On the evening of November 8th, I watched the bulk of the Republican debate with my daughter, and she continued to question the attacks against TikTok. She specifically kept asking why they were repeatedly bringing up kids. I explained to her that it’s a go-to tactic of politicians. It also brought to mind a few things –

1. Whenever I give talks to parents and others about kids and tech, especially when it comes to cell phones, I always ask 2 simple questions – Who bought it? WHO pays the monthly bill? As such, when we as PARENTS decided to buy each of our children cell phones they were informed that these phones are OURS that we are letting them use. When they are old enough to afford their own phones and cell phone bills they are more than welcome to do so.

2. When we as PARENTS allow them to have social media accounts (our oldest son has never really been interested in it, by the way) we are to be given the login information. We don’t stalk them. Don’t really interact with them on social media. However, we do random check-ins.

Long story short, instead of chatter about banning TikTok or any social media platform “to save our children”, why not FIRST be parents? You can set these and other simple ground rules from the beginning. Don’t just hand your children powerful devices without rules and guidance. Would you hand your children keys to your car without first teaching them how to drive – specifically warning them about the dangers, laws, and regulations? So why simply hand them a powerful computer system and let them “figure it out” on their own?

We can sit back and blame and demonize social media, and everything else online. But we must first ask ourselves, who has given them the tools to get there?

Political bans on things can’t replace parenting.