Your Algorithm Is Not Your Kid’s Algorithm, Grade 6 Memories, & The Parking Garage Disaster

About this episode

Renee discusses the impact of social media algorithms on children, shares nostalgic memories from her childhood, and recounts a recent mishap in a parking garage.

Thursday May 28th, 2026: Welcome back to The Mom Room! Today’s solo episode starts with a realization I think a lot of parents are missing when it comes to social media and kids. The reason TikTok or Instagram may seem “harmless” to you… is because YOUR algorithm is tailored to YOU. My feed? Mostly Pomeranians, home content, Bravo drama, and random mom-life videos. So naturally, I assumed kids weren’t really stumbling across anything too concerning besides the occasional swear word. Then one day I searched “massage” on TikTok looking for physio therapy exercises, self-massage, and lymphatic drainage videos… and what came up honestly shocked me. It completely changed the way I think about kids having unrestricted access to search features and social media in general. We need to talk about it. I also take a nostalgic detour into my childhood obsession with No Doubt and Gwen Stefani, including the iconic story of how my Grade 6 teacher somehow got a No Doubt t-shirt signed by Gwen just for me (still not over it). And finally, I tell the story of how I managed to absolutely destroy my car in an underground parking garage in Toronto a couple weekends ago… because apparently I need at…

People in this episode

Host: Renee Reina

Topics covered

• social media
• parenting
• nostalgia
• personal stories
• children's safety

Keywords

• social media
• parenting
• TikTok
• nostalgia
• Gwen Stefani
• No Doubt
• parking garage
• children's safety

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: No Doubt

Places: Toronto

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