Across the Political Divide, Parents Sound the Alarm on Kids’ Online Safety
Across the Political Divide, Parents Sound the Alarm on Kids' Online Safety
Why This Matters for Your Community
- For Parents: You are not alone in your concerns. Data showing overwhelming consensus across political lines
- For Schools: Evidence supporting phone-free policies that most parents actually want
- For Policy Makers: Rare bipartisan issue where Americans agree on the need for action
- For Tech Companies: Clear signal that parents want better protections for kids online
- For Communities: A unifying issue that can bring people together across differences
If you are looking for what divides Americans, you will not find it in conversations about kids and smartphones. From liberal to conservative, from urban to rural, parents across the country share the same worry: technology is harming our children.
What Parents Agree On
- 84% of parents worry about the mental health impact of social media on kids
- 78% support phone-free policies in schools
- 91% believe tech companies should do more to protect children online
- Parents across all political groups report similar concerns about screen time and addiction
More in Common's latest research reveals something remarkable in our divided times: when it comes to protecting kids online, Americans are speaking with one voice. This consensus crosses every demographic and political line you can draw.
The Crisis Parents Are Witnessing
Parents are not just worried in the abstract. They are watching their children struggle in real time:
Mental Health Decline: Rates of anxiety and depression among teens have skyrocketed since smartphones became common. Parents see their kids comparing themselves to impossible standards on Instagram, getting caught in doom-scrolling cycles on TikTok, and losing sleep to late-night phone use.
Addiction Patterns: Many parents describe their children's relationship with phones as addictive. Kids check notifications compulsively, feel anxious when separated from devices, and struggle to focus on homework or family time.
Social Development Concerns: Parents worry that screen time is replacing face-to-face interaction. Kids who once played outside now sit side-by-side scrolling their phones. Social skills that used to develop naturally now require intentional cultivation.
Safety Threats: From cyberbullying to predatory behavior to exposure to harmful content, parents face new dangers their own parents never had to consider. The online world offers anonymity to bad actors and reaches directly into kids' bedrooms.
The Surgeon General has warned that social media poses a "profound risk" to young people's mental health. Youth suicide rates, self-harm, and eating disorders have all increased alongside smartphone adoption. Parents are watching a generation struggle, and they want action.
Where Politics Does Not Matter
In focus groups and surveys across the political spectrum, More in Common found the same themes emerging:
Conservative Parents Say: "I'm worried about what my kids are exposed to online. There's content that contradicts our family values, and I can't monitor everything they see. Tech companies need to do better at protecting children."
Liberal Parents Say: "The algorithms are designed to be addictive. My daughter spends hours comparing herself to edited photos. It is hurting her self-esteem and mental health. Something needs to change."
Moderate Parents Say: "We're trying to set limits, but it is hard when every other kid has unlimited access. We need schools and communities to work together on this. Kids need protection from predatory design."
The language may differ slightly, but the underlying concern is identical: children are being harmed by current technology practices, and parents feel powerless to stop it alone.
Phone-Free Schools: A Solution Parents Want
One of the clearest areas of agreement is support for phone-free school policies. Nearly 8 in 10 parents support schools requiring students to put phones away during the school day.
Why Parents Support Phone-Free Schools
- Improved focus and academic performance
- Reduced cyberbullying and social drama during school hours
- More face-to-face interaction between students
- Easier for individual families to enforce limits
- Creates a level playing field where no kid has social media access
Schools that have implemented phone-free policies report positive results. Teachers describe students who are more engaged, classrooms with fewer distractions, and lunchrooms where kids actually talk to each other. Parents appreciate not fighting individual battles when the school creates a phone-free environment.
What Tech Companies Can Do
Parents are nearly unanimous that technology companies bear responsibility for protecting children. Across political lines, 91% believe tech companies should do more.
Specific changes parents want to see:
- Age Verification: Real systems to keep young children off platforms designed for adults
- Algorithm Changes: Stop recommending harmful content to vulnerable young users
- Parental Controls: Better tools that actually work to help parents monitor and limit usage
- Addiction Features Removed: Take out the infinite scroll, the auto-play, the notification tricks designed to keep kids hooked
- Transparency: Let parents and researchers understand what kids are seeing and how it affects them
Many tech platforms profit from engagement and attention. Features are specifically designed to maximize time on screen, even when that time harms young users. Parents understand this conflict of interest and want regulation to protect children from predatory design.
What Parents Can Do Now
While waiting for policy changes and tech company reforms, parents can take action in their own communities:
Connect With Other Parents: The hardest part of limiting kids' screen time is feeling alone. When you connect with other families who share your concerns, you can create phone-free zones at gatherings, coordinate policies, and support each other.
Talk to Your School: Many schools are considering phone policies but want to know parents support them. Attend meetings, join committees, and advocate for phone-free learning environments.
Delay Smartphones: Growing movements like "Wait Until 8th" encourage families to delay smartphones until at least 8th grade. When multiple families commit together, kids do not feel left out.
Create Device-Free Spaces: Set up phone-free zones and times in your home. Family dinners, bedrooms at night, and the first hour after school can be screen-free.
Model Healthy Use: Kids watch what we do. When parents are glued to their own phones, it sends a message. Show kids what balanced technology use looks like.
Advocate for Policy Change: Contact your representatives. Support legislation that holds tech companies accountable for protecting children. This is an issue where bipartisan progress is actually possible.
A Rare Moment of Unity
In a country that seems divided on everything, parents concern for children's online safety stands out as a unifying force. This is not a manufactured consensus—it emerges from lived experience across every community in America.
Liberal parents and conservative parents do not agree on much these days. But they agree that children deserve protection from harmful online content. They agree that tech companies prioritize profits over child wellbeing. They agree that schools should be phone-free zones. And they agree that something must change.
This shared concern offers a rare opportunity. When people from different backgrounds find common ground, real change becomes possible. The question is whether we will seize this moment to protect a generation of children growing up in an unprecedented digital environment.
We are running an uncontrolled experiment on our children. Never before has a generation grown up with such constant access to addictive technology designed by the smartest behavioral psychologists in the world. We are seeing the results in rising mental health crises, fractured attention spans, and kids who struggle with face-to-face connection. Parents know something is wrong. The research confirms their instincts. Now we need action.
Moving Forward Together
More in Common's research reveals not just a problem, but a path forward. When parents from across the political spectrum agree, elected officials can act without fear. When communities unite around children's wellbeing, schools can implement policies with confidence. When consumers demand change, companies eventually listen.
The conversation about kids and technology does not have to be another culture war battle. It can be what it actually is: parents from all backgrounds wanting the best for their children. That shared concern offers hope in divided times.
If we can come together on this—if we can set aside our other differences to protect children from known harms—we demonstrate that cooperation across divides remains possible. We prove that Americans can still unite around shared values when it matters most.
Our children are watching to see if we will act. The question is not whether we know what needs to be done. Parents across the country are remarkably clear about that. The question is whether we have the will to do it.
Learn More and Take Action
Read the full research and discover how parents in your community can work together to protect kids online.
READ THE RESEARCH