I’m a single parent of two children, one of which is in middle school. Balancing keeping my kids safe while also allowing them the freedom to grow, learn, and experience life on their own is a constant learning process. Especially for my youngest, who is exploring the internet and social media more and more.
Until recently, I’ve only had to worry about threats in their immediate environment – how they are being treated by classmates, what movies they are going to see at the theater, who they are going to meet in the park. Now, the ever-growing number of online apps that exist in my children’s lives creates threats that I cannot always anticipate, and the reality is that I can only do so much to keep my children safe.
Parental controls and limiting our kids’ screen time only work for so long. Every kid looks for a way around the rules – I know mine did. And, as any parent will tell you, children will only let themselves be contained so much before they actively push back. Unlimited access to the internet means children can find ways around parental locks or age restrictions published by individual app developers. Once those barriers are breached, parents lose oversight on what their kids are doing online. That is why parents need more powerful tools in our parental tool belts and why we need better partners in our mission to protect our kids.
As a parent, I’ve personally shut down the App Store altogether for my child. While this has been a temporary fix, I know that this is not a permanent solution, and I do want my child to be able to interact with their friends online in a healthy way, through apps, games and devices that I approve.
Luckily, Michigan Congressman John James and Utah Senator Mike Lee have come together to reintroduce legislation that gives parents control over what our kids can and can’t download on the app store and implements a standard process for age verification online.
Currently, children with web-connected devices have full access to app stores such as the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, and it is only after they have installed an app that they go through an age verification process, if the app has an age verification at all. The responsibility of creating age verifications is left entirely up to individual developers, and parents only have a say in what apps their children can access if they have physically accessed their child’s device and checked what apps are installed. Parents can only control the apps their children use through asking their children not to download certain apps or by deleting the app after their children have already accessed them, neither of which is a strong solution to stopping their children from accessing harmful content to begin with.
Under the App Store Accountability Act, instead of age verification being determined by individual app developers, it would happen through the app stores. First, app developers will have to put appropriate age ratings on all apps that they upload to popular app stores. App stores will then have to verify the ages of users and will be required to receive parents’ permission before allowing minors to download an app or make a purchase. This is a major win for parents seeking stronger tools in protecting their children’s online safety.
It is no longer enough to teach our kids about stranger danger in public, check in on what material they are consuming through books or television, and secure our small, physical environment against threats. Through the internet, our kids have access to the whole world and the world has access to them. I am grateful that we as parents may have the opportunity to truly secure our children’s safety online, and I hope our legislators continue to support legislation like the App Store Accountability Act to empower parents like me.
Mom of two, and a small business owner from St. Louis.
