More than ever, Washington families need a safe internet to visit

Re: “Who’s watching kids? Online COVID creeps,” (TNT editorial, 6/20).

As a former teacher, administrator and Washington State superintendent of public instruction, it has been amazing to watch my fellow educators, parents and kids turn to technology.

All of us have had to adjust to a new reality, and technology is helping us learn, stay connected and entertained during these times.

My three granddaughters who are teachers grapple daily with the challenges of teaching fifth grade, middle school literature, and elementary band and music online.

Navigating the digital landscape as a household unit is now the norm, as opposed to the exception.

Nearly half of American children spend more than six hours a day in front of a screen – a shocking 500 percent increase in usage prior to COVID-19, according to a survey of 3,000 parents conducted by the advocacy group ParentsTogether.

With expanded use comes greater responsibility for social media platforms to provide users with clear online protections that enhance digital wellness.

This is why I am encouraged to see leading platforms like TikTok partnering with the likes of the National PTA, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Family Online Safety Institute and ConnectSafely to empower families with digital-wellness resources and tangible privacy protection for younger users.

As platforms rise in popularity, the incorporation of safety policies, controls and education resources should be required in order to help all users understand how to best use them.

For example, a new TikTok feature, called family pairing, allows parents to link accounts to their teen’s and set controls, including screen-time management. A restricted mode limits the appearance of content that may not be appropriate for all ages.

In addition, the app has extended those protections even further, by disabling direct messages on registered accounts for users under 16.

This type of action should be recognized and duplicated. Parents and children need access to an array of tools to create, connect and engage with one another, while also protecting digital communities from bad actors who might seek to do harm.

Other popular social media apps, such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, also have features to safeguard children’s personal information and digital experience. Collectively, these are steps in the right direction, and I urge parents to invest time in understanding what safeguards are available.

Social media apps and platforms should also commit to instituting a clear code of conduct to help parents and children understand what responsible community behavior looks like, how to identify and report content that may be in violation, and what it means to be positive digital community members.

This issue is more important than ever, given that we seem destined to have technology take on an increasingly significant role as we move to a “new normal.”

Judith Billings of Puyallup served two terms as Washington’s elected superintendent of public instruction, from 1989 through 1996.