MOMS OFF MUTE

Family Online Safety Institute (fosi.org)

MOMS OFF MUTE is a podcast about Raising Digital Kids. Real Conversations with and for Modern Parents. Hosted by Mom Jordan Bivings Glover from the Family Online Safety Institute. Every season takes a fresh approach to the conversation.

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S1 · E5
Wednesday · 13 min
Best of Season 1, Clip 5 - The Three-Hour-a-Week Mom, the Sandwich Generation, and Making Peace with YouTube
Send us Fan Mail A compilation of highlights from Jordan's earliest Moms Off Mute conversations. This one moves through several topics, so here is what to expect. Could you quantify the time you spend with your kids? Jordan heard a wildly successful CEO describe herself as a three-hour-a-week mom, and it stopped her in her tracks. Not with judgment, with genuine curiosity. She unpacks why she has never counted those hours herself, why she tracks screen time but not connection time, and how putting a number on it might either ease parent guilt or make it so much worse. Who actually sets the tone in your house. Jordan talks about being the blueprint in her household: the routines, the manners, the ground rules, the food. Her husband Evan travels for work, so she set the structure early, and he backed it. It works, but she is honest that it is a very particular kind of division of labor, and one that shows up in digital parenting too. The digital sandwich generation. You know the sandwich generation as caring for aging parents while raising kids. Jordan makes the case that there is a digital version of it: you are the tech support and the safety net for both a generation that finds it all new and exciting, and one that has never known anything else. And you are telling both of them to stop putting their business on the internet. A call to Jordan's mom. To test the theory, Jordan calls a boomer for reference: her own mother. They talk about Instagram and Facebook versus TikTok, and the story of Jordan's very first phone, which she only got because she was going abroad on a house building trip. Making peace with YouTube. Jordan explains how Miss Rachel arrived during a pregnancy, when she could no longer be the only entertainment, and why YouTube Kids became a tool she trusted. Plus the parental controls she thinks every parent should know about, and why the free version can still work if you set it up right. Homework this week: think back to when you first discovered YouTube, who showed it to you, and what role you want it to play in your family now. FOSI has a YouTube resource at fosi.org if you want to go deeper. https://fosi.org/program/the-fosi-guide-to-youtube/ This is Moms Off Mute. Listen to Season 2 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S1 · E4
September 9 · 12 min
Best of Season 1, Clip 4 - Two Tablets, Solo Parenting, and What Family Movie Night Should Actually Look Like
Send us Fan Mail Two kids, two tablets, one exhausted parent. Jordan's kids are 15 months apart, which means two different developmental stages and two different sets of interests. She explains why sitting between them, monitoring two screens, stopped making sense, and the turn-taking system that replaced it. No TVs in the bedrooms, one screen in the family room, and a simple question that settles every argument: who picked last time? Solo parenting, and why it deserves its own conversation. Jordan is married, and her husband travels for work most of the week, which means she is parenting solo most days. She talks honestly about a gap in how we discuss digital parenting: the advice usually assumes two adults splitting the load, or a single parent with a village nearby. Neither describes her house. If your support looks different from the default, this section is for you. When the digital community gets it right. Jordan makes the case that online parent communities are not all bad, sharing an example of parents helping each other find answers when the usual channels came up short. Her rule of thumb: use the community to get informed, then take it to the professional. Family screen time is not five people in headphones. After watching a scene in Apple TV's Platonic where a family solves a movie night argument by giving everyone their own device, Jordan pushes back. If the goal is time together, the time has to actually be together. Set times to be separate, set times to be shared, and know the difference. No judgment, no lectures. Just an honest look at what digital parenting actually looks like day to day. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org/parenting Listen to Season 2 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S2 · E10
September 2 · 23 min
The Digital Parenting Newlywed Game: Jordan and Evan Glover Answer for Each Other
Send us Fan Mail For the Season 2 finale, Jordan brings on her most reluctant guest yet: her husband Evan Glover. Producer Leslie Pedder takes over as game host for a round of the Digital Parenting Newlywed Game, and the answers are honest, funny, and occasionally a little too honest. They cover the household tech rules (no screens during the week), what they are each too strict about, and the tech issue that comes up most at home. Spoiler: it involves Evan's phone, which is in his lap for most of this recording. The conversation gets real too. Jordan and Evan talk about the parenting conversations they had before kids, all of which were about the physical world, and none about the digital one. They reflect on how 90 minutes of A Bug's Life quietly became 90 minutes twice a day, and what they each want their kids to remember about how their family handled technology. Plus a speed round: who doom scrolls, who reads the privacy settings, who forgets the parental control password, and who genuinely has zero unread emails. That's a wrap on Season 2. Stay tuned for Season 3. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S2 · E9
August 26 · 21 min
Sports Betting, Prediction Markets, and Letting Go with Amy and Nathan Bartko
Send us Fan Mail Amy Bartko joins with her 19-year-old son Nathan, who just finished his first year of college, for a rare Moms Off Mute perspective: an actual young adult explaining how sports betting works among his friends. Last week Cindy and Jana started a conversation about betting apps and teens. This week Jordan hears from someone living it. Nathan talks about money lines, why betting makes the game more fun to watch, and the friends who think it's a way to make money. His honest take on that: the ones bragging about winning are never posting their losses. They also get into prediction markets, where you can bet on almost anything, and Jordan's very fair question about why insider information rules that govern Wall Street don't seem to apply here. Then Amy stays on for the parenting half. What happens when your kid turns 18 and can remove the parental controls himself? When did she stop reading the group chats? And why did her younger son get a device years earlier than her oldest did? Plus: the phone you pay for is still your phone (they will argue), the Sunday dinner rule, and a moment where Jordan asks about digital dating and Amy realizes she has never once thought about it. Homework this week: ask your college kid to call you. Nathan says they always have five minutes. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S2 · E8
August 19 · 26 min
Teen "Gambling" Apps, Password Rules, Class Parents and the Village That Remembers the Names with Cindy Smith and Jana Folmert
Send us Fan Mail This week she is joined by returning guest Jana Folmert, who brought a friend: Cindy Smith, a mom of a 15- and 13-year-old who is not an expert, just figuring it out like everyone else. Cindy shares the rules that actually hold in her house: no face ID or thumbprint on the kids' phones, parents keep every password, and trust that gets extended as the years go by rather than handed over on day one. She also explains the conversation she has with her kids about why free apps are never really free. Then the conversation turns to something most parents haven't clocked yet: betting apps targeting teenagers, and the new prediction market apps built to sidestep gambling age restrictions entirely. Jana shares what she is seeing among her son's friends, and Cindy makes the case that gambling belongs on the same list as drugs and alcohol when it comes to conversations you cannot skip. Plus: Cindy took the quiz and got the Explorer, Jordan is a proud Firewall for now, and everyone agrees that the real parenting cheat code is having one friend who remembers all the kids' names. Homework this week: check in on the apps your teen has downloaded. Ask about the ones that look like games but aren't. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
- Transcript
S1 · E7
August 12 · 30 min
Mom Creators, Co-Parenting, and Who Decides When Your Kid Gets a Phone with Dara Whitley and Jana Folmert
Send us Fan Mail This week Jordan is joined by Dara Whitley, a mom creator based in the Dallas area, alongside returning guest Jana Folmert. Both are single moms raising boys, and both have very different answers to the same questions. The conversation opens on mom content: why Dara creates, how she keeps her identity while parenting out loud, and the way she asks her almost-ten-year-old for permission before every brand campaign (he negotiates for a cut). Jana shares why she stopped posting her son at eleven, and how she now asks not just whether she can share, but who she can share it with. Dara opens up about digital co-parenting across two households with different rules, and what happens when your co-parent buys the phone you never agreed to. Jana counters with a phone at five, and the safety reasons behind it. Neither is wrong. Both are real. Plus: Connect 4, Uno, the family Wii, learning chess on Duolingo, and why tic-tac-toe at a restaurant table might be the most underrated parenting tool going. Homework this week: get interested in what your kid is interested in. Then find one game you can play together, on a screen or off. Follow Dara: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@onmymommyestbehavior Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onmymommyestbehavior This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S2 · E6
August 5 · 31 min
Dating in the Digital World: Three Generations, One Very Complicated Swipe with Jana Folmert and Deja Fowler
Send us Fan Mail Dating used to mean someone picked you up at the door and your parents knew what movie you were seeing. Now it happens in group chats, private Snaps, and apps that change the rules every few months. This week Jordan is joined by two returning guests for a three-perspective conversation: Jana Folmert, FOSI's marketing and creative lead, single mom to a nearly-16-year-old, and someone navigating digital dating herself, and Deja Fowler, FOSI's Gen Z intern who has only ever known dating in the app era. They get into what it actually looks like to date online right now, how Jana talks to her teenager about crushes and consent without shutting the conversation down, and why "treat other people how you want to be treated" might be the most powerful digital safety lesson there is. Plus Jordan's own low-tech love story, which involved a building app, a high school hoodie, and a very nosy roommate named Mike. Deja closes with an idea the dating apps should probably steal: what if you could meet people at events instead of swiping on their height? Homework this week: ask your kid an open-ended question. Not "how was school," something they actually have to answer. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S2 · E5
July 29 · 23 min
COVID Grads, Headphones on Hikes, and the Village Gen Z Missed Out On with Deja Fowler
Send us Fan Mail This week Jordan sits down with Deja Fowler, FOSI's spring intern and recent college graduate, for a generational look at what it was really like to come of age during COVID. Deja opens up about a high school graduation that never quite happened, learning through work packets before the school had laptops, and how Snapchat, Instagram, and FaceTime became the entire social world for an entire generation. Now on the other side of college and headed to law school, she reflects on what got lost, what stuck, and why so many Gen Z hikers show up with their headphones in. Jordan and Deja explore the ripple effects that digital parents need to understand: why self-isolation became a habit rather than a phase, how core memories were skipped, and what the village owes a generation that missed out on so much. Plus: the Georgetown Cuddler, professional cuddling as a service, and Jordan's very serious PSA about not hiking alone with your headphones on. Homework this week: go easier on the Gen Z-ers. Ask them why before you judge. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
- Transcript
S2 · E4
July 22 · 22 min
Baby Monitors, NICU Moms, and When to Turn the Camera Off with Leslie Pedder
Send us Fan Mail This week Jordan is joined by Leslie Pedder, Moms Off Mute's very own podcast producer, mom to a nearly-two-year-old, and the rogue friend who saw Bruno Mars without her. Jordan brings receipts. The real conversation gets into baby monitors, video cams, and the digital tools that give new parents the peace of mind they need to, you know, actually sleep. Leslie shares her experience as a NICU mom and why the monitor became a lifeline once she brought her daughter home. Jordan reflects on the choice to only use sound monitors with her second, and the moment two baby monitors on video became too much. Plus: why shared access to the monitor with in-laws can get invasive fast (with a very relatable clip from The Rookie), the case for un-wi-fied monitors, and the bigger question worth sitting with. Kids are citizens too. So when do we stop watching them in their own rooms? Homework this week: think about when privacy starts and ends in your household. Come back next week when Jordan digs into it further. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org/parenting New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
- Transcript
S2 · E3
July 15 · 19 min
From Sims to Smartphones: 20 Years of Digital Parenting with FOSI Founder Stephen Balkam
Send us Fan Mail This week Moms Off Mute welcomes its first dad, and it's the one who started it all. FOSI Founder and CEO Stephen Balkam joins Jordan for a full-circle conversation about raising two daughters through the dawn of the digital age, and now watching his one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter interact with phones. From dial-up childhood and hours spent building cities on Sims, to the arrival of the iPhone alongside the launch of FOSI in 2007, Stephen shares what it was really like navigating each new wave of technology as a parent long before there were guides, quizzes, or communities to help. Including the moment he realized his daughter was majoring in Facebook and texting instead of geography. Plus: why the "400 texts per month" plan never stood a chance, the parenting advice a TikTok psychologist reminded him of recently (be a team with your partner), and the small tech moments that still make him smile after nearly 20 years in this work. Homework this week: dance with your kids. You don't have to post it. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S2 · E2
July 8 · 22 min
Digital Consent, Promposals, and What Teens Don't Owe the Internet with Guest Jana Folmert
Send us Fan Mail Jana Folmert is back for round two, and this conversation goes deeper into the reality of raising a teenager in a culture where everything gets filmed. Jordan and Jana get into the promposal problem (yes, some kids only accept if the post gets enough likes), the tricky territory of digital consent when your kid isn't the one posting, and what to do when someone else's phone camera decides your child's viral moment for them. From "treat people how you want to be treated" as the golden rule of the internet, to why banning under-16s from social media doesn't actually solve the consent problem, this episode is packed with practical wisdom from a Mentor mom of a nearly-16-year-old. Plus: Jordan's plea to please help her find her glasses in the street instead of filming her looking disheveled, and a reminder that not everything needs to be content. Homework this week: talk to your kids about digital consent. Ask them what it means to them, and how they'd want to be treated online. This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at https://fosi.org/parenting/ New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S1 · E3
July 7 · 6 min
Best of Season 1, Clip 3 — Before You Judge That Mom Handing Her Kid a Screen
Send us Fan Mail A Best of Season 1 highlight from Moms Off Mute. In this clip, Jordan gets real about the assumptions we make when we see a mom handing her kid a screen in public. From a stressed-out mom of three at the nail salon trying to get through the weekend, to the 10-year-old whose only friends live inside his favorite game, Jordan shares the moments that changed how she thinks about screen time judgment. Not every family has a backyard. Not every kid has a safe place to play. And not every parent has the luxury of a no-screen household. An honest reminder to lead with grace before we lead with opinions. A tribute to the village, and a call to be a better part of it. This is Moms Off Mute. Listen to the full Seasonson Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
- Transcript
S1 · E2
July 7 · 7 min
Best of Season 1, Clip 2 — Screen Time, Mom Guilt, and Naps in the Closet
Send us Fan Mail A Best of Season 1 highlight from Moms Off Mute. In this clip, Jordan gets honest about the daily balancing act of digital parenting when you have two little ones with very different tablet habits. From the potty training years to the tablet as a last resort, Jordan reflects on how she thinks about screen time not as good or bad, but as a tool. Just like AI, tablets work best when they amplify what your kids are already doing, not replace the connection you have with them. Plus: why buying your kid a tablet was never actually the plan, why blue light glasses are here to stay, and a reminder to leave the mom guilt at the door. Sometimes the tablet is needed. Sometimes you just need to nap in the closet. Both are allowed. This is Moms Off Mute. Listen to the full Seasons on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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S1 · E2
July 7 · 4 min
Best of Season 1, Clip 1 — Why Is Your Sonogram on Instagram?
Send us Fan Mail A Best of Season 1 highlight from Moms Off Mute. In this clip, Jordan digs into one of the most common (and most overlooked) moments of digital parenting: the sonogram post. From the moment a pregnancy is announced, a child's digital footprint begins. Jordan unpacks why so many parents-to-be reach for Instagram before the group chat, what your sonogram actually reveals about you and your baby, and why the mom squad might want to reconsider where these milestones live. No mom shaming, no lectures. Just an honest, unprofessional-professional mom opinion from someone who works at the Family Online Safety Institute. This is Moms Off Mute. Listen to the full Season 1 and 2 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
- Transcript
S2 · E1
July 1 · 24 min
From Firewall to Mentor: Single Parenting a Teenager in the Digital World with Guest Jana Folmert
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season 2 of Moms Off Mute! New format, same honest, fun, unfiltered conversations. This season, Jordan is joined each week by a different parent to talk about what digital parenting actually looks like at their stage of life. First up: Jana Folmert, FOSI's marketing and creative lead, single mom to a nearly-16-year-old, and one of the most no-nonsense humans you'll ever meet. Jana is the Mentor archetype through and through, and the contrast with Jordan's Firewall instincts makes for a fascinating conversation. In this episode: how gaming helped Jana's son stay connected with his friends through COVID and turned virtual friendships into real-world ones, why she set him up with a VPN and what that actually means in plain parent language, and how she uses a shared Google Map of TikTok viral food trends and restaurant tips he sends her to keep their communication open. Plus: why "moody teenager" can be a feature, not a bug, what omakase has to do with digital parenting, and the reminder that every archetype evolves as your kid grows up. Homework this week: ask your kid what their favorite thing you did together in the last month was. Then actually listen to the answer. Want to find out your own archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org/parenting/ New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support the show Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
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