Do You Know Who’s Watching Your Kids?

Parental Consent for Minors To Use Social Media

BY DENISE T. BEST        

If you use a babysitting service, or your neighbor’s teenager to watch your precious offspring, chances are you’ve done your homework, and the answer is yes.  If you have kids aged 16 or under who have in their possession a cell phone, or an iPad, chances are you have no idea what your kids are being exposed to, or responding to, and if you haven’t taken any safety precautions, you have no idea who is watching them.

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia are suing Meta, to address the alleged impact that social media has on children’s mental health, and that the tech company allegedly harms children by building addictive features into Instagram and Facebook. 

According to the Washington Post, close to 50 attorney generals are either filing a joint lawsuit in federal court, or separate complaints in federal, state, or local courts. The scope of the legal claims varies from alleging that the company is plotting to exploit young users for profit, that it is misleading them about safety features and harmful content, and is harvesting their data and violating federal laws on children’s privacy.

81% of U.S. adults – versus 46% of teens – favor parental consent for minors to use social media.
Whatever the eventual outcome, the Voices Of Women Of Color have submitted a letter Senators Murphy and Blumenthal in support of the following principles to empower parents and protect teens online:
●  Put Parents in the Driver’s Seat: Enable parents to manage and approve their children’s app downloads through a single, streamlined process at app stores.
●  Uniform Standards: Establish a consistent standard across all social media platforms to ensure parental consent is required for all app downloads by minors.
●  Protect Kids and Teens’ Privacy: Ensure that age verification at the app store level protects the privacy of minors by minimizing the need for personal information sharing across multiple platforms. 

So, do what you can to protect your children!  Reach out to your elected officials and tell them there must be Parental Consent for Minors to Use Social Media!

Hartford News, March 20-26 Edition