All Posts

After being groomed online as a kid, I now help parents protect their kids from online predators and threats in the age of AI. One of the biggest misunderstandings about online grooming is that it always feels scary when it begins. For me, it didn’t. And most teens and experts attest to this. At first, grooming felt like friendship, connection, joy, acceptance, and finally finding someone who understood me. The frightening and abusive parts emerged gradually, after trust and

Why do teens hide parts of their online lives from their parents, even when they are loved, supported, and cared for? I’ve been thinking about this question for a long time because I lived it. Before I received my first internet-connected cell phone at 13, I was already having conversations and online experiences I didn’t feel safe sharing at home. I was living a double life online. I was being groomed as a child. And I felt unable to explain what was happening to the people