What Illinois Parents Need to Know About New Bills Aiming to Protect Kids from Online Dangers

New bills have been proposed in the Illinois House and Senate that would require cell phone and device manufacturers to collect birthdates to help block minors from accessing adult content online.

How Young is Too Young for a Cell Phone?

The day I have been dreading for years finally came to my house a few months ago...my oldest daughter got her first cell phone.

My husband and I have always said we would not get our children their own cell phone until they were at least 13, but then our first daughter started middle school, got involved with a lot of school activities and sports,  and that plan quickly erupted into flames.

As our daughter began staying after school more, my husband and I begrudgingly admitted she needed a cell phone to contact us, and now she is different kid.

I don't mean all bad things when I say she's a different kid. She's more independent and social, BUT she's ALWAYS on the phone and her sass factor has kicked up several notches. (she thinks she's pretty cool now).

Besides getting used to behavior changes, my husband and I have had to take on new watchdog roles as well. We keep a close eye on her internet behavior and we are very open about the fact we check her messages, online searches, apps, etc. often.

Unleashing your young child into an often brutal and dangerous online world is scary for a parent, but these new bills proposed in Illinois may help.

Illinois' 'Digital Age Assurance Act'

Since legalese is not my cup of tea, I'm going to try to explain this new Digital Age Assurance Act proposed in both the Illinois Senate and House the easiest way I can.

According to an article from mystateline.com;

The bills would require device manufacturers to either determine or estimate the age of the phone’s primary user and would then provide that information to age-restricted websites with a digital signal, automatically blocking the user’s access if they are under the age of 18.

To me, any legislation protecting what children are exposed to online seems to be a good thing, but some groups like Planned Parenthood and Equality Illinois disagree. These groups fear that limiting what information Illinois children can access online (like health, sexual orientation, identity)  could be harmful to them as they navigate life changes.

I'm not sure sure how I feel about these fears, but I do know that if these proposed bills will help me protect my kids from online predators and info they're not yet ready to handle, it's well worth considering.