Episode 121: Protecting Your Child from Danger in the Digital World—with Chris McKenna
Technology is moving faster and faster every day. As parents, one of our biggest responsibilities is to safeguard our children from the dangers of the digital world. But these days, it can often feel like technology is outpacing our efforts. Just when we think we have online safety figured out, another threat comes knocking at our door.
You may have even considered whether it’s best to simply block your child from technology altogether. However, it’s important to remember that our children are going to have access to technology eventually. As parents, we have a powerful opportunity to guide them in using it wisely—helping them benefit from its advantages while steering clear of pitfalls that could lead them down a dangerous path.
In recent years, we’ve found ourselves relearning how to navigate the digital landscape as we educate and protect our teenage son. Technology has changed so much since we raised our older children, and this season has required fresh awareness and intention. That’s why we’re thankful for organizations like Protect Young Eyes, which is dedicated to helping families create safer digital spaces. We’re so happy that its founder, Chris McKenna, could join us for today’s conversation.
In this episode, Chris shares:
- Tips and tools to help protect our kids
- Insights into the realities of AI and its effect on our kids’ development
- The importance of introducing the right tech at the right time
- And much more!
We hope you enjoy this conversation!
Links:
- “My Kid Has Seen Porn: Now What?” and other resources
- The Table: The Protect Young Eyes Community
- Bark Phones
- Gryphon Routers
- [BOOK] The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
- Connect with Chris on his website, Facebook, or Instagram
Our Takeaways:
1) There are no longer physical barriers that keep our children from harm. Back in our day, if we wanted to engage in risky behavior, it required us to literally go outside our homes. That just isn’t the case for today’s children. We recently discovered that an app we thought was safe for our child to use contained content that was not appropriate for him to access. It’s important to remember that any technology that is beneficial for our children can also come with the potential for harm. And all our kids have to do to access it is to pull their devices out of their pockets.
2) As parents, it’s important to protect our children in multiple ways. It likely doesn’t come as a surprise that we need to ensure our children are blocked from accessing pornographic, violent, or inappropriate content. But safeguarding our children in today’s world goes beyond merely blocking certain apps or sites. We need to be sure we take the time to explain why certain measures are necessary to protect them from harmful parts of the internet. We need to build strong relationships of trust and openness with our kids so they feel safe to come to us when they access something they shouldn’t have.
3) Promote literacy and education around technology. AI is a perfect example of a technology we need to teach our children how to utilize appropriately. At its worst, AI can prevent us from developing emotionally, discourage us from learning how to interact with other humans, and lure us into settling for convenient rather than real. However, if we can teach our children how to prompt AI rather than it prompting us, it can still be a useful tool.
Meet Our Guest
Chris McKenna is the founder of Protect Young Eyes, an organization dedicated to creating safer digital spaces for families. Chris is a former business consultant and youth minister. He founded Protect Young Eyes in 2015 out of personal and passionate concern for kids’ online safety. Chris now serves as an advocate, author, and advisor, using his experience to help parents, educators, and legislators navigate digital safety for the good of children worldwide.
