UNITED STATES - JULY 20: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., speaks during the news conference in the Capitol on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, to announce legislation which would require the president to consult with congressional leaders and obtain congressional authorization before exercising certain national security powers. (Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Parents are essential to good parental outcomes. It’s unfortunate that the obvious must be stated, but sometimes it must be. Particularly right now.

As you read this, Rep. John James (R-MI) is pushing the “App Store Accountability Act” through Congress. Among other things, the legislation would hold digital app stores (think those operated by Google and Apple) to the same standard as physical stores whereby they would be required to verify the ages of minors before they download certain apps.

Seemingly adding heft to James’s legislation (Sen. Mike Lee is pushing an identical bill through the U.S. Senate) is that Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, supports it as an aid to parents. If Apple and Google are required to essentially “check ID” by law, overwhelmed parents will have one less thing to worry about. The thinking is mistaken. Dangerously so.

To see why, contemplate what’s presently happening with GLP-1 prescription medications for weight loss. While the age limit for purchases of the drugs is 18, the Washington Post recently reported that younger teens are predictably working around the age limits. As described in the Post, with acquiring the prescription drug their goal, teens “went online and lied about their age and weight to gain access.” Which is precisely the point critics of App Store Accountability Act legislation (both in states and nationally) have made all along.

While politicians can write all sorts of legislation meant to keep kids off smartphones and away from apps, games, and content not appropriate for them, merely writing a law is not the same as abolishing a market. The reality is that young people want to be on smartphones, and they’ll want to access all manner of apps, games and content regardless of the law.

It speaks to the genius of what both Apple and Google have done. Fully cognizant of how expansive smartphone desires are of minors relative to what their parents desire, the two corporations have armed parents with all sorts of ways to police what their kids see and do while on their smartphones.

If minors want to add any app, their parents are notified first. After which, they can only add the app after their parents have vetted the app and have given permission. If minors are sent nude or otherwise prurient photos, the images are blurred. If they choose to send nude or otherwise prurient photos, the images are blurred.

Considering screen time in total, parents have total control. Not only are parents empowered to control quantity of screen time, they also have oversight of the kinds of screens young people can see throughout the day. Which means their smartphone usage is truncated during the school day, during homework hours, and then it can be shut off altogether at night so that parents can sleep knowing their kids aren’t awake scrolling their smartphones.

Google and Apple are making it easier for parents to be parents not by relying on legislation meant to ease the burden of parenting, but by arming parents with enhanced oversight so that they can be better, more effective parents at all times. Which is a total contrast to so-called “App Store Accountability” legislation. By freeing parents of essential oversight, the legislation encourages kids to work around the law. See GLP-1 purchases yet again.

The law cannot replace parents. Here’s hoping App Store Accountability legislation fails with this crucial, pro-parent and child truth well in mind.