, thoughtful support actually looks like, not just generic reassurance, but genuine engagement with what someone is going through. And for youth who need more than peer support can offer, we have an extensive mental health resource list and have also partnered with BetterHelp to give every member six months of free therapy.

If young people want to join, how do they sign up?

• There are two ways. If you’re a parent and want to register your child, you can do that directly on our website at nextgenmen.ca/alliance. For youth wanting to sign themselves up, they can scan the QR code on our poster and get onto our screening list right away. If you’re an educator or someone who works with youth and wants to share the server, our poster (designed by our youth, of course) is available to download and print at the bottom of our website. You can find everything at nextgenmen.ca/alliance.

If readers are inspired to start similar projects in their own communities, what advice would you give them?

• We built out an entire resource just for this! Our How to Build an Online Community course is a free video-based learning resource designed to share what we’ve learned from five years of doing this work. We’ve developed a full System of Care framework that explains how the server works and lays out the crucial elements of building an online community for young people. Our evaluation report, Creating Community Online, is also a great place to start and shares the how, why, and what of this work alongside real evidence from 18 of our youth on the impact the server has had on them.

• If you want to learn more or just want to talk through what building your own online community might look like, we’re always happy to chat. Reach out at youth@nextgenmen.ca.

Has this project given you any ideas about how gaming or online spaces could be less toxic or more supportive for boys and young men?

• In just about every way, yes. The thing we’ve come to believe pretty firmly is that the toxicity people associate with boys’ online spaces isn’t some inevitable feature of the internet. It’s what happens when no one builds anything better.

• We keep having the wrong conversation. We’re focused on what platforms allow, when we should be asking what boys actually need. And what boys need, what every young person needs, is belonging, the chance to develop real skills and confidence, and a sense that they matter beyond themselves. The manosphere has figured out how to offer a counterfeit version of all of those things. It promises belonging, but through us-versus-them thinking. It offers a vision of strength, but through the domination of others. NGM Alliance is trying to offer the real thing. And five years of doing this work, backed now by a formal evaluation, suggests it’s possible.

• Don’t get me wrong, policy matters. Platform safety systems matter. But no amount of content moderation solves the underlying problem, which is a generation of boys looking for connection, growth, and meaning in a culture that keeps handing them toxic shortcuts instead of real community. Every young man who finds belonging, learns that feeling deeply doesn’t make him less of a man, and builds genuine friendships represents real prevention of future harm, to himself and to the people around him.

• The question we’d love more people to be asking isn’t just “how do we make these platforms safer?” it’s “why aren’t we investing in building healthy communities on them?”

  

Want to Make Your Own Online Community?

In this free video-based course, Next Gen Men translates five years of practice into practical guidance for organizations looking to create their own safe and impactful online communities with the young people they serve.

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• My Favorite Mom On TV Is...

  10 writers reflect on the most memorable mothers on TV today

• Bigorexia, Betting, and Bros: Helping Boys Navigate Today’s World

  An extraordinary panel recorded live at the Common Sense Media Summit

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

Hi Readers -

Happy Mother’s Day to those of you who celebrate! I hope you have a restful and connected weekend.

In honor of this special day, Greater Good Magazine asked me and a group of writers to reflect on their favorite current TV moms. My entry is below, but I encourage you to check out the full piece, which has entries on Bluey, Bridgerton, Hacks, The Pitt and more, including mini-essays from and .

Big love,
Christopher

P.S. If this is a challenging holiday for you, I encourage you to check out the Marking Complicated Mother’s Day workshop from the wonderful and .

The Large-in-Absence Award: Tia in Shrinking (Apple TV)

Will viewers care about a character they only see in brief flashbacks?

That’s the challenge Shrinking takes on with Tia (Lillian Bowden), a mother who is killed by a drunk driver before the show even starts. Her story is told through her absence, and we see the richness of her life and relationships through the huge hole her loss creates. Over time, we come to understand that the show’s mix of joy, pain, humor, and growth reflect Tia’s personality.

We see her husband Jimmy (Jason Segel) come completely unglued without her, and then slowly accept his new reality. He finally starts to find his footing by connecting with people who knew Tia and who can join him both in grief and forward motion.

Their daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) copes with her mom’s death as best she can, but as she tries to move on with her life and have typical teen experiences (dating, dress shopping, learning to drive, etc.), we feel the ache of the moments where her mother might have been there for her.

Over time, the show reveals that Jimmy and Tia did not always have an easy relationship. In an early episode, several friends shower him with praise for his marriage, emphasizing what a great couple he and Tia were. These words land uncomfortably, and flashback scenes show they actually had a lot of arguments and conflict. Despite this, Tia’s best friend Gaby (Jessica Williams) reassures Jimmy that Tia continued to adore him, even when they were clashing.

Although we only learn about Tia in her absence, we come to care deeply about her as the show rolls out and we see the way her love (and her imperfections) affected those around her. – Christopher Pepper

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• How to Help Kids Navigate The Awkwardness Of Puberty

  Why we need to start talking sooner. PLUS: How one school actively confronted sexism, and the latest news on male birth control pills.

• How - And Why - To Talk To Teens About Fake Pills

  These National Fentanyl Awareness Day events will help you talk about a challenging topic

• Bigorexia, Betting, and Bros: Helping Boys Navigate Today’s World

  An extraordinary panel recorded live at the Common Sense Media Summit

• “I’m A 15-Year-Old Girl, And My Social Media Feed Is Full Of Vile Misogyny”

  A look at what girls are really seeing online. PLUS: What adults need to know about BuzzBallz, the declining birth rate, and what teens are really doing with those AI chatbots.

• Is This Tech’s Big Tobacco Moment?

  Instagram and YouTube Go On Trial For Harming Youth

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• During the week, I send out Teen Health Today posts that are free for all to read - the most recent is How - And Why - To Talk To Teens About Fake Pills.

• On Sundays I send out curated collections of thought-provoking essays and news stories like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• These Sunday news roundups are paywalled to give you a gentle nudge to upgrade your Teen Health Today subscription. Lucky for you, here’s a button that will give you a 30% discount:

Get 30% off forever

• I LOVE AND APPRECIATE the folks who pitch in a little bit to keep this newsletter going. Thank you!

P.S. I wanted to share two media pieces I was featured in this week:

• 12 Books That Changed How We Think About Kids, Screens, and Growing Up Today from .

• “Anxious Girls, Lonely Boys,” a live conversation with me, , CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard, and Sema Sgaier, Ph.D., was featured on the “Aspen Ideas To Go” podcast this week.

In this edition:

• How A Struggling School Tackled Misogyny And Became A Happier Place

• How to Help Teens, Tweens Navigate Ups And Downs of Puberty

• How American Dads Became the Parents Their Fathers Never Were

• Scientists May Have Finally Created a Male Birth Control Pill—So Far, It Shows Very Few Side Effects

• In Backlash Against Tech in Schools, Parents Are Winning Rollbacks

• How Can Families Cope With Stress Together?

• Opinion: ‘Just Say No’ Didn’t Work In 1986. In 2026, It’s Dangerous.

How A Struggling School Tackled Misogyny And Became A Happier Place (BBC)

By Peter Walker: When hard-hitting British drama Adolescence was first screened last year, it was lauded as a TV masterpiece. Netflix subsequently made it free to watch for classes in secondary schools, and the prime minister said it had “lit a touch paper” for discussions about social media, misogyny and the so-called manosphere.

For many schools, it opened up a Pandora’s box of challenges, but one school in Essex was ahead of the game. The school set up an anonymous “tell-us” system, in which pupils could write down concerning behaviour they had witnessed on a postcard and place it in a postbox. Boys most at risk of being exposed to domestic violence were introduced to focussed talking groups and local council-approved male mentors came to speak to these students.

For International Women’s Day, the school collected 600 daffodils, which pupils were encouraged to give to girls and women in their lives they wanted to celebrate. READ MORE

From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? I’ve been skeptical about the idea of showing “Adolescence” in schools, but I’m inspired by the real-life examples of culture change in this story. Love the cooking club idea!

How to Help Teens, Tweens Navigate Ups And Downs of Puberty (TODAY)

Today's teens and tweens are experiencing puberty earlier than ever before and in different ways. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett authors of "This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained," join TODAY's Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones with tips for how parents can help kids navigate the changes, why it is important to keep conversations going despite the awkward subjects, and more. WATCH

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett are incredible ambassadors for caring, realistic puberty education, and I love to see mainstream media picking up their messages. I hope it helps people find their book, podcast, and curriculum.

Read more

Hi Readers -

I’m inviting you to join me at some free events as part of National Fentanyl Awareness Day. These events offer a powerful way to understand today's drug landscape and take action to protect your community from fentanyl and fake prescription pills.

I’ve also featured some excellent resources for families and teachers about this topic. Together, we can turn awareness into action.

Big love,
Christopher

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#1: Overdose Deaths are Down—the Risks Aren’t

Overdose deaths are down from record highs—and that’s real progress worth acknowledging. But a closer look at the data tells a more complicated story. The drug supply is still dangerous and still evolving, new substances are entering the picture, and there’s growing concern that signs of progress may be creating a false sense of security at exactly the wrong moment.

This session brings together leading researchers and prevention experts for a frank, data-driven conversation about where things actually stand—and what it means for families, educators and communities working to keep young people safe.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
9 am PT / Noon ET
Register Here

#2: The New Drug Landscape: A Conversation with Parents Who’ve Been There

The drug landscape has shifted—and the conversation around prevention needs to shift with it. Fentanyl remains a serious threat, but new substances are entering the supply, the relationship between mental health and drug use is coming into sharper focus, and the old “just say no” approach has never been less useful.

In this candid, unscripted conversation, three parents who have experienced the worst—and dedicated themselves to making sure other families don’t—talk openly about what’s changed, what’s coming, and where prevention goes from here.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Noon PT / 3 pm ET
Register Here

#3: How to Talk to Your Kids About Drugs Right Now

Most parents know they should talk to their kids about drugs. Few feel equipped to do it—especially now, when the drug landscape looks nothing like it did a generation ago. Fake prescription pills, high-potency cannabis, kratom—the risks are real, they’re evolving, and the conversation can’t wait.

This session brings together a parent and coach who has lived the stakes firsthand and a physician who works directly with teens and families for an honest, practical conversation about how to approach drug safety talks with your kids. No slides, no jargon—just the information and perspective parents need to feel prepared.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
3 pm PT / 6 pm ET
Register Here

How Do I Talk with My Teen About Fentanyl?

In this special episode of the “Ask Lisa” podcast, Dr. Lisa Damour and Reena Ninan are joined by Ed Ternan and Marcia Lee Taylor of Song for Charlie, a national non-profit dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl.

Ed, who tragically lost his 22 year-old son to a counterfeit prescription pill, and Marcia, former President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, cover the basics about fentanyl and offer concrete guidance on how to have effective conversations with teens about its dangers.

How To Teach About Fentanyl

Like some other states, California has a new law requiring schools to teach about fentanyl. Stanford’s REACH Lab is ready to help with “Aware & Prepare: A Comprehensive Curriculum for Fentanyl & Other Opioid Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction.”

These free lessons are designed to help students:

• Describe what opioid drugs are, including fentanyl, and explain their general effects on the brain and body.

• Identify the potential harms and both the real and perceived benefits of opioid (including fentanyl) use.

• Recognize the signs and symptoms of an opioid/fentanyl overdose and demonstrate appropriate steps to respond in an emergency.

• Apply naloxone and fentanyl test strips as harm reduction tools.

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• Five Things Everyone Should Hear About

  Live events, trainings, and discussions you won’t want to miss

• Bigorexia, Betting, and Bros: Helping Boys Navigate Today’s World

  An extraordinary panel recorded live at the Common Sense Media Summit

• “I’m A 15-Year-Old Girl, And My Social Media Feed Is Full Of Vile Misogyny”

  A look at what girls are really seeing online. PLUS: What adults need to know about BuzzBallz, the declining birth rate, and what teens are really doing with those AI chatbots.

• Is This Tech’s Big Tobacco Moment?

  Instagram and YouTube Go On Trial For Harming Youth

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

I hope you’re having a good week. I have been hearing about so many cool/interesting/smart events lately, and I’m glad to be able to share some of them with you here. Please take a minute to check them out, and if they aren’t right for you, feel free to pass them along to others you know.

Big love,
Christopher

Subscribe now

I’m Talking Live At City College Of San Francisco

Wear jeans and join me for a live discussion about my book Talk To Your Boys. It’s part of the school’s Denim Day recognition.

• Date: April 29, 2026

• Time: 6-7:25 p.m

• Location: Cloud Hall 260, City College of San Francisco

• Cost: Free

Note: There’s no official booksigning at this event, but if you bring a copy of Talk To Your Boys we can make it happen!

Hey Men - Sign Up For This Group

I’ve participated in two rounds of the “Ask Her” group from Brian Dean Williams twice now, and found it incredibly useful and supportive. There’s a new group starting soon, and I wanted to encourage men, especially men in relationships with women, to sign up. A note from Brian about it:

Here’s something I hear from women constantly in my couples therapy practice when they are in relationships with men:

“I wish he’d ask me more questions. Not about the schedule — about me.”

Most men genuinely want to connect. They just weren’t taught how. That’s not a character flaw — it’s a gap. And it’s one of the most fixable things I’ve seen in 15 years of working with couples.

Ask Her is a skills course for men.

What you’ll walk away with:

✓ A toolkit of powerful questions drawn from narrative therapy — questions that create real intimacy, not just conversation

✓ The ability to ask in ways that make her feel genuinely seen — not interrogated

✓ A small group of men moving in the same direction — no judgment, no ego

✓ Practice that actually sticks — because you’re doing it with other guys in real time

• Starts Monday April 27th

• Schedule 8 Mondays, 5:30–6:30pm PST

• Format Online via Zoom — small group

• Cost $400 total ($50/session × 8 weeks)

• Coverage May be covered by extended health benefits

Reserve your spot — April 27th

Spots are limited to keep the group small and the conversations real. We currently have a few spots remaining for this cohort.

If you know a guy who’d benefit — forward this to him. The men who’ve done Ask Her consistently tell us they wish they’d found it sooner.

Email Brian Dean Williams at connect@briandeanwilliams.com for more information or to sign up.

Raising Boys in a Digital World

Here’s an online offering from White Ribbon Canada, which is dedicated to “engaging men and boys as allies to promote gender equality,”

Boys and young men today are navigating complex online environments that can increase their risk of sexual exploitation, radicalization, misogyny, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Preventing these harms requires a collective effort from the adults in their lives.

This virtual event brings together educators, parents, and caregivers to explore how we can better support youth—especially boys and young men—through early prevention, open conversations, and the promotion of healthy masculinities.

Participants will learn to recognize warning signs, understand how these issues are interconnected, and explore the important roles both schools and families play within the broader youth ecosystem. The session will also introduce practical tools, resources, and strategies designed to help adults respond confidently and support young people in safer, healthier ways.

• Date: April 29, 2026

• Time: 12:30 PM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)

• Cost: Free

• RSVP Here

Racial Justice in Sex Education

Did you know that Advocates for Youth has a free online training series called Racial Justice in Sex Education? It’s great, and they just added two new online modules.

Each module is 30-45 minutes long, free and can be taken on its own or as part of the larger learning series. These were both created by Advocates’ Assistant Director for Racial Justice in Sex Education, Dr. Nakisha Floyd, and her Youth Advisory Council. Feel free to share them!

• Module 11 - The Impact on Education & Health: What is Anti-Blackness?

• Module 12 - The Impact on Education & Health: Outcomes and Resistance

Reviews from colleagues:

“These were SOOO GOOOOOOD!! The presentation of information was clear and I appreciated the images used as well - so many hues. The multimedia aspect worked well for a visual learner like me, and I’m sure it will land well with others.” - Marriotta Gary-Smith, Co-Foundress of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network

“Once again, BRILLIANT. Fascinating. INVALUABLE. SO much covered and I loved the visuals - super striking!!” - Dr. Elizabeth Schroeder, Sex Education Author, Trainer and International Speaker

Sex Ed Training For Educators

For educators who are looking to enhance their sex educator skills, Advocates for Youth is also offering some cool live trainings (held online). Educator trainings consist of three, 90-minute training sessions that cover the following topics:

• Creating a safe learning environment

• Answering sensitive questions

• Boundaries & self-disclosure

• Sexual orientation and gender identity

• Experiential Learning Cycle

• Connecting home: Communicating with caregivers

The three 90-minute virtual sessions are offered at $175 per person.

Sign up here: https://3rs.org/training-for-educators/

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• Bigorexia, Betting, and Bros: Helping Boys Navigate Today’s World

  An extraordinary panel recorded live at the Common Sense Media Summit

• “I’m A 15-Year-Old Girl, And My Social Media Feed Is Full Of Vile Misogyny”

  A look at what girls are really seeing online. PLUS: What adults need to know about BuzzBallz, the declining birth rate, and what teens are really doing with those AI chatbots.

• Is This Tech’s Big Tobacco Moment?

  Instagram and YouTube Go On Trial For Harming Youth

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

• How To Talk About Clavicular, Looksmaxxing, And Loneliness

  Helping young people make sense of what they are seeing online

If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to someone else who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏🏼

Hi Readers,

After supporting two high schoolers who joined in conversation onstage there in 2025, I was thrilled to be invited to be onstage myself as part of the 2026 Common Sense Media Summit on Kids and Families in San Francisco.

Today I’m glad to be able to share a video of the panel I moderated, “Doing Better For Boys.” Panelists Ashanti Branch, Jason Nagata, and Michael Robb joined me to discuss the challenges boys face trying to form their own identities while encountering some very potent cultural forces, online and off.

We had a candid conversation about what boys experience day-to-day, how they’re being affected, and what we can do to help them. It was a joy to be in conversation with a panel of deep, reflective thinkers in front of a lively, engaged audience, and it generated a lot of subsequent discussions.

I was especially happy to see reactions like this one from Graciela Barrett:

The full video is below - I hope you get chance to check it out! I’d love to know what you think.

Big love,
Christopher

Subscribe now

Doing Better For Boys

• Ashanti Branch is the Founder & Executive Director of The Ever Forward Club, the author of Diary of a Confused Educator, and the driving force behind the Million Mask Movement. His group facilitates Young Men’s Health Groups to San Francisco public schools.

• Jason Nagata is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. He is an expert in eating disorders, particularly in boys and men, and has published over 400 articles in academic journals.

• Michael Robb is the Head of Research at Common Sense Media. His team has recently published two research studies related to this panel’s topic: Boys In The Digital Wild, which focuses on boys’ online lives, and Betting On Boys, which focuses on gambling.

• Christopher Pepper (moderator) is a Teacher on Special Assignment in SFUSD, and the co-author of Talk To Your Boys: 16 Conversations to Help Tweens and Teens Grow into Confident, Caring Young Men.

  ---

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Another Highlight From The Summit

In this special episode of “Ask Lisa,” recorded live onstage at the Common Sense Media Summit on Kids and Families, clinical psychologist sits down with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, award-winning physician, researcher, and California’s inaugural Surgeon General, for a conversation that may change how you think about your kid and their devices.

Together, they bring decades of clinical expertise and hard-won parenting experience to the questions families are struggling with most right now around tech and their kids. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the digital world your kid is growing up in, this conversation will leave you feeling more grounded, more equipped, and even closer to your teen.

Watch ALL The Common Sense Presentations

Common Sense Media put together a terrific playlist of all of the presentations from the Summit, including all of these speakers:

• Jennifer Klein, Chair, Clinton Policy Institute

• Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President & CEO, Children's Defense Fund

• , Founder and CEO, Common Sense Media

• , President and Founder, New Voters

• Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, New York Times

• , Attorney General, California Department of Justice

• , Attorney General of New Mexico, NM Department of Justice

• , Founding Partner, Puck

• Dr. Jenny Radesky, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School

• Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Chief Impact Officer, ACE Resource Network

• Dr. Luke Shaefer, Chief Executive of Health, Human Services, and Poverty Solutions, City of Detroit

• Yash Maheshwari, Junior, Mountain View High School

• Sophia Zhang, Senior, Mountain View High School

• , Vice President of Education Outreach & Engagement, Common Sense Media

• , President, Untangled Media Group

• , Developmental Psychologist, Raising Good Humans

• Gary Knell, Board Member, Common Sense Media

• Jessica Rosenworcel, Executive Director, MIT Media Lab

• Sal Khan, Founder & CEO, Khan Academy

• , President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

• Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder and President, Emerson Collective

• Richard Buery, CEO, Robin Hood Foundation

• John White, CEO, Great Minds

• Russlynn Ali, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, XQ Institute

• Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State

• , Governor of Illinois

• , Founder, End Poverty in California (EPIC); Former Mayor, Stockton

• Allison Mishkin, Youth Policy Lead, OpenAI

• Robbie Torney, Head of Digital and AI Assessments, Common Sense Media

• Dr. Nina Vasan, Founder, Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation

• Rebecca Ruiz, Senior Reporter, Mashable

• Leah Defenbaugh, Director, Youth Development Projects, Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board

• Heldana Thomas, National Youth Council Leader, UNICEF USA

• Xavier Juarez, National Youth Council Leader, UNICEF USA

• Darla Silva, Chief Program Officer, UNICEF USA

• Aisley Jett, Social Media Influencer

• Dr. Scott Kollins, Chief Medical Officer, Aura

• Chris Devers, CEO, Rancho Cielo

• Mirel Mejia, Deputy Director, John Muir Charter Schools / Rancho Cielo Youth Campus

• Terry Poole, After-School Program Manager & Counselor, Rancho Cielo

• Darrell Steinberg, Former Mayor and Senate Pro Tem, Steinberg Consulting LLC

• Eisha Buch, Head of Teaching and Learning, Common Sense Media

• Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, State Assemblymember, CA State Legislature

• Samuel Chapman, CEO, Parent Collective Inc.

• Tim Levy, Managing Director and CEO, Qoria

• Kristin Lewis, Chief Product Officer, Aura

• Edda Collins Coleman, Vice President, Communications, Common Sense Media

• Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Former Speaker of the House of Representatives

• , Founding Partner, Echelon Insights

• Celinda Lake, President, Lake Research Partners

• , CEO, SocialSphere Inc.

• Bill Ready, CEO, Pinterest

• Baroness Beeban Kidron, Crossbench Peer, House of Lords, UK Parliament

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• “I’m A 15-Year-Old Girl, And My Social Media Feed Is Full Of Vile Misogyny”

  A look at what girls are really seeing online. PLUS: What adults need to know about BuzzBallz, the declining birth rate, and what teens are really doing with those AI chatbots.

• Is This Tech’s Big Tobacco Moment?

  Instagram and YouTube Go On Trial For Harming Youth

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• I regularly out send curated collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• If you are currently a free subscriber, please consider upgrading your Teen Health Today subscription. Here’s a coupon that will give you a 30% discount:

Get 30% off forever

In this edition:

• The High-Alcohol Drink Taking Over Gen Z

• I Am A 15-Year-Old Girl. Let Me Show You The Vile Misogyny That Confronts Me On Social Media Every Day

• Ethnic Studies Courses Linked To Higher Grades, College Eligibility

• Deepfake Nudes Are Haunting America’s Teens

• 710,000 Fewer Babies Were Born Last Year In U.S. Compared With Two Decades Ago

• Man Up! Shut Up!

• The Camps Promising to Turn You — Or Your Son— Into An Alpha Male

• What Teens Are Doing With Those Role-Playing Chatbots

The High-Alcohol Drink Taking Over Gen Z (New York Times)

By Callie Holtermann: BuzzBallz are hard drinks sold in bottles that resemble phosphorescent billiard balls. They contain around 15 percent alcohol by volume, more than double that of the average beer. And Lucy Rocca first heard about them from her 13-year-old daughter.

It was December, and Ms. Rocca was talking to her daughter and a friend about a shopping list for a New Year’s Eve party. When the girls brought up BuzzBallz, “I was like, ‘Whoa, no way,’” Ms. Rocca, 50, recalled. She asked where her daughter had gotten the idea. “All my friends are drinking them,” she responded.

BuzzBallz have been around since 2009, but today they are practically ubiquitous. You can find them sprinkled like confetti throughout college parties and stacked by the checkout at convenience stores. The fluorescent orbs are easy to spot on a Florida beach during spring break; in a crowded social media feed, they glow like beacons. The drinks are portable, flavored and cheap, a combination that has earned them a reputation as a go-to beverage for Gen Z. READ MORE

From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? As a health educator and a parent, I have to try to keep up with trends, especially around substance use. BuzzBallz have definitely moved into the “things to watch out for” category.

I Am A 15-Year-Old Girl. Let Me Show You The Vile Misogyny That Confronts Me On Social Media Every Day (The Guardian)

By Anonymous: I’m a 15-year-old schoolgirl and like most teenagers I spend a fair portion of my spare time on social media, often scrolling through short-form videos on apps such as Instagram or TikTok. All of my friends use those apps, and many spend multiple hours a day on them. I actively try to avoid online misogyny, but I am met with it incessantly whenever I open my mainstream social media apps. It only takes a few minutes before there’s subtle or overt misogyny, such as comment sections on a girl’s post filled with remarks about her body, videos made by men or boys captioned with a degrading joke, and even topics such as domestic violence or rape, trivialised and laughed about.

If a girl my age posts any video of herself online, the comments section will be filled with objectifying and hateful remarks about her, regardless of what the topic of her post was. If she wears anything revealing, or just happens to have larger breasts, she’ll be abused and sexualised. Completely unprompted, there might be hundreds of comments insulting specific features she may have, or rating her attractiveness out of 10. “Sub5”, for example, describes someone who is below 5/10 in attractiveness. I’ve seen videos of boys telling anyone who is unattractive that they should end their own life. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? This story provides a real glimpse into what it’s like to be a teenage girl online today, and I think we need to pay attention. The fact that this story had to be published anonymously tells you a lot.

Ethnic Studies Courses Linked To Higher Grades, College Eligibility (San Francisco Chronicle)

By Aldo Toledo: Taking a year-long ethnic studies course could be helping San Francisco high school students earn better grades and exam scores, according to a newly released study that examined the program over a decade.

The research, which analyzed San Francisco Unified School District student outcomes from 2008 to 2023, found that students who took an ethnic studies course showed lasting improvement in their grades, particularly among those who previously struggled academically. And the classes even boosted some students’ chances to get into University of California schools, giving the extra edge necessary to pass eligibility thresholds.“ READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? I was teaching at a San Francisco high school when Ethnic Studies was first introduced, and I saw how powerful it could be as a tool for helping all students feel welcomed and empowered on campus.

Deepfake Nudes Are Haunting America’s Teens (New York Times)

By Jessica Grose: I have been writing about this issue — the creation of deepfake nudes of minors — for two years. It’s arguably much worse now that A.I. image generation tools are ubiquitous, and the images they create are even more realistic. While social media companies may not be able to fully stamp out child sex abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms, they could be doing a far better job of prioritizing the problem, said Arturo Béjar, a whistle-blower and former engineering director on Facebook’s protect and care team. Béjar, who testified for the state in the New Mexico case against Meta, told me that social media companies can prevent a lot of CSAM from being created and shared.

For starters, Béjar said that “You should not be able to generate erotic content in the likeness of anybody unless they have positive proof that that person has very thoroughly given consent in a million demonstrable ways.” This should apply to users of all ages. Béjar noted that social media companies have incredibly sophisticated tools for labeling images, and he thinks that these companies need to use these to properly label sexually explicit images. Doing so would essentially “kill the distribution knob” that incentivizes sharing them, even if it might also cut down on engagement. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? This is a real and growing problem, and I appreciate that Grose is exploring potential solutions to change things.

710,000 Fewer Babies Were Born Last Year In U.S. Compared With Two Decades Ago (NPR)

By Brian Mann: Women in the U.S. gave birth to roughly 710,000 fewer children last year compared with the nation’s peak in 2007, according to preliminary data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The total fertility rate is now well below replacement level. That means not enough children are being born to maintain a stable population without significant levels of immigration. But some economists say it’s unclear whether the trend toward fewer children reflects a permanent national shift.

One possibility, according to economist Martha Bailey, head of the California Center for Population Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, is that U.S. women are delaying motherhood and will have more children later in life. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? This data got a lot of attention this week, and generated some meaningful discussion about the U.S. teen birth rate, which hit a historic low in 2025.

Man Up! Shut Up! (I Blame Society)

By : At this point, it’s hard to argue that we are not talking about men and boys enough. The “boy crisis” and the “male loneliness epidemic” have dominated the discourse for nearly two years now. To read the news now is to believe that every Gen Z male in America spends his entire life in a darkened bedroom scrolling redpill forums, glancing up only intermittently to remind his AI girlfriend to obey him, and to smash his own jaw with a hammer.

People are clearly scared about the state of modern boyhood, and desperate for answers. Since “Boymom” first came out, I have given probably close to 200 interviews on the topic- for newspapers and magazines, radio and TV and podcasts all over the world. The book went into four printings in hardcover and has sold tens of thousands of copies. The runaway success of shows like Netflix’s Adolescence and Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere followed, the conversation continues to dominate and several states have since set up workgroups to focus on the challenges of boys and men. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? Whippman’s essential book “BoyMom” is newly out in paperback, and in this article she explores two ways (“Man up!” and “Shut Up!”) she’s seen people talking about boys online, and why both fail to meet the mark.

The Camps Promising To Turn You — Or Your Son— Into An Alpha Male (The New Yorker)

By Charles Bethea: In the past several years, the phrase “alpha male” has seeped into the language around us, like the contamination of an underground aquifer. By the time former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene called Will Smith’s attack on Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars an “alpha male response,” I was using the term ironically. But there are plenty of American men these days who regard alpha masculinity—or “warrior mode,” or “modern knighthood,” or other such appellations—not ironically but aspirationally. There are now programs offering to help such men achieve these aspirations, or something close.

On a hot morning last August, I tailed a van speeding through the countryside of central Virginia. The vehicle contained nine blindfolded men wearing black, as they had been instructed to do. Each had paid three thousand dollars to take part in a three-day program called RISE, which stands for Ruthless Integrity and Simple Execution. It offers men an opportunity to crawl through mud, carry heavy objects, and, as its website puts it, “CHANGE YOUR STORY & UNF**K YOUR LIFE.” The van’s speakers played a high-volume mashup of construction sounds, Jordan Peterson lectures, Marine Corps drills, and mumbling voices. “All designed to keep them in the present moment and separate them from the life they were coming from,” Brendan King, RISE’s founder, told me. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? This is another Manosphere offshoot that we need to pay attention to. When you read the story, I encourage you to think about why guys might think this is what they need in their lives.

What Teens Are Doing With Those Role-Playing Chatbots (New York Times)

By Kashmir Hill: “If you think your child is not talking to chatbot companions, you’re probably wrong,” said Mitch Prinstein, co-director of the Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development at U.N.C. Chapel Hill.

At the beginning of last year, a high school teacher in Chicago told me that some of her students were dating chatbots, and she worried that they were having their first erotic experiences with them. I wanted to find out what teens had to say about that, so I joined communities devoted to social chatbot apps on the online messaging forum Discord. I introduced myself as a reporter and “an old,” and explained that I was interested in talking to young people who used the services regularly. That’s how I met Quentin. READ MORE

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? I like stories that try to help adults keep up with the technology that’s shaping teens’ lives, and this story really does that well.

Recent Teen Health Today Highlights

• Wait, Are Young People Actually Doing Better Than Previous Generations?

  Does the data say that the kids are alright? PLUS: The case for a rec sports comeback, new science on the clitoris, and what happens when high school students “nudify” their classmates.

• Is This Tech’s Big Tobacco Moment?

  Instagram and YouTube Go On Trial For Harming Youth

• Outside The Manosphere

  What to do after watching “Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere”

• How To Talk About Clavicular, Looksmaxxing, And Loneliness

  Helping young people make sense of what they are seeing online

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• I regularly out send curated collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• If you are currently a free subscriber, please consider upgrading your Teen Health Today subscription. Here’s a coupon that will give you a 30% discount:

Get 30% off forever

In this edition:

• How to Navigate Toxic Masculinity When Parenting Young Boys

• In Many Ways, Young People Are Doing Better Than Previous Generations

• Kids Need Rec Sports To Make a Comeback

• Two Boys Made Deepfake Porn Of 60 Girls. It Left A School, Small Town Reeling

• Boys are Pulling Away. Mentorship Can Bring Them Back

• States Step up to Bring in Male Teachers, Support Young Men and Boys

• Full Network Of Clitoral Nerves Mapped Out For First Time

• A New Jersey Teen Finds Treasure, and More, in Abandoned Storage Units

How to Navigate Toxic Masculinity When Parenting Young Boys (Today)

Research shows that young boys are struggling to find connections in today’s society so experts , professor of developmental psychology and author of “Rebels With a Cause,” and Carlos Whittaker, podcaster and author of “Reconnected,” join TODAY to talk about the root of the “crisis of connection” they're experiencing and offer advice for how parents and role models can help them foster meaningful friendships and teach them the importance of soft skills.

From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? Niobe Way has been doing important work around boys and emotional connections for decades, and I love to see her getting a chance to share her wisdom out on a big media outlet like “TODAY.”

In Many Ways, Young People Are Doing Better Than Previous Generations (Scientific American)

By : If you were to ask most people how kids are doing these days, you’d probably get an earful of complaints and concerns. Compared with children from past generations, kids today are often portrayed as being less mentally healthy, less resilient and less empathetic. “America’s Children Are Unwell,” read a New York Times headline last November; online magazine Parents recently ran “How to Know if Your Kid Is a Narcissist—and What to Do about It.” In a 2025 Common Sense Media survey of 1,300 nationally representative parents, 61 percent said they believe kids today lag behind past generations in their morals and values, and more than half said youth today are less resilient and independent.

Although quality data are sparse, the research that does exist suggests a different narrative—one in which kids are faring better in many ways than those of previous generations. Studies suggest youths are more empathetic and less narcissistic than in the past, as well as more open-minded and inclusive. Drug use is down, youth violence has dropped and teen pregnancies have declined. IQs have gone up, and kids exhibit more self-restraint and patience than they did 50 years ago.

Read more

• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.

• I regularly out send curated collections of news stories and essays like the one you are reading right now. Think of me as your friend who keeps up with everything and sends you the most interesting stuff.

• If you are currently a free subscriber, please consider upgrading your Teen Health Today subscription. Here’s a coupon that will give you a 30% discount:

Get 30% off forever

A quick request: If you know anyone in Charlottesville, Virginia, please let them know them that I’ll be doing a “Talk To Your Boys” discussion and book signing at St. Anne’s-Belfield School on March 31. It's free and open to the public. RSVP here.

In this edition:

• Teens Are Sleeping Less Than Ever And Screens Aren’t Primarily To Blame

• Many Teens Face Strong Peer Pressure to Share Sexual Images, Study Finds

• Boston To Become First District In The U.S. To Mandate AI Training In Public High Schools

• The Horrors That Could Lie Ahead If Vaccines Vanish

• Men Can Get Out Of The Manosphere. Here’s What Former Incels Say About Why They Left

• Chromebook Remorse: Tech Backlash at Schools Extends Beyond Phones

• Students Feel Safer In School When Their Concerns Are Heard, YouthTruth Finds

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Many Teens Face Strong Peer Pressure to Share Sexual Images, Study Finds (New York Times)

By Catherine Pearson: No parent wants to learn their child has been pressured into sending a sexual image, but a new survey suggests many teens are doing exactly that, and often with someone they are dating.

More than 90 percent of those who said they had received a coercive request for a sexual photo were women, and more than half complied. They were far more likely to do so at the request of a dating partner, rather than a stranger or someone they knew online only.

Teens who complied with coercive requests were more likely to do so if the requests persisted for more than a month, or if the person asked for photos four or more times, suggesting they may have felt worn down by the requests. Respondents who decided to share photos when pressured were also more likely to skip school or have thoughts of self-harm after sending them than those who did not share images. READ MORE

From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? I like how this story clarifies that, in most cases, these requests are coming from other teens, not unknown strangers. This gives us openings to talk to youth about the issue, and encourage them not to ask other teens to send nudes.

Teens Are Sleeping Less Than Ever And Screens Aren’t Primarily To Blame (NPR)

By Ari Daniel: Tanner Bommersbach, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says that it’s been clear for some time that teens are sleeping less now than they once did. But he and his colleagues wanted to know if that loss of sleep has been impacting certain groups of adolescents disproportionately.

Read more

Hi Readers,

I spend time this week at the Common Sense Summit on Kids and Families in San Francisco. The panel I moderated, “Doing Better For Boys,” was terrific, and it was great to meet several Teen Health Today readers in the crowd!

In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing reflections on one of the big questions being discussed at that conference: “Have tech companies intentionally caused harm to our youth, and should they have to pay for that harm?” I promise it will give you a lot to think about.

Big love,
Christopher

A quick request: If you know anyone in Charlottesville, Virginia, please let them know them that I’ll be doing a “Talk To Your Boys” discussion and book signing at St. Anne’s-Belfield School on March 31. It's free and open to the public. RSVP here.

Big Tech On Trial

One of the most talked-about panels at the Common Sense Summit was “Is This Tech’s Big Tobacco Moment?," which featured California Attorney General Rob Bonta () and New Mexico Attorney General in conversation with .

At the time of this panel, both AGs were waiting on results in cases they filed against tech companies. The verdicts in New Mexico and California have since come in, and they are generating a lot of reaction. Here’s what Common Sense Media’s had to say about the California decision:

“This verdict is a powerful recognition of what Common Sense Media and families across the country have known for years: Social media companies deliberately design their platforms to keep kids hooked, consequences to their mental and physical health be damned. The momentum for change is no longer building. It’s here.

Social media giants would never have faced trial if they had prioritized kids’ safety over engagement. Instead, they buried their own research showing children were being harmed, and used kids and society as guinea pigs in massive, uncontrolled, and wildly profitable experiments. Now, executives are being held to account.

This verdict, along with other recent court rulings, should embolden lawmakers in California and across the country to use their authority to force real change in how these companies design and operate their products. We must keep pushing, advancing, and enforcing stronger laws for social media and AI youth safety.”

To add some context to this news, I’m sharing an essay below from a trusted expert on technology and youth, , the author of Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World.

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Instagram And YouTube On Trial

By

Two big verdicts were announced today, one in New Mexico and another in a Los Angeles Court.

The New Mexico case argued (and won) that the very design of Instagram is harmful to users. While the monetary judgement will barely touch a huge company like Meta, the focus of the argument could be a game-changer. New Mexico v. Meta Platforms centers on how features like endless scroll and algorithmic recommendations—can contribute to harm, particularly for teens.

For years, companies like Meta Platforms have been protected by Section 230, a law from the 1990s that says platforms aren’t legally responsible for what users post. Within that legal framework, social media has been legally treated more like a neutral bulletin board than a newspaper—hosting content rather than curating or vetting it.

What makes the New Mexico case such a big deal is the argument that the platform itself—its structure, its incentives, its algorithms—was designed in a way that creates foreseeable harm. So the app is found to NOT be a neutral bulletin board, but a bulletin board that prioritizes more harmful messages.

This legal reasoning will impact cases moving forward in other states, many of them asking the same question: Were these platforms designed in ways that push users—especially minors—toward harmful experiences?

Unlike the New Mexico case, the Los Angeles case—took a different approach, arguing YouTube, Snap Inc., and Meta’s apps caused specific mental health harm to specific individuals. In this case: Snap and TikTok settled before trial and only Meta and Google went to trial. The jury didn’t fully agree on causation. It is tough to isolate any single cause of mental health challenges. When we look at the kids we care about--when they suffer, it’s rarely just due to one thing. Yet the results will still affect these companies going forward.

Taken together, these trials are a great big warning signal to these massive, powerful companies. People are getting more and more skeptical and mistrustful of these apps.​

What Might Change

If these legal approaches continues to gain traction, we may begin to see shifts in how platforms operate, especially for younger users: More friction in feeds versus endless scrolling, changes to recommendation systems and possibly stronger default safety in direct messaging and other settings.

Unfortunately, companies and parent activists may lean into age-verification instead of focusing on holding the companies accountable to the experience of ALL users. While stricter age-gating may seem like a solution to the harms demonstrated in these trials, it creates new problems for user privacy and the right to speech and assembly for kids.

It’s worth noting: companies may choose to make changes only for minors to limit liability. But from an ethical standpoint, the design of these platforms affects users of all ages. Shouldn’t safer, more intentional design should be the standard for everyone.​

A Big Tobacco Moment?

​When I hear that social media is having a “big tobacco” moment, the analogy fits in some ways (quashing internal research about harms...) Yet the substance is different--Tobacco is always harmful. Social media, on the other hand, can genuinely support connection, affinity and learning. Many of us have seen that upside in our own lives.

For me, the most helpful part of that analogy is the cultural shift de-centering tobacco. Even with the rise of vaping, overall nicotine use is still significantly lower than it was when I was growing up in the 1980s.

It makes me wonder: if more people come to feel that social media is doing more harm than good, will they begin to step away?

Many adults—and some teens—are becoming more intentional. They’re reducing their usage, setting boundaries, or gravitating toward platforms that feel more positive and less draining. There’s a quiet recalibration happening.

Right now, it’s hard to imagine a full-scale shift away. These platforms are deeply woven into how we communicate, find affinity and connect with one another. But things could change a lot if we decide to prioritize other ways to connect and share information.

Talking About It

For parents and educators: ask young people if they have heard about these legal cases. You could discuss:

• How do these platforms make us feel—and why?

• What does healthy use look like?

• What would we want them to be, if we could redesign them?

• What responsibility do designers have for user behavior?

• How do algorithms shape what we see—and how we feel?

• Where is the line between engagement and manipulation?

These cases don’t settle those questions—but they do make them harder to ignore.

In the meantime, we want to model healthy use of social apps and also show kids that we can step away when they don’t serve us.

Learn more about ’s work - including how to buy her books and bring her in as a speaker - at devorahheitner.com.

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