TERRY SCHILLING: Why Are Apple And Google Insisting On Letting Adults Pair With Kids On Dating Apps?

One of the hallmarks of adulthood is the hard-learned lesson that actions matter more than words. Promises and platitudes can seem powerful, and are often momentarily comforting, but they mean exactly nothing if the individuals and entities making them continually fail to deliver. That’s just one reason why so many consumers may lose faith in both Apple and Google’s commitment to their children’s safety. Why? Because both app stores are knowingly allowing kids to download dating apps for adults.

Admittedly, no parent should cede their child’s safety to a stranger, and certainly not to profit-motivated corporations with the well-demonstrated ability to dominate the attention of kids, stimulate their adrenal glands, and influence their discretionary spending. A child’s safety, growth, and happiness are a parent’s responsibility, and so, too, is the money you entrust them to spend. Your kids. Your choice. Your money.

In the real world, however, parents are busy and burdened, threats to children’s safety and wellbeing abound, and there is never enough time. Short of trashing their phones, tablets and computers – and yes, it is tempting – and segregating them from every one of their similarly tech-saturated classmates and friends, there isn’t really that much you can do.  So, you do what you can, and that generally means polling friends and doing internet research. And, yes, it means largely ceding your child’s online safety to corporations run by strangers.

On claims and confidence, Apple and Google would surely share the blue ribbon.  If you were to grade either company on the sheer volume, breadth, and frequency of their boasts about just how much they “care” about your children and their online safety, you might feel pretty comfortable. Or, if you judged them solely on the veritable fortunes they spend annually to convince you and others that they have children’s welfare in the forefront, then you might feel confident and encouraged.