A workbook for tweens who already know the feed is lying. Three questions. A label. A pledge.
For the grown-ups in the room
AGES 9–12
They already feel it.
A note from Raised to Resist about the algorithm that learned your kid faster than you did.
What this book is
Tweens know the feed is engineered. They feel the pull. They don't yet have a vocabulary for it. This book hands them three questions: Who made this? What do they want me to feel? What's missing? and trains the muscle to ask them.
How to use it
Write in it. Argue with it. Take photos of pages you disagree with and send them back to us. The book is not a worksheet. It's a field journal: they're the researcher.
What's inside
The three questions. A spine to use on anything online.
Spot the sycophant. Why an AI's flattery is a tell.
Break the bubble. How feeds narrow your world.
Design an honesty label. What AI should tell you.
The pledge. Five lines a thinker signs.
What we never do
We don't tell them screens are evil. We don't lecture about “back in our day.” We sit at the table and say look at this with me.
Curiosity, not fear, is the muscle we're growing.
Media Literacy · The framework
AGES 9–12
The three questions.
Pick anything you saw online today. A reel. A meme. An ad. An AI answer. Ask each question. Write what you find.
01
Who made this?
A person? A company? An AI? Whose name is on it, and whose isn't?
02
What do they want me to feel?
Angry. Scared. Smart. Left out. Excited to buy. Be specific.
03
What's missing?
Whose voice isn't here. What evidence isn't shown. What got cut.
Three questions, asked in this order. Don't skip the third.
Media Literacy · Sycophancy
AGES 9–12
Find the sycophant.
A sycophant agrees with you to keep you happy. Rate each line: how much is it sucking up? 0 honest 5 total suck-up
"That's a great question. Let me give you the perfect answer."
012345
"I'm not sure. Let me look it up and tell you when I'm wrong."
012345
"Brilliant idea! I love how you think. Want me to write it for you?"
012345
"That part of your argument has a hole. Here's what I'd push back on."
012345
A flattering answer is not the same as a true one.
Media Literacy · Hallucinations
AGES 9–12
Hallucination hunt.
A hallucination is when an AI states a confidently-wrong thing. Tick the column you'd trust this AI claim, and how you'd actually check.
Claim the AI made
Sounds true
Sounds made up
I'd check by…
"There are 9,500 species of birds."
"Albert Einstein invented the iPhone."
"That movie was directed by Ana Lily Amirpour."
"Drinking water makes you a better runner."
"There's a Roman emperor named ‘Maximus Glorius.’"
"The Pacific is the largest ocean."
Confident is not correct. Check the page, not the prompt.
Genuine Empathy · The friend test
AGES 9–12
The friend test.
A real friend can do some things. An AI can do other things. Tick the column that's actually true.
Can this thing…
A real friend
An AI
…remember a private thing I told them six months ago
…notice when I sound off without me saying anything
…help me with my homework at 2 AM
…know my favorite ice cream flavor without being told
…forget about me if I don't open the app for a week
…show up to my house with soup when I'm sick
…say "I was wrong" and mean it
A friend is not a service. A service is not a friend.
Community · My network
AGES 9–12
My real-people list.
Five humans in your life you actually trust. For each: what would you talk to them about, and what would you not ask an AI instead?
1
person
I'd talk to them about
2
person
I'd talk to them about
3
person
I'd talk to them about
4
person
I'd talk to them about
5
person
I'd talk to them about
Five names. One book. No screen. That's the floor of your network.
Digital Wellness · The algorithm
AGES 9–12
Why am I seeing this?
Your feed is a waiter who's been watching you. Every video, ad, and post is chosen because the algorithm thinks you'll stay.
The waiter who knows you too well
Imagine a restaurant where the waiter never asks what you want. They watch what you eat. They notice what you finish first. They bring you more of that, and only that, every single time.
Your feed is that waiter. The plates are videos. Every choice is the algorithm's guess at what you'll keep eating.
A video my feed pushed me this week:
Three guesses for why the algorithm thinks I want this:
The algorithm has a guess about you. Find out what it is.
Digital Wellness · Filter bubbles
AGES 9–12
Break the bubble.
Your feed shows you what it thinks you'll like. Inside the bubble: things you already agree with. Outside: voices the algorithm hides from you.
INSIDE THE BUBBLE topics my feed shows me a lot
OUTSIDE a voice I never see
OUTSIDE a topic I'd never click first
OUTSIDE a place my feed ignores
OUTSIDE a person I disagree with
A small world is the feed's idea, not yours.
Digital Wellness · Data audit
AGES 9–12
The data trail.
Every app keeps notes about you. Left column: what they know. Right column: what they shouldn't.
What an app or AI does know about me
What it shouldn't know about me
If you can't see the line, the company gets to draw it for you.
Media Literacy · Deepfake check
AGES 9–12
Real or AI? Slow down.
If a clip makes you feel something fast: that's the move it was designed to make. Three steps before you share it.
PAUSEdon't share yet
CHECKreverse search the image
ASK"who made this and why?"
PAUSE
A clip that made me feel something fast this week:
CHECK
What I noticed when I looked again (extra fingers? weird mouth?):
ASK
Who would gain if I believed this and shared it?
The fastest feelings are the most engineered. Slow them down.
Body Safety & Consent · The flow
AGES 9–12
If it happens to a friend.
Someone you know gets a fake image of themselves. Someone gets pressured into sharing. Here's the flow. Memorize it.
1
→
Believe them.
First sentence out of your mouth: "I believe you." Not "are you sure?" Not "did you ask for it?"
2
→
Don't share. Don't screenshot.
Even to show another friend. Especially to show another friend. You can describe the situation without spreading the image.
3
→
Get a trusted adult.
Parent. Teacher. School counselor. The friend doesn't have to be the one who tells. You can.
4
→
Report the post.
Use the platform's report-for-CSAM or report-for-impersonation tool. The adult can help you find the link.
5
Stay with them.
Sit next to them. Watch a show. Order pizza. The next hour is when they need you the most.
Believe. Don't share. Tell a grown-up. Report. Stay.
Civic Learning · Imagine the rule
AGES 9–12
Design an AI honesty label.
Food has nutrition labels. Imagine one for AI. Fill in what every AI should have to tell you.
AI HONESTY LABEL
model:
MADE BY
TRAINED ON
CAN BE WRONG ABOUT
WANTS YOU TO
DOES NOT KNOW
issued by: RTR · DRAFT
A label you'd trust is a label you'd put your name on.
Genuine Empathy · The human question
AGES 9–12
Ask the human question.
Some questions an AI can answer faster. Some questions only a human should ever be asked.
Q1
A question I would only ask a real human:
Why?
Q2
A question where I'd rather ask an AI first:
Why?
Some answers need a heartbeat. Others just need a search.
Reward Page · Free space
AGES 9–12
Build your own little world.
You've done the hard pages. This page is yours. Draw whatever you want: a world Beep would live in, a feed you'd actually want, anything.
A thinker draws the world they want to live in. Then they go live in it.
RAISED TO RESIST · BOOK 3
The Thinker's Pledge
I will ask who made this before I believe it.
I will look for what's missing, not just what's in front of me.
I will pause before I share something that made me feel something fast.
I will trust a human heartbeat over a confident-sounding machine.
I will be curious, not afraid. Curiosity is the muscle.
