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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know News India Times (October 4, 2025 - October 10, 2025) October 10, 2025 4 Opinion 10Ways To Keep Children Safer And Happier Online I t’s not your fault if you feel outmatched raising chil- dren in a world of powerful and alluring technology. Technology companies for years promoted pa- rental controls and child safety features that are little used and don’t necessarily work. Silicon Valley insid- ers and litigation have raised allegations that companies knew their apps harmed kids. Teens can feel unhappy if they aren’t where their friends are online, but also un- happy if they are. But now there’s a growing movement of people work- ing to empower families and push technology compa- nies, schools and governments to help children be safer and happier online. To guide parents and citizens, I posed these ques- tions to 10 people from this diverse movement -parents, mental health researchers, advocates for children, public officials, industry insiders and policy specialists: -What’s one thing that families can do to improve their children’s safety and experiences online? -What’s one policy measure that can meaningfully improve children’s safety and experiences online? You’ll see that they don’t necessarily agree on tactics. The effects of technology are nuanced, and there are no magic fixes for the downsides. But they do agree that we need new approaches to prioritize children’s well-being in digital experiences. JEAN TWENGE, AUTHOR For families: Give kids basic phones instead of smart- phones until they are 16. Twenge mentioned basic phones from Gabb, Pinwheel and Troomi. Wirecutter also reviewed phones tailored to children. Washington Post technology writer Heather Kelly said that an AppleWatch - using the setting to restrict the device during the day - lets her 11-year-old call and text home but not much else. For policymakers: Twenge praised proposed social media age restrictions in some states. Florida’s measure, for example, would bar younger teens from having social media accounts. Twenge recently published “10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-TechWorld.” JIM STEYER, ADVOCATE FOR CHILD-SAFE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA For families: Have honest conversations with your chil- dren as young as elementary school about what digital media they use and what they like or don’t like about it. Steyer said that you want to build trust so kids can come to you with bigger questions or worries. (Kelly and the American Academy of Pediatrics have guides to fam- ily technology conversations.) For policymakers: “We blew it on social media to some extent. We don’t want to blow it on AI.” Steyer is focused on dueling California bills about conversational artificial intelligence chatbots. The gov- ernor signed one of the measures Monday. Steyer urged passage of the second bill that would allow AI chatbots to reach children only if the chatbots have demonstrated they will not encourage self-harm, drug use or other harmful behavior. Steyer founded Common Sense Media in 2003. RAÚL TORREZ, NEW MEXICO ATTORNEY GENERAL For families: “The safest choice is to keep children off social media altogether.” For policymakers: Torrez said that Congress should clarify a contentious law that’s a legal bedrock for digital sites and ensure that apps “are built with safety at the core.” (There’s at least one measure proposed in Congress, the Kids Online Safety Act, that would make social media companies responsible for designing their sites for chil- dren’s safety.) Torrez has sued Snap and Meta over allegations that their product designs harm children. Snap has said in court that key allegations are inaccurate and recently released an online safety training for teens and families. Meta has opposed the allegations in its case. LINDA CHARMARAMAN, ADOLESCENT WELL-BEING RESEARCH- ER For families: Asking children about their Snapchat “streaks,” online influencers they follow and discussions in group chats helps open a portal to “a world that is deeply central to their peer groups and to how well they might function in daily life.” Try not to punish children if you hear something distressing in those conversations, Charmaraman said, because you might close off future communications. Charmaraman is director of the Youth, Media &Well- being Research Lab at theWellesley Centers forWomen. EVAN GREER, DIGITAL RIGHTS ADVOCATE For families: “Kids are safer when we teach them to advocate for themselves,” Greer said. Parents can empower children by helping them think critically about what they’re watching and engaging with online; feel comfortable discussing difficult topics includ- ing bullying, sexual health and substance use; and learn digital privacy fundamentals, Greer said. For policymakers: Greer opposes many of the policy measures that other experts suggested here and said they’re counterproductive attempts to scrub bad stuff from the internet. “The most important things that lawmakers could do to protect kids online are policies that have nothing to do with the internet,” Greer said. “If every child in this country had a safe place to sleep at night, healthy food to eat, a mental health counselor in their school and access to affordable health care, there would be way fewer kids vulnerable to online harms.” Greer is director of Fight for the Future, which seeks protections for digital privacy, civil liberties and free expression. CASEY STEFANSKI, CHILD SAFETY ADVOCATE For families: Parents shouldn’t trust the age ratings on apps and instead do their own research to decide which apps are right for their kids. For policymakers: The App Store Accountability Act “rejects the false idea that parents just need to ‘do more,’ and instead places responsibility on the companies that profit while concealing the danger,” Stefanski said. The proposed federal bill - and similar measures in multiple states - would require Apple and Google to verify the ages of people using their smartphone app stores and require parental consent for teens to download apps. Google cited its support for different legislation and said that “protecting kids online is a shared responsibil- ity and no single company can solve this alone.” Apple has pushed a different age-verification approach that the company says is less intrusive. Stefanski is executive director of the Digital Childhood Alliance, a coalition of advocacy groups that back app store age verification measures. DAVID INSERRA, FREE EXPRESSION RESEARCHER For families: “Parents must take an active role in par- enting their children’s access to technology. What exactly this looks like will be different from child to child and family to family.” Inserra mentioned parental control features built into devices, such as Apple’s Screen Time, and software from companies such as Qustodio, Aura and Bark. (Twenge in a recentWashington Post Opinions guest column said that it’s too difficult to use many parental control technologies.) For policymakers: “If we merely try to shield children from harm without teaching them how to avoid and handle it themselves, then we have done a poor job pre- paring them for adulthood.” Similar to Greer, Inserra said many proposed child safety policies would harm free speech, privacy and secu- rity. He pointed instead to a legislative blueprint to teach digital literacy and get children discussing risks they may face online. Inserra is a fellow for free expression and technology at the Cato Institute, a research organization whose focus includes individual liberties and limited government. GRAHAM DUGONI, YONDR CEO For families: Set up phone-free spaces at home. “Part of the reason technology is so difficult to resist is that it becomes reflexive and habitual, Dugoni said. “Physical boundaries help disrupt those impulses and allow new healthier habits to emerge.” Research has backed keeping phones out of bedrooms and making the dinner table phone-free for adults and kids. Yondr makes locked pouches used by many school districts that restrict students’ phone use. SARAH GARDNER, CHILD SAFETY ADVOCATE For families: “As a parent, I feel my only choice is to delay giving my kids a smartphone and not allow them access to social media, which I believe are as addictive and harmful as cigarettes.” Gardner is CEO of Heat Initiative, which pushes tech- nology companies including Apple and Meta for stronger child safety measures. MAURINE MOLAK, ANTI-BULLYING ADVOCATE For families: “Hold out as long as they can before they get their kid a phone or allow them to have social media accounts.” Molak also said that it’s unfair to make parents choose “between isolating their kids and allowing them to go on unsafe platforms.” For policymakers: Molak supports the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a measure proposed in Congress that would make social media companies responsible for designing their sites for children’s safety. “These companies know how to create a safer product and this legislation would require that they do so, once and for all,” Molak said. (Some technology companies, including Apple, sup- port the bill while Meta and others oppose it.) Molak co-founded David’s Legacy Foundation and ParentsSOS, a group of families who link their children’s deaths to online harms. Shira Ovide writes The Washington Post’s The Tech Friend, a newsletter about making your technology into a force for good. She has been a technology journalist for more than a decade and wrote a tech newsletter at the New York Times. -TheWashington Post By Shira Ovide Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them.