Why big tech needs to let children be children
I have been working in the field of child protection for over 20 years and am passionate about what I do, but I admit to feeling demoralised with the ongoing debate concerning protecting children from harm online, writes Sara Hedger, former vice president – Safeguarding & Child Protection, GEMS Education, independent consultant, educational safeguarding specialist, leadership coach, lifelong learner and yogi.
It’s a universal, global issue affecting us all yet it feels as if we are no further forward than we were when we started. I unashamedly ask of us all today ‘is this the best we can do?’ Tech companies, politicians, governments, regulators, is this the best we can do for our children?
The road is paved with good intentions…never a truer word…we can talk a good game and say the right things; the indignant outrage is palpable when children are harmed online but what action has actually been taken and what’s been the impact?
Victim blaming children and parents because they are on their devices ‘too much’ (how much is that?) is not helpful. Of course, they are, they are children and you created platforms designed to increase and maintain engagement and then blame them because they are heavily engaged?
Time for big tech to listen
If we really want to change behaviours we need to understand, and we can only do that by talking to children and even more importantly, LISTENING. What worries them? What makes them happy and what need is social media fulfilling for them? How do children make meaningful connections but stay safe at the same time? Only then can we truly think about making an impact.
I was pleased to see the NSPCC, one of the foremost child protection charities in the UK, wade into the debate, calling for the government to do exactly this.
Creating a powerful champion to represent children so that they are, and remain, at the centre of all decision making. Researching the risks and communicating these with the regulators and tech companies on behalf of children could be powerful and if done right, could stop the voices of the tech companies being as loud as they currently are, to the detriment of others with a stake in this.
The big tech companies need us…we are the users that buy their advertising and use their platforms. So why don’t they listen? Because they don’t have to.
What gets measured gets done…what if the profits of a company were linked, not to how many users on their platform and how much money they generated but how well it looked after its most vulnerable users.
Industry standards linked to wellbeing and welfare of its most vulnerable cohort…wouldn’t that be interesting? How many companies would flourish and thrive? However, rather than demonising and cutting tech companies out of the solution, they have to be a part of it.
The road is paved with good intentions…we can talk a good game and say the right things, the indignant outrage is palpable when children are harmed online but what action has actually been taken and what’s been the impact?
Children only get one chance to be a child, let’s value and protect that.
