We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah George a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hannah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
We are an organization who has set out to change the trajectory of the serious and harmful impacts the overuse and abuse of smartphones and social media are having on the lives of our young people. The data is in and the results are not good, and we knew we had to do something to create positive change in this space. We exist to empower teens to set boundaries and create good habits that will help them develop healthier relationships with technology that they can carry with them the rest of their lives. We know that change like this can only happen in community – we want to create a movement that provides accountability and the desire to take back our lives and get back to really living.
Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
FILTER is Social Emotional Learning curriculum that focuses on the way teens are using their smartphones and social media. FILTER stands for the six areas we have found to be the most crucial to developing healthy relationships with technology. Following, Intentions, Life Story, Time, Emotions, Reality. Each letter has a five minute video teaching session that corresponds directly to the FILTER study guide. Students watch the video, fill in the blanks with the healthy boundaries to set when it comes to online safety, data permanency, bullying, mental health, time management, and the differences between virtual reality and what it’s real. Discussion questions are provided and an independent activity for teens to apply with they learn. At the end of the program, teens sign a pledge to always #filterfirst when it comes to their online activity.
How’d you meet your business partner?
My co-founder is my sister and best friend, Hallie House! With 10 children between us, this mission is so important as we want to create a different experience for our kids, and change things for generations to come.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
We are a non-profit, and received our initial grant from Operation Light Shine, an organization dedicated to ending child sexual exploitation and abuse. With this grant we were able to create educational content in hopes to prevent these problems before they start. Reports of extortion to NCMEC grew by 97% from 2019-2020, and keeping kids safe online through education. Our hope is to get this in schools across America and create a movement that awakens people to the potential dangers and pitfalls of the misuse of smartphones and social media.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.filterfirst.org
- Instagram: filter_1st
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/FILTER1st/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-george-643b6822a