Privacy is now parents' number one screen-time fear — here's what that really means

A May 2025 survey by Ipsos for the Kids Mental Health Foundation asked parents what they fear most about their children's screen time. The answer was not graphic content or misinformation, though both ranked. The top concern, named by 47 percent of parents, was privacy and safety — specifically, who can access their child's data and who might be trying to contact them.

That finding reframes a conversation that has been running for years. The screen-time debate has long focused on what children see. Parents are now equally worried about what others can see about their children.

The question behind the question

When a parent asks "what data does this device collect," they are usually asking something harder to articulate: is my child being watched in ways I don't understand, by people I never agreed to share with?

It is a fair question. Most connected devices for children — watches, tablets, location apps — collect more than they need to. Browsing histories, behavioral patterns, usage frequency, location trails. That data is stored, sometimes sold, and rarely explained in plain language.

Data minimization is the alternative principle. Collect only what is necessary. Store it only as long as required. Never sell it. Never build a profile from it.

In practice, for a device that simply helps a parent know their child is okay, that means: no browsing history (there is no browser), no behavioral profile (there is no app generating one), no third-party data sharing, and no location trail handed to an advertiser. The parent sees what they need. Nobody else does.

Why restraint is the feature

There is an irony that parents recognize almost immediately. Solving a screen-harm problem with another screen-heavy device does not quite add up. Jonathan Haidt has described how children's devices are routinely designed to extend engagement — to keep a child's attention, and by extension a parent's, for as long as possible. Average daily screen time outside school has reached eight to ten hours. The last thing most families need is another feed to scroll or another notification pulling at them.

A device that does less, deliberately, is not a compromise. It is the point.

HUUUG is built around that idea. No screen for the child. No apps, no social features, no browsing. A soft light and a quiet vibration. On the parent's side, a simple, calm view of whether their child is safe — nothing more than that.

The trust deficit running through every conversation about children's technology right now is not really about any one product. It is about an industry that has consistently taken more than it needed. The way back is restraint: being specific about what is collected, honest about where it goes, and firm about what will never happen to it.

If that sounds like what you have been looking for, we are building it. You can join the waitlist and follow along as we get closer.