The White Hatter

08/29/2025

AI, Grooming, and Protecting Our Kids: The Next Phase of Online Safety

It’s a reality that those who seek to exploit or prey on children online have always adapted their tactics to the technologies available to them. What’s different today is how artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the rules. Grooming used to be a purposely slow, one-on-one human process that depended on an offender’s time, patience, and personal skills. Now, AI could supercharge that process, making deception more believable, scaling conversations across dozens of children at once, and lowering the barrier for offenders who might never have tried before.

This article explains what we predict the changes will be, why they matter, and what parents and caregivers should understand about this new risk environment, Click this link to read the full article https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/ai-grooming-and-protecting-our-kids-the-next-phase-of-online-safety

08/28/2025

When AI Feels Like a Friend: Why Teens Are Turning to Chatbots for Emotional Support

A quiet but significant shift is taking place in how youth and teens handle their emotions. Increasingly, they are turning not to friends, parents, or counsellors, but to chatbots powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Tools like X’s Grok, ChatGPT, Replika, and Character.ai are being used as digital companions to share personal struggles. However, These interactions are not always lighthearted or experimental. Many teens are holding conversations with AI about anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and even deeply concerning feelings such as suicidal ideations that have lead to deaths of teens (5)

For adults, this may feel surprising, or even unsettling. Parents, caregivers, and teachers know AI can be useful for brainstorming, journaling, studying, or writing, however, while most adults see AI as a tool, many youth and teens treat it as something more. To a young person still learning how to process big emotions, these chatbots can appear not just helpful, but empathetic. This blurred line between tool and friend is at the center of why this trend deserves careful attention by parents, caregivers, and educators.

To read the full article, click this link https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/when-ai-feels-like-a-friend-why-teens-are-turning-to-chatbots-for-emotional-support

08/27/2025

From Searching to Asking: Why Digital Literacy Matters More Than Ever

A quiet shift has already taken place in how youth and teens are starting to interact with technology. Not long ago, the internet was something you searched, where youth and teens typed words into a Google box and sifted through links. Today, the model has shifted. Youth and teens are no longer searching in the traditional sense, instead they are asking (what we now call “prompting”) through AI. With the growth of AI assistants, voice-activated devices, and conversational platforms, technology is being used less as a static index of information, and more as an interactive companion that provides answers.

This may seem like a small change, but we believe it may have enormous implications for how youth and teens learn, think, communicate, and stay safe online. To read out full article on this topic click this link: https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/from-searching-to-asking-why-digital-literacy-matters-more-than-ever

08/27/2025

GREAT example of teaching youth and teens to use tech and AI with intention. Tip of our White Hat for this initiative!

08/26/2025

Starting to see lots of advertisements in social media from phone companies, like the one below, on "special" phone offers for back to school. If you are thinking about getting a phone for your child, read this first https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/smartphones

08/26/2025

B.C. teens invent device to help paralyzed people.

Through the use of technology these two teens are making a difference.

This is what the intentional use of technology in schools can help stimulate and produce!

08/26/2025

Age-Gated Social Media Legislation: Things That Make You Go Hmmmmmm

Governments are moving toward age restrictions on social media platforms, often setting the bar at 18+ yrs. The goal is well intentioned, that being to protect young people from harmful content and reduce the risks of exploitation, bullying, or overexposure online. On the surface, this sounds sensible. However, if we look more closely, the idea of a blanket ban until 18yrs raises questions about consistency, fairness, and effectiveness.

Here in Canada, both provincial and federal governments permit minors under 18 to take part in activities that carry significant responsibility or even potential danger. Often, this is allowed when a parent or guardian provides consent, but in some cases, no parental involvement is required at all. As you will read, in many provinces in Canada a 16 year old can consent, or even deny certain medical treatments on their own. Provincial and federal government already accepts the idea that young people are capable of making consequential decisions under the right circumstances, so why should this not apply to social media as well?

To read our full article on this topic click this link https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/age-gated-social-media-legislation-things-that-make-you-go-hmmmmmm

08/25/2025

When Educators Help Students Lead AI With Intention, They Don’t Cheat, They Grow! Some Thoughts For the 2025/2026 School Year

Current conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) in schools are often framed around concerns such as, “Will students use it to cheat?” or “Will it undermine authentic learning?” These are absolutely fair concerns, but they don’t capture the full picture. Here at the White Hatter, we do not believe AI is the end of learning, if we integrate AI thoughtfully, it can be the beginning of reimagining what learning looks like.

To read our full article on this important topic click this link https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/when-educators-help-students-lead-ai-with-intention-they-don-t-cheat-they-grow-some-thoughts-for

08/24/2025

A 12-year-old schoolgirl from Glasgow has designed a solar-powered heated blanket that aims to help address the impact of homelessness in the UK.

Would taking technology away from this student’s life or school have created this opportunity? What really matters is how intentionally we guide our kids in using it both inside and outside of school!

08/24/2025

A nostalgic video of smiling teens and big hair from the 1980s and ’90s has been making the rounds online, delighting many parents and advocates who long for “simpler times”, wanting to delay youth and teens access to technology The problem? None of it is real. It’s entirely AI-generated. What feels like a sentimental trip down memory lane is actually a manufactured illusion, and that makes this video clip an important teaching opportunity for families.

To watch this video and read our article on this topic, click this link https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/trending-ai-nostalgia-video-being-used-to-support-a-narrative-a-teachable-moment

08/24/2025

08/23/2025

Every month, families open their utility bills and brace for another increase. Meanwhile, data centres powering artificial intelligence are consuming electricity on a scale that rivals entire cities. The question parents need to ask is simple, "why should households carry the cost of corporate energy demands?"

Here's a link to an article we just published that sheds a light on this important topic, and why it is something we as parents, caregivers, and educators need to we aware of and discuss https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/could-canadian-families-end-up-paying-the-price-for-ai-data-centre-energy-use