Your Voices, Your Stories

Supporting Parents: Tools, Tips, & Intel (There is More to Be Done)

Parents understand the challenges they face in keeping their kids and families safe online. Parents also understand they can’t do it alone – threats online are constantly evolving, technology changes quickly, and kids find creative workarounds to flimsy guardrails.

Lawmakers in Washington, DC and in our states are considering policy proposals every day that could change how our kids navigate online. But we need to make sure that these proposals are based on the reality parents face today, and not on false choices.

We know that compromising privacy is not the answer: a recent survey found 92% of parents were concerned about providing their child’s personal information for age verification. You shouldn’t have to upload a birth certificate to ensure your child has an age-appropriate experience online.

To identify and advocate for solutions that actually solve the problems our kids face while keeping them protected online, we need your voice and your ideas.

Tell us what you want to see change in online safety. What are the biggest problems your kid faces today? What tools do you need to help them?

Your voice matters.

Help us identify the solutions that protect privacy, hold companies accountable for the content they serve our kids, and make the internet safer for everyone.

Suggested prompts:

What do you want lawmakers to know about keeping your kids safe online?
If you had the power to write a law tomorrow, what would it say?

Loopholes and False Choice

This increased vulnerability comes without any actual benefit, as tech-savvy teens easily bypass age verification restrictions through VPNs or web browsers where these rules don’t apply. The false sense of security leads parents to lower their guard while their children navigate toward unregulated corners of the internet with fewer safety features. These mandates force every Floridian to submit to invasive data collection simply to access tools that already exist. Parents can already require approval for every download, block certain apps, or monitor screen time on virtually every smartphone.

Turner L.

Safeguard Online Play and Connection

As a mother of three children, I know that there is no more important or valuable work than being a parent. My role as a mother is to care for, raise, and educate my children, the best way I see fit–like leading my own platoon. But what makes my job more difficult is that in today’s digital age, the most dangerous playground in America is easily accessible to every child via handheld electronic devices. As parents, we want to ensure our children only access appropriate material online so they can learn, play and build connections, while safeguarding them from inappropriate material.

Brook H.

Our Kids Have Found Workarounds

Blocking software has limits. Kids are wily. They find workarounds. My son, for example, discovered that even if [DC Public Schools] blocked most video streaming, he could still watch TV via the Wayback Machine. At one point, he figured out how to download Roblox onto his school-issued laptop and played it in class for days. Also, he spent a lot of time messing around on non-blocked websites that weren’t relevant to his learning.

Sylvie M.

Developers Should Be Responsible

What families need is balance. Parents should have a say when their child wants to use an app with chat or content-sharing, but they shouldn’t be buried in approval requests for every calculator or study tool. Developers should be the ones building safer digital spaces, not pushing the burden entirely onto families or app stores. And when it comes to privacy, less data sharing — not more — is the safer path.

Chris V.

Common Sense Laws For Families

For parents it’s easier said than done. As a mother of two sons, 14 and 12, I constantly struggle to keep a lid on their social media and enforce limits on phone usage in general. The sooner Congress or federal regulators develop safety standards for social media platforms, the better.