On the surface, Google Slides is just a cloud-based presentation tool. It’s the Gen Alpha version of PowerPoint. But for a student sitting in a 5th-grade classroom where Discord and TikTok are blocked by the school’s IT department, Google Slides is a lifeline.

Because it’s a "productivity tool," it’s almost never blocked. Because it’s collaborative, multiple kids can be in the same "deck" at the same time. This has turned a tool meant for bullet points and pie charts into a high-speed, invisible chat room.

If you walk past a kid and see a slide deck open, your first instinct is to think, "Great, they're studying." Kids know this. It’s the ultimate "hide in plain sight" move.

Here is how the "Secret Social Network" actually works:

Learn more about how kids bypass school firewalls

Look, I’m not here to tell you that Google Slides is "evil." It’s a great tool. But we need to be honest about the fact that when kids use productivity tools for socialising, they lose the "guardrails" that social apps (sometimes) have.

There are no moderators in a Google Slide deck. There are no "report" buttons that go to a safety team. If a group of kids decides to create a "Burn Book" style slide deck about a classmate, that deck can be shared via a single link and live forever in the school’s ecosystem. It’s the digital version of passing notes, but with the scale and speed of the internet.

If your kid is already obsessed with spending time in Google Slides, you can actually pivot that energy into tools that are built for creativity rather than just stealth-chatting.

If they like making memes or "aesthetic" slides, Canva is the gold standard. It teaches actual graphic design skills—typography, layout, color theory—that are actually useful in the real world. It’s much more robust than Slides and offers a safer, more structured environment for design.

If your kid is one of the ones building "games" inside Google Slides (using links to jump between slides), they are basically a junior programmer. Get them onto Scratch. It’s a block-based coding language developed by MIT. It’s social, but in a way that’s focused on sharing projects and "remixing" code.

For the kids who are using Slides to make "animations" by rapidly clicking through 100 slightly different slides, Stop Motion Studio is a revelation. It’s a "pro-sumer" tool that lets them use LEGOs or clay to make real movies. It takes that same "frame-by-frame" patience and turns it into a cinematic hobby.

Many schools offer Minecraft Education Edition. If they want to collaborate and build things with friends, this is a far more productive outlet than a blank white slide. It teaches spatial reasoning and logic.

Check out our guide on the best creative apps for middle schoolers

At this age, kids usually discover the "Chat" or "Comment" feature by accident. They think it’s a magic trick.

This is the danger zone. This is when the "Secret Social Network" becomes a tool for exclusion or "roasting."

By now, they’ve moved on to Discord or Snapchat on their phones. If they’re still using Slides to chat, they’re likely just trying to get through a boring lecture.

One weird quirk of Google Slides and Google Docs is that when someone who isn't explicitly invited via email views a "publicly shared" link, they show up as an "Anonymous Animal" (e.g., Anonymous Axolotl, Anonymous Grizzly).

Kids love this. It gives them a sense of being a "hacker." If your kid is looking at a deck full of Anonymous Animals, they are in a public or semi-public chat room. This is where the risk of "stranger danger" (though low) or unmonitored bullying (high) increases.

Ask our chatbot about the risks of anonymous chatting in school apps

Don't go in like a narc. If you say, "I know you're using the comment feature to talk to Brayden about Skibidi Toilet," they will just find a more secretive way to do it (like a shared Spotify playlist—yes, that’s a thing too).

Instead, try: "Hey, I heard that kids are using Google Slides as a way to hang out during class because everything else is blocked. Is that happening in your grade? What do people even talk about in there?"

By acknowledging the "culture" of the school without immediately banning it, you keep the lines of communication open. You want to be the parent they tell when a "Slide Chat" goes sideways, not the parent they have to hide the screen from.

Google Slides is a phenomenal tool for learning, but in the hands of a bored 12-year-old, it is a social media platform.

It’s not "brain rot" in the same way that scrolling endless TikTok videos might be, but it is a distraction. The goal isn't to ban the tool—they need it for school—but to demystify it. Once they realize you know the "secret," the thrill of the "stealth chat" usually fades, and they might actually get back to that presentation on the Oregon Trail.

Learn more about digital citizenship for middle schoolers