Why do good students fall prey to pornography? How do you feel when you receive 100 likes on Instagram? Why are students…ok, the majority of users addicted to their smartphone? In this episode, we discuss how porn, tech, and social media companies are preying on the neurological development of students’ brains to hold our attention longer and to get us addicted. We are simply their guinea pigs. Hosts Jeff Eckart and Jayson Brewer interview Chris McKenna of protectyoungeyes.com on ways we, as youth leaders and parents, need to be aware of what is happening in our students’ brains when we put digital devices in their hands at a young age, as well as, the potential downfalls that are simply one click away.
Chris McKenna, Founder of Protect Young Eyes: After a 12-year career in business advising with Ernst & Young, and six years in middle school ministry, Chris is now the Educational Resource Manager for Covenant Eyes, an Internet Safety and Accountability Company. In 2015 he created www.protectyoungeyes.com as a way to equip and encourage parents and students towards responsible use of technology. He has a compelling story explaining why he so strongly desires to protect kids and teens from internet dangers. In a world where technology is native to our kids, Chris has done hundreds of hours of research in order to level the playing field for parents and to inform teens of the risks of using the internet recklessly.
Chris has taken on a huge opportunity that has allowed God to take his misery from an addictive period of time of consumption and turned it into a ministry for him.
The default thinking that every person should have should be that every app a kid uses has a doorway to the internet, a hidden Google search bar that we don’t know about.
Nine out of ten apps that are out there can access a Google search bar that will not obey many of the parental controls that are enabled on the device that will allow anyone to get to inappropriate content, including young kids and students. The Internet was made for access and everything that we are trying to do as youth leaders and parents is going against the purpose of the Internet, which is to provide information as quickly as possible to as many people as possible.
God has a better plan than how we use the gift of technology. Technology is a good thing if we use it for a good God-honoring way, but Satan wants to deceive us and draw our attention to the places absent of God and call it good. Technology can be a good thing if we can avoid the paths that take us away from the good thing.
The Internet allows consumption of inappropriate content on a number of different levels. It is different now than what was accessible in the past. The doorways are exponentially greater today than in the past and using technology is a constant risk assessment. It takes intentionality to use it in a good way.
Three Places we can Land when using Technology:
- One Side: Fear-Based Approach – This approach says “tech is horrible, it is evil” and we avoid it so we can protect our children completely. But that does not prepare students to use technology in the future.
- Other Side: Pressure-to-Culture Approach – On the other side we allow access to all kinds of technology without much discretion and then let our children figure it out on their own. This approach is not productive, as there are too many paths for students to find that does not help them or are beyond what they are ready to handle.
- Middle: Hard-Work Approach – This approach pushes against fear and the pressure of culture, and calls us to do the hard work in the middle. To be intentional in what is allowed in your child’s or student’s hand and to eliminate the excuses from doing the hard work so technology can be used well.
Four out of these Five Apps have doorways to hardcore pornography:
The Bible App
Pokémon GO
Pinterest
Weather Channel
Delta Airline
Which app does not allow users to gain access to hardcore porn?
If you guessed Pokémon GO, then you would be correct. The remaining 4 apps allow users access points to hardcore pornography. We must be aware that students can use these to gain access to things that we may not want them to have access to. Are we aware of these access points?
Two Suggestions for Parents:
- 7-Day Rule
Before allowing your child to use a new app, a parent should download and use the desired app for 7 straight days. What happens in those 7 days is that additional pop-up content will show up that would not after using it for only 7 minutes. Additional content could be revealed as the user plays or uses it because there is a progressive nature to apps that learns behaviors and how it is being used so it can show other things. - Rule of 15
Anybody under the age of 15 that wants to download and use a new app, then the above rule should be applied. Do the 7-day test and evaluate if your child is ready for all the different app environments they may experience to see if they are capable of handling it or are emotionally ready. Don’t just download it for your child and never use it.
What is the primary concern from parents?
The main concern from parents is their young child running into inappropriate content – pornography. Kids are especially vulnerable to porn because of the way their brains are wired. We need to protect kids from seeing pornography because there is a neurology in an 8-year-old with their mirror neurons that encourages them to practice whatever they see. That is why they learn so quickly. Whatever you model as an adult, they are going to try to act out what they see – through gross motor through their body or fine motor with spoken language. They are built that way, that is why they soak up and learn things so much faster than adults. That makes it so critical to protect them from pornography because when they see pornography it becomes something they want to do.
Which is why nationally and internationally there is an increase in the number of peer-to-peer sexual conduct cases with children. Not because they are bad children, but because they are simply seeing at the age of 8-10 years old, and then they are doing what they see. That is what their neurology is compelling them to do. Parents should protect their children but youth pastors should inform and equip parents with tools as well to protect their kids from early exposures.
Two Realities that all Kids Live in
One of the realities that all kids live in is the fact that where ever the kids are, the sexual predators are. So whatever app that attracts young children, that is where the predators are lingering as well. So it is very important to be aware of these dangers and to take precautions to avoid the dangers.
Even with the big main social apps – Instagram and Snapchat – there is no difference between the two, but parents think that Instagram is benign and innocent because “it’s just pictures,” but there are very few kids that are under 15 that can handle the risks of both Instagram and Snapchat. Hardcore porn is accessible through both within 5 clicks, as 15-second loops of hardcore porn that are similar to the regular videos found on the Instagram and Snapchat’s story stream. These are doorways that kids are not ready for. Are we aware of the risks?
Are we willing to get real and honest with our kids about these dangers? It is not a mandate to rip it out of their hands and eliminate it completely from their lives, but it is an encouragement to speak honestly and openly with them and to do the hard thing and be engaged in your child’s life with regards to technology usage.
The other reality that kids live in is that a 12-year-old boy does not have the tools to battle the temptation of online pornography like adults may have. All large porn companies that exist are owned by the seemingly benign company called MindGeek – which looks like a software gaming company, but they are the king of internet porn.
Just on Pornhub, the largest porn site, in 2016 alone there were 5,246 centuries of time in internet porn videos consumed if you add up the minutes. There were 92 billion videos watched for one year from one website.
Porn is the norm is a pretty comfortable statement to make with our technology. It is only one click away.
For parents who put a device in their children’s hand out of culture pressure, don’t let that motivation override the reality that the supercomputer that is in their hand is locked down to protect them.
What Resources will Parents find on protectyoungminds.com?
1. App Risk Section – A grid of apps that explain what the app is, how kids use it, how the app store rates it, what the risks are, and what the bottom line is for that particular app.
2. Devices Section – Parental controls for many of the devices that kids use: Mac, PC, Android, iPod, Kindle, Chromebook, Nintendo 3DS, Smart TVs, etc. This section helps parents be equipped, knowing that all these devices are ready to be connected to the internet.
What is happening neurologically in a young mind?
The way that media preys on the young developing minds is very different than the two-dimensional media that was consumed in past generations through magazines, print, etc. Technology is truly rewiring the brains of young people. Developmentally their brains are at a point where as an adolescent it is creating neurological pathways which are looking for ways to become an adult organ so it is vulnerable to change. The brain is going through a massive state of change. The change could be directed toward positive or negative depending on the stimuli that it is fed. Each of us was created to customize our brains based on our individual experiences.
That neurology is vulnerable to the way that technology directs it.
Brain Hacked
Here is the link to the 60 Minutes video “Brain Hacked” and the accompanying article.
The purpose of Snapstreaks is to prey on the neurology of kids. They want kids using the app and by kids using the app, the more they make money. The way to make more money is to have more kids using it. So they create anxiety in a child who is trying to avoid breaking the snapstreak which produces cortisol in the brain. That cortisol creates an anxiety that the brain wants to get rid of. The way to get rid of this cortisol in the brain is by checking the device and feeling better. They are preying on kids to keep them staying with the device as long as possible.
How do you feel when you post something on Instagram and you get 100 likes? Dopamine is released when you get those likes. The dopamine string is the same thing that is attached to pornography, the sexual stimulus path. The reason we go toward things and get hooked is because chemically the brain says “I like that.” There are components of social media whether it’s the anxiety I want to get rid of or the likes I get from feeling good. I’m drawn toward this and CEOs of social media companies know all of this.
Why do good kids get off the rails and get involved in bad stuff?
Unlike a lot of other environments where kids grow up, there are very few places other than driving and being on a smartphone where the difference between being in the exact right spot and the exact wrong spot is razor thin. When it comes to technology, the difference between awful and awesome is one click. So many good students can stumble into that one wrong click. There are some attributes of technology that tempt even good kids to go down the paths and fall off the rails.
Psychologist Al Cooper “Inappropriate online behavior is fueled by an AAA battery: Affordability, Accessibility, Anonymity.” These three attributes of inappropriate things that did not exist in the 70s.
If it was inappropriate…
Affordability – …it probably cost money. Not so anymore with the Internet.
Accessibility – …I probably couldn’t get to it. Before there was a barrier to gain access to inappropriate things, whether it was buying it at a store or going to a physical place, there was some human barrier. Not so anymore with the Internet.
Anonymity …I would be exposed to a shame-inducing barriers of human to human interaction. Therefore we begin to believe the two lies: That I am not hurting anyone and no one knows. With the Internet, these things cause good kids to make the wrong choice.
Three things to help as a Youth Leader to Parents:
Enlighten
Be honest with parents. If you are a middle school or high school pastor, you can’t avoid having the conversation on pornography. There is no such thing as passive parenting or passive pastoring in the digital age.
Equip
If you don’t direct them or answer their questions, then they will be answered by Dr. Google and his office hours are 24-7 and his morality is not as strong as our morality. If we want to shed gospel light into the secular space of technology, then we must be willing to enter into these conversations. Not just a one-time talk as a parent, but consistent and often.
Encourage
Encourage parents to be the primary disciplers of their children. Guide them to the pond when they are thirsty for information. Guide them to good resources (Common Sense Media & Protect Young Eyes) on how to protect their kids. It doesn’t mean we force them to drink, but we hope they will. Be their cheerleaders. “You can do this” type of encouragement.
What apps are good starting points when introducing young students to social media and into the digital world?
Students should learn how to use social media, but appropriately. We may ask the question, what is the right age to give my kids social media? …that is the wrong question to ask to determine whether a child is ready for social media. For more information, check out Chris’ blog post on the topic.
At the age of 12-13 start training them. Use either Pinterest or Facebook because most of the time apps themselves don’t have parental controls, but parents can control what goes on a browser like Safari. Show them what the app environment looks like and functions like without being in the app itself. We can train them to be comfortable in these ecosystems like Facebook and Pinterest through the browser, which looks very similar to the app. It operates very similar with likes function, etc. If a child can prove their trustworthiness in these ecosystems then they can earn app access. If they can learn what it feels like to have followers, ask how it makes them feel when there is something negative or if they like something. If they can emotionally handle it, then they graduate to the app. We don’t recommend starting a child off in the social media world with an app. If parents can’t control it, then parents can’t train it. Apps don’t provide those training grounds.
Final Thoughts
This may all seem overwhelming and we can be paralyzed and end up not doing anything. The encouragement is to simply pick one thing that you can do with this information.
[ictt-tweet-inline]The more students know the good that God provides, the more likely they will be repelled with the bad that the world offers.[/ictt-tweet-inline]
Teach on the good things of God and take the next step. There are very few things on earth today that are impacting the way that our kids are navigating relationships and life more than our technology. We cannot afford to be silent.
© 2017, Never The Same