With scandals plaguing many of Alabama's beloved institutions, such as libraries, schools and Huntsville's Space Camp, parents are perhaps more cautious than ever about what their children are exposed to. However, Chris McKenna, the founder of Protect Young Eyes, said the smartphones many kids carry in their pockets also put children at undue risk of exposure.
That's why he helped draft House Bill 167, which would require phones, tablets and other technologies sold in Alabama to come standard with content filters for kids enabled as the default. Most phones already come with these filters. However, they must be manually turned on by the customer and are often difficult to find.
He joined 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson on last week's episode of "1819 News: The Podcast" to explain the bill and how parents can use technology more wisely.
"If you try to set up an iPhone for your seventh or eighth-grade son or daughter, you have to hunt for protection 30 steps deep," he said. "...The device protection bill that we've coauthored with the National Center on Sexual Exploitations says that's wrong. It should be the other way around. Default protection, that should be automatic."
As a former leader of a large junior high ministry and someone who had his own struggles with pornography, he said he was "terrified" seeing so many children and teens having smartphones with easy and near-unlimited access to graphic content.
In addition to running a website, protectyoungeyes.com, McKenna said he gives close to 400 presentations each year "all over the world" at schools, churches and other events to educate them on how to have a "tech-ready" home that protects their children to the worst of what the internet has to offer.
"We want to fill that gap between intentional families who have technology but are stuck using technologies that were not designed for their children. That's where we live today," he said. "I wish that wasn't necessary. I wish the devices were intuitive enough that they were designed with young people in mind that my website was unnecessary, but we simply don't live in that world."
Rather than try to ban the graphic content, which some opponents have argued violates the 1st Amendment, McKenna said his proposed bill would put the onus on the manufacturers to switch on a feature that already exists on their product.
To connect with the story's author or comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com or find him on X and Facebook.
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