Protecting Children Online – Breakpoint

This summer, the U.S. Senate passed two bills: the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). Both received strong bipartisan support. by an overwhelming margin of 91 to 3If the bills pass the House of Representatives, they would be the first major legislation aimed at protecting children online in more than two decades.

The laws that were originally intended to govern the internet were passed over 20 years ago. These laws were primarily focused on email exchanges and could never have anticipated the scope and scale of today’s technology. Not only is the internet used for everything from grocery delivery to running a business, it is also the epicenter of our worst addictions, from social media to pornography, with algorithms that are incredibly effective at keeping people online.

Excessive screen time has been proven especially harmful to young people people, with effects ranging from shortened attention spans, sleep problems, body image issues, depression, bullying, gambling and addiction. Parents are left to their own devices to protect their children online with something between little help and outright hostility from tech companies. As CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, Dawn Hawkins has rightly noticed“The parental controls don’t work. They designed these platforms without parents in mind.”

Under current law, social media platforms, websites and the companies that own them are not legally responsible for what happens to children while they are on their sites. Despite additional Busy been placed on these tech companies in recent years, there is still no real incentive to keep children off their sites. Fewer children means less money, both now and in the future.

Despite the damage now obvious, young people have little reason to withdraw from their primary social and communication hubs. As Jonathan Haidt has said arguedthe current situation represents a collective action problem. Many people benefit from collectively going offline. However, if only one person or a small group of people chooses this course of action, it is not beneficial but costly.

Today, limiting or abstaining from social media comes at a huge societal cost to individual preteens and teens. The vast majority of their peers have smartphones by age 12. The only way forward is some kind of collective action so that the health benefits of turning off screens outweigh the societal costs.

This is where KOSA and COPPA 2.0 can help. As it is written now, KOSAS makes tech companies liable for the harms minors experience on their platforms based on the design of the platform. It also makes them responsible for creating tools that protect minors when using their platforms, such as protecting privacy, limiting auto-play videos and personalized recommendations, and blocking the distribution of unlawful materials.

COPPA2.0 certificate is also an important step toward encouraging collective action. The original law, passed in 1998, prohibited the collection of personal information from children 13 and under. COPPA 2.0 increased this to all minors 17 and under. This is important because companies use this personal information for targeted advertising, which keeps children online.

Of course, these bills will never be a substitute for good parenting and a shared sense of community. actions. Parents need to be present with their teens and often between them and their screens. They also need to push their schools, homeschooling groups, or other educational alternatives to pull the plug together.

More legislation is likely needed. In the battle between families and tech giants, families are losing out. But these two bills are a strong start. Parents, grandparents, teachers, mentors, and others should contact their representatives to ensure that KOSA and COPPA 2.0 pass the House and become law.

This Breaking point was co-written by Jared Hayden. If you are a fan of Breaking pointleave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources on living as a Christian in this cultural age, visit breakpoint.org.