Caveat – As our regular followers are aware, we advocate for a balanced and age-appropriate use of technology for children combined with age-appropriate digital literacy and online safety education, rather than an abstinence-based philosophy. We believe that rather than “delay is the way”, a better philosophy is “Redirect, and pave the way.” Our approach – “know technology, not no technology.” While we acknowledge the benefits, we also recognize some of the potential risks and dangers associated with tech – something we speak to in all our presentations. To mitigate these risks, we emphasize digital literacy and online safety education, that is backed by evidence-based research. We are doing our part, parents and schools are doing their part, however, social media platforms, tech companies, and politicians need to step up and take responsibility. It’s time for parents and caregivers to demand action from our political representatives to regulate and pass well thought out and balanced legislation and hold these companies accountable. We must advocate for legislative change that focuses on the tech companies, rather than our youth, to ensure a safer digital environment for our children!
As parents and caregivers, we’ve all been there – handing over a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to our curious child, watching as they discover the endless wonders of the internet and social media. But as the years went by, we began to realize that the online world we had entrusted our kids to wasn’t quite the sugar-and-spice and everything nice paradise we had first envisioned. In fact, it turned out that there were snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that these companies knew about, where our children’s safety, privacy, and well-being are increasingly at risk.
When the internet and social media first emerged, society and lawmakers took a hands-off approach, assuming these platforms would police, self-regulate, and prioritize their users’ welfare. But as the saying goes, “hindsight is 20/20.” We now recognize that this trust was misplaced. Without proper oversight, tech giants have been free to prioritize profits over people, creating an online environment with some platforms that can be toxic and exploitative.
It’s past time for lawmakers to step in and take control. We urgently need well thought out and balanced laws and regulations that specifically target social media and tech companies, holding them accountable for their impact on both children and adults. This isn’t just a matter of protecting our kids; it’s also about safeguarding our democracy and ensuring that these powerful corporations don’t continue to call the shots. Much like the banking industry that caused the financial crisis in 2007, we can’t get to the point where we allow these social media and tech juggernauts to get too big to fail, this only empowers them to not make change, and to keep doing what they think is in their best financial interest.
So, why haven’t we seen meaningful action yet? The answer lies in the enormous lobbying power wielded by these multi-billion-dollar companies. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to influence policymakers to shape the public and legal narrative in their favor. As long as money talks in politics, these corporate giants will continue to push their agenda, prioritizing shareholder profits over people.
As parents, we can’t afford to sit on the sidelines any longer and let these tech companies dictate legislation. We must demand that our elected officials take bold action to legislate and regulate social media and tech companies. We need to:
- Support thoughtful legislation that prioritizes online safety and privacy for all, specifically targeting the social media and tech industries. It’s crucial that this legislation is well-balanced and carefully crafted and focused, rather than being rushed or driven by political agendas to create omnibus legislation that only muddies the waters – something we believe has happened with BILL C-63, the Canadian “Online Harms Act” (1)We must avoid political “windsock” legislation that may inadvertently cause more harm than good, and instead opt for a nuanced approach that truly benefits users.
- Hold policymakers accountable for in-action – ask them for their position on this issue and hold them accountable for inaction by voting.
- Educate ourselves about the issues and raise awareness among our communities through facts not fear, facts not emotions, and substance over slogans!
Rather than burdening parents and educators with the responsibility of policing youth cellphone and tech use through policy or legislation, we should be focusing on legislation that holds tech and social media companies accountable for promoting responsible technology use. Relying solely on age-based legislation and abstinence-only approaches that targets youth to address issues like distraction and poor school test scores linked to digital devices is easy to do, it has been proven to be ineffective. This approach has been tried before. For instance, in 2011, the South Korean government enacted a law targeting youth, banning online gaming between 11pm and 7am due to concerns about its impact on school performance. However, subsequent independent research has shown that this legislation failed to yield the desired results (2)
We need to advocate for laws and regulations that hold social media giants accountable and allocate necessary funding, that could be generated through significant fines, to enhance digital literacy and online safety education for our children. Health Canada undertakes cost recovery in a number of areas, such as pharmaceuticals and medical devices, why couldn’t this principle also be applied to the social media and tech giants? By focusing on these areas through legislation, we can create a safer and more responsible online environment for our youth.
The lack of significant legal and financial repercussions that targets tech and social media giants, means that these companies have no incentive to alter their business practices – NONE! This issue is further exacerbated by the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into their platforms, which they are heavily investing hundreds of millions of dollars into, to capitalize on its potential for further profit to their investors. However, in their pursuit of financial gain, they are neglecting to incorporate essential privacy and safety measures into their AI development, prioritizing profits over protection – yet another reason why legislation is so important, sooner rather than later.
We would argue that the internet and social media have transformed our world in mostly a positive way, but there is no denying that there is also a dark side to these technologies, even more so with the transformative development of AI. As parents, we owe it to our children to ensure that they can navigate the online world safely and responsibly through digital literacy and internet safety education, however, regulation and legislation are an important piece of this onlife puzzle, but such regulation and legislation is sadly missing. Let’s join forces to demand action from our policymakers and create a better, safer onlife future for generations to come!
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
Facts Not Fear, Facts Not Emotions, Enlighten Not Frighten, Know Tech Not No Tech
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