Good questions. Straight answers.
What is Lowkey?
Lowkey is a weekly newsletter for parents of teenagers. Each issue explains a piece of teen culture, built on original, anonymized interviews with actual teenagers, so you can understand what your kid is into without interrogating them.
Who writes Lowkey?
A small team of writers and educators. They interview teens, translate what they hear into plain English, and write each issue for parents.
How do the interviews work?
Each interview is a conversation of about 30 minutes with a teenager aged 13 to 18. A parent or guardian must give consent for anyone under 18 before an interview happens.
Are the interviews safe and confidential?
Interviews are conducted by professional, background-checked educators. What teens share is kept confidential, with one limit: educators are mandatory reporters, so if a teen discloses abuse, neglect, or a risk of harm to themselves or others, the interviewer is required to report it. We explain this to teens and parents beforehand.
Do teens get paid?
Teens who are interviewed receive a $20 gift card as a thank you.
How much does Lowkey cost?
Lowkey is $9 per month or $90 per year.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Subscriptions are managed through Substack, and you can cancel anytime from your Substack account.
Will my teen be identified?
No. Teens are fully anonymized. Names and identifying details are removed before anything is published, so nothing in the newsletter can be traced back to an individual teenager.
Can I just ask ChatGPT?
You can, and it is a useful starting point. AI tools summarize what is on the public internet, which is often enough to explain a term or a game. Lowkey is built from private, one-on-one conversations with actual teenagers, plus a parent verdict and conversation starters for each topic.