by Linda Schauer, Concerned Women of America

It’s no secret that we are living in the digital age, with more at the tips of our fingers than ever before. This has had both positive and negative impacts on our society and, more importantly, our children. While children have been able to learn, create, and stay in touch with friends online, there have also been some serious concerns about their safety in the unregulated digital world.

These safety concerns have started to be raised all across the United States with parents calling on lawmakers to find a solution. Parents here in South Dakota are no different and understand the importance of finding a solution to this growing issue now.

Across the country, 95% of teens use or have access to smartphones. This has led to our nation’s youth being only a few clicks away from being exposed to graphic and non-age-appropriate material. The access to this type of material can cause children both mental and physical harm. Currently, app store owners do not hold any of the responsibility for the content that our children, and they are actively threatening lawmakers with lawsuits to kill any legislation that would require them to care about protecting children who use their devices.

Companies like Apple and Google create the devices these teens use and then regulate the app stores through which our children access online platforms. It’s only common sense that, if they are the promoters and gatekeepers for our children to get online, they take the necessary steps to help protect our children from inappropriate content. That is why Concerned Women for America of South Dakota believes it is time to enact legislation that will require age verification at the app store level.

The development would require app stores to receive parental approval prior to allowing any apps to be downloaded or purchased by children under 16 years old. Along with these precautions, parents should receive a comprehensive summary of what services will be provided so they can fully understand what their children are downloading on devices and are able to make well-informed decisions. Time after time, we have seen these app store companies deflect blame while failing to protect children. It is time we put parents in the driver’s seat and give them the tools they need to monitor and approve what their children can do online more easily.

Requiring parental consent on these platforms is already widely supported by parents on both sides of the political spectrum. A Pew Research Center poll found that 81% of U.S. adults support social media companies requiring parental consent for minors. Additionally, earlier this year the Bipartisan Policy Center, established by former South Dakota U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, held an open dialogue discussion on social media and our youth in Sioux Falls. The bipartisan panel, which featured Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken (Republican), former Florida U.S. Congresswoman Val Demings (Democrat), and others, concluded that we need to take action to protect kids’ mental health from social media.

Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the fate of our children is on the line. We must act now. App stores are uniquely positioned to most effectively implement age verification and stop our nation’s youth from harmful and non-age-appropriate content. Adding these age verification requirements is a commonsense solution that will move the ball forward in this regard. South Dakota parents should support legislation that empowers us to do what we do best – protect our children.

[First published by South Dakota War College.]