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Opinion | Parents should decide who has access to their children
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Parents today face a challenge that didn’t exist a generation ago.
We want our children to be able to reach us at any time. We want them to call if they need help, tell us when plans change and know that we are always available.
Yet the same device that gives children immediate access to their parents also gives countless others access to them. For many families, it has become increasingly harder to know who is influencing their children and in what way.
Today, a child carries countless influences in their pocket. Through apps, social media platforms, games and direct messaging, strangers can reach children instantly. Algorithms influence what they see and consume every day. Often, parents have little idea it is happening.
As a member of Michigan’s State Board of Education, I have long advocated for the principle that parents are the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives. Parents know their children best. Parents bear responsibility for their children’s well-being. And parents — not institutions, corporations, or the government — should have the first and most important voice in major decisions affecting their children.
That principle should not stop at the school door.
For years, debates over education have centered on curriculum transparency, parental notification, school choice and student well-being. They all point back to the same foundational question: who is ultimately responsible for raising children?
The answer is parents.
Yet in the digital world, we have created a system that often sidelines them. Data from Gallup shows that children spend an average of 4.8 hours per day on social media and a University of Michigan-led study concluded they move between dozens of apps each week. Nearly half of American teens report being online “almost constantly.” A child can download an app, create an account, agree to terms they do not understand and communicate with strangers all before a parent ever knows it happened. Even the most engaged parents cannot realistically monitor every platform, update and interaction that reaches their children.
Meanwhile, reports of online enticement, exploitation and even human trafficking continue to rise. Tragedies like the death of a teen in my hometown of Marquette remind us that the consequences of online exploitation are not theoretical. Parents increasingly find themselves competing with online forces that they have little control over.
That should concern all of us, regardless of political party or philosophy.
Parents deserve a meaningful role in deciding how and when children access digital platforms. If we believe parents should remain the primary authority in their children’s lives, then our policies should reflect that principle.
One solution, the App Store Accountability Act, is built around that simple idea. It would require parental consent before minors download apps and set clearer standards around age verification and app store age ratings. Congress should pass it. If Washington fails to act, then Michigan should.
Technology has a role in our children’s lives. It opens the doors to learning, creativity and opportunity. It keeps us connected to our children when they’re out of our home. But parents should retain meaningful authority over how their children engage with it.
Technology will continue to evolve. But the fundamental relationship between parent and child should not.
Parents want to be the authority over who has access to their kids, when and how. They deserve the tools to exercise that responsibly, not only in schools, but in the digital places where so much of childhood now unfolds.
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