Time To Get Tech-Savvy

“Can I play a game on your phone?”

If you have children, you’ve heard this question. Since the day that phones became capable of offering more than just calls or texts, they have become playgrounds. Many parents answer this request without much thought, handing over a device with a sigh of relief or a twinge of guilt.

Screens soothe. Screens distract. Screens buy us five minutes of quiet.

But the media world our children inhabit in 2025 is more complex than ever. In February, the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media, which is dedicated to educating the public on internet safety, released the Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight report, which presents a picture that every parent, grandparent, and caregiver needs to understand. This long-running research series examines how technology influences childhood, from the crib to the classroom.

Forty percent of children have a tablet by age 2. Nearly 1 in 4 children has a personal cellphone by the age of 8. Gaming has experienced a significant surge, rising by 65% in just four years. Traditional TV has given way to short-form video platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

Children are using screens at a younger age, more independently, and in a wider range of ways. The digital world our children enter is far broader, far faster, and far more unfiltered than any world we encountered at their age.

Is an internet filter enough?

That’s a fair question. In an interview with Jacob Valk, co-founder of Into the Light Ministries, I asked him the same thing many parents ask. If I install a filter, are we safe?

His answer was honest.

“Yes. Well… half yes.”

Filters, such as Covenant Eyes and Bark, work. Router-level filters do an enormous amount of heavy lifting. “Dumb” phones are brilliant tools for kids who need calls and texts but nothing else. You can build a tech-safe home. But technology can never replace parenting.

“It’s not if, but when,” Valk said.

Your children will encounter pornography. They will stumble onto something harmful, confusing, or explicit. The question is whether you have prepared them. When they see it, do they know what it is? Do they know they can come to you? Do they trust that you won’t scold or shame, but instead guide them?

This is where parents sometimes feel fear or regret. Many wish they’d started earlier. Some have older kids already swimming in the deep end of the digital pool. But Valk’s encouragement is simple: it’s never too late to begin. God honors parents who engage faithfully, even if imperfectly.

The most dangerous place on earth

If filters and monitoring sound extreme, consider the landscape kids navigate. According to the WorldMetrics 2025 Report:

Approximately 1 in 5 children receives an unwanted sexual solicitation online.
Nearly 60% of teens on social media have been contacted by strangers.
Almost half of teens have encountered inappropriate content.
Predators often begin grooming as early as age 10, spending an average of eight months building secret trust.
Nearly half of predators ask children not to tell their parents.
Reportedly, 1 in 4 teens has sent or received sexual images.

Combine that with the rising tide of short-form video, the culture of anonymity, and the emotional vulnerability that adolescence brings, and you have a perfect storm. The device that plays Minecraft at breakfast can introduce a child to a sexual predator by dinner.

Parents often assume they would know. But according to the same report, only one-third of teens tell their parents when a stranger contacts them online.

Parents have tools – but many aren’t using them

The Family Online Safety Institute released a study in May 2025 examining how parents and children manage online safety. The findings are encouraging in some ways and sobering in others.

Around half of parents use parental controls on tablets. Fewer do so on phones, laptops, TVs, or game consoles.

Interestingly, the study found that lower screen time strongly correlates with the presence of controls. In homes where limits are clear and consistent, parents are more likely to utilize the available tools. In homes where children spend more time online, controls are less likely to be installed.

But here’s the bright spot: 89% of kids say they feel comfortable talking to their parents when something online makes them feel unsafe. That means conversation is not secondary. It is central. Kids want guidance, clarity, and adults who understand the world they’re navigating.

Where do we go from here?

Parents need to understand the devices they allow their children to use. “I’m not tech-savvy” is not, and has never been, an excuse.

Screens are not neutral. If we hand our children devices without boundaries, we risk giving them unfiltered access to the entire world, including its darker corners.

So be vigilant. Learn the tools. Enable parental controls. Install filters. Set hard limitations for screen time and stick to them. Keep devices out of bedrooms. Insist that kids use screens in shared spaces. When possible, use family-wide solutions, such as filtered routers, so that protection occurs before harmful content reaches a device.

But above all, talk.

Teach your children, calmly and regularly, about online dangers in ways they can understand. Explain why keeping secrets is dangerous. Tell them what to do if they see something wrong. Assure them they can come to you without fear. Shape their understanding before the world shapes it for them.

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