Digital Safeguarding

In the past 3 months, multiple nations have taken steps to ban social media for children under the age of 16. It began with Australia in December of 2025. These bans are a result of increasing research on the negative impacts of social media on young users. Books like The Anxious Generation and Stolen Focus are shining a light on how social media and other, associated technologies are shaping the minds of those who use them.

Limiting social media outside of the classroom has not limited the access that children have to technology that could potentially damage their minds in other ways. Many educational tools and websites are using Artificial Intelligence unnoticed by passive users. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence around the world, it is important for Christian educators to think about the way that God designed us. The students who sit in your classrooms are looking to you for their education. We often look at the direct harm people can cause children, but it is not often we talk about how our changing technologies can harm their minds.

Educators normally want to simplify the learning process for both students and teachers. Technology has created a way for us to access information at speeds that were impossible 30 years ago. We rely on search engines, AI summaries, and other tools to accomplish tasks efficiently. But perhaps we are missing the emerging research showing that AI and other applications are decreasing the neural pathways that promote learning. In the USA, students as young as four are using computers for learning, as well as to track their progress. This style of learning loses the value of each written word creating neural pathways to promote memory, as well as fine motor skills and creativity.

Dependance on technology removes our dependence on Christ. In Genesis 3, God gave humanity charge over the earth, a task that necessitates the body and mind working together. Science repeatedly shows that mental health and learning benefit when we are educated in a manner suited to the way God designed us. He created us to be in a community, to learn from one another, and to physically engage with our whole bodies. These are things that technology, when used incorrectly, can steal from us.

As social media, educational apps, and AI tools continue to grow in use and popularity around the world, we must carefully consider the role they play in the lives of the children entrusted to us. Christian educators and parents are called not only to prepare students academically, but also to guide them toward ways of learning and living that reflect God’s design for human flourishing. 2 Corinthians 5:10 encourages us to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” We can only help children do this when we intentionally limit their device use, encourage deeper thinking and embodied learning, and remind them that wisdom, understanding, and true growth ultimately come not from technology, but from God. Are the tools we are using, and the time we spend on them, truly promoting the long-term wellbeing of children?

Sources:

Education Week: Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes with Big Downsides for Students

Futurism: Researchers Scanned the Brains of ChatGPT Users and Found Something Deeply Alarming

National University: The Negative Effects of Technology on Children

NPR: Why Writing by Hand Beats Typing for Thinking and Learning

NPR: The Risks of AI in Schools Outweigh the Benefits, Report Says