Zigazoo, the world’s largest social network for kids and the market leader in safe social media, is launching Social Media Wellness Month. Alongside National Mental Health Awareness month in May, this initiative aims to challenge mainstream social media companies to “do better” and to educate kids, parents, and lawmakers on how to build towards a healthier social media future. Zigazoo’s app, which is known for its approach to safety and privacy, has been hailed by Common Sense Media as the “example of how to offer a social yet safe place to be online.” Social Media Wellness month will feature a range of activities, including content created by Zigazoo’s’ Gen Alpha Superstars, conversations with experts, and toolkits for families.
As outlined in the Surgeon General’s recent social media advisory, nearly half of teenagers report decreased body confidence and nearly two-thirds report exposure to hate-based content online. Zigazoo is launching Social Media Wellness Month to address the crisis that mainstream social media apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram refuse to fix in their own apps and to continue to build on its mission to “give youth a safe and positive community where they can find joy, develop healthy online relationships and aspire to their greatest potential as tomorrow’s digital citizens.”
Zak Ringelstein, Zigazoo’s CEO, visited with Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill Monday to help develop better protocols for protecting kids from the dangers of social media and says that “mainstream social media companies like TikTok, Snap, and Meta know exactly what they’re doing and aren’t even pretending to care about the health and well-being of their users, particularly children. It’s sickening.”
Social Media Wellness Month featured expert, Laura Tierney, founder of The Social Institute, a leader in helping K-12 schools empower students with essential life skills to navigate social media positively, says, “Instead of scaring and restricting kids, we should be empowering and equipping them to navigate social media and tech in ways that will fuel their health, happiness, and future success.”
Zigazoo began the month by polling its kid users to get their thoughts on the issues. Notably, 43% of Zigazoo’s users said they’d already been bullied online and over 50% chose TikTok as the social media app “to stay off of,” by far the most of the social media apps in the poll.
Zigazoo’s core values that they are promoting throughout the month are:
● Authenticated Users Only: Guaranteeing security and parental consent to ensure peer-to-peer only interactions. No adults, no bots, no deep fakes.
● Positive Interactions Only: Using research-based product design that promotes positive and confidence-building experiences only for all users. No bullying, no negativity promoted or allowed.
● Moderated Content: Shielding children from harmful content and negative sentiment. Human moderation, not censorship, moderates for developmental appropriateness while preserving diverse perspectives.
● Ethical Algorithms: Ensuring content algorithms are based on hard-won reputation like in our physical communities, not engagement at-all-cost designs which prey on our worst instincts and make celebrities of the most destructive figures in society.
● Balanced Screen Time: Setting digital boundaries to promote off-screen activities like physical activity, in-real-life social experiences, and rest.
For more information on Social Media Wellness Month and Zigazoo’s mission, visit Zigazoo.com and download the app.