What if I told you that I’d invented an apparatus that lets you access all of human knowledge in seconds using a device that you could fit in your pocket? You would pull out your cell phone, wave it around in front of my face and say, “You’re a little late, Bub! You’ve got to do better than that.” We have grown accustomed to the internet, the devices that access it, and the software that sifts through the mountains of data to give immediate results. Imagine I went back in time and told my great-grandparents about my device. They would doubt my sanity. Technology has moved forward so fast during my lifetime. It feels like there is a technological revolution every fifteen minutes.
The internet is a great achievement. The layers of services built on it are both improving and morphing everything about our lives. How we live, where we live, how we communicate, and how we view the world. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it. Many of these changes are positive. Still, it’s not all roses. Having access to all of human knowledge is a mixed bag that reminds me of those packages of jelly beans where some taste sweet and others taste like armpit.
Humans are capable of creating great works of all kinds. Art and science. Masterworks of literature, music, mathematics. Great machines and innovative medicines. BUT…and that a big but. Alongside the positive and uplifting is the foulest, most profane, absolutely disturbing, despicably violent, and completely raunchy products of the human mind. All are equally accessible through this wonder device. Humans are capable of great depravity. Their broken sinful nature gravitates toward evil. So, access to the internet is inherently dangerous.
I doubt I need to convince you of the need to protect your kids from the internet’s cesspool. Free access to some depravities can greatly harm your kids’ development. Pornography comes to mind here. A single exposure can alter the brains of boys going forward and lead to dangerous addictions. Cyberbullying can create distress because kids who live too much of their hours online can easily believe that it is more real and more significant than the real world. The illusions created on social media will shape how they think and live their lives. A virtual calamity becomes a real disaster. Free access to the internet opens your kids to an uncountable mob of bad actors trying to steal, corrupt, and influence. Kids are not ready to combat this alone.
Many parents do not install strict filtering on their home internet. It is an extra step. It is inconvenient. It sometimes blocks legitimate sites along with the dangerous. Perhaps they’re not drawn to “that garbage.” They assume their kids won’t be. Perhaps they ARE drawn to it and don’t wish to take a stand in that area, because of their habits online. I think most parents just want to ignore this problem.
They provide cell phones for their kids, because everyone has them, and give them access to everything, anywhere they go. The most popular excuse for this is, “I need to be able to call them. In case of emergencies.” This is a rationalization to make a fun device into a requirement for safety. The cell phone exposes a child to 100 times more dangers than it protects them from. This might shock you, but I don’t think kids should have cell phones. Certainly, not ones with a cellular connection, with which they can access the internet from unfiltered portals. Not until they are equipped to handle the responsibility. This, I understand, is heresy in our modern-day culture.
My “Ten Year Rule” is a good gauge for anything that requires discernment, problem-solving, or tough decision-making. If the culture says a child is ready for something, they probably need another ten years to handle it responsibly. The culture says, “Go ahead and give your eight-year-old a cell phone,” so I say “They’ll probably be ready for it by the time they turn eighteen.”
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