Does anyone really believe that when Steve Jobs created the iPhone, he intended for them to be used the way they are being used today?

Did Jobs want 10-year-old kids (and younger) having such easy access to the internet and everything on it?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a tech guy. I understand it and use it more than most.

But our kids should simply not have this kind of access.

Should our kids be able to see the horrors of war, assassination attempts, and other deeply concerning things online when their brains are not yet fully developed?

Of course not.

And I know Steve Jobs did not intend for things to go this way.

But, as the saying goes, give an inch and they will take a mile.

As parents, it is our job to build and help create good people. Not just our own little people, but those around us too.

It takes a village, after all.

So, why do so many young kids have access? Have devices? Have Instagram accounts and TikTok – completely unmonitored and unregulated in many cases?!

I think the answer is fairly simple: LAZY PARENTS and lazy people.

Remember when you had to get up off the sofa to change the channel on the TV? Or when you had to get up to answer the phone? Those pesky cords! We stretched them as far as they’d go!

How about when there was no text messaging? You actually had to speak to someone and with actual words!

Responses were not LOL or SYL or any of the other ridiculous forms of communication we have somehow allowed into our lives. People actually spoke and typed full words (or wrote them in cursive!).

ENOUGH already!

We see what is happening in today’s society when people are so lazy.

Kids are out of control. Over-medicated. They are anxious and become even more anxious adults. Cyberbullying and shaming. Taking their own lives before they should be old enough to have real problems.

What is scary to a father of two little kids is that this may just be the beginning.

My kids do not have smart phones, Apple watches, or iPads. The only computer they have (as of now) is a loaned-out school computer.

Someone asked me the other day, “Aren’t you afraid that they will fall behind in high school and college?”

I am more afraid of them attempting suicide, developing addiction habits, or just not being able to look someone in the eyes and have a real conversation!

The time is now to make a change.

We must take this back from our kids FOR our kids. For their future. We must take this back for society.

We still have time. But the clock is ticking.

Will you make the change?

-J.D.