Game developers: Parents not to blame on child online security

MANILA, Philippines — The Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) on Tuesday said parents should not be blamed for concerns over children’s online safety, but stressed the need for better information on existing parental controls.

During the Senate committee on women and children hearing, GDAP President Ria Lu discussed the issue in connection with the school shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

She stressed that many parents may be unaware of the safety features already available on devices and online platforms, making information campaigns an important area where lawmakers could help.

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READ: ‘Parents responsible for protecting kids online, not just government’

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Sen. Risa Hontiveros, head of the Senate committee, asked stakeholders how to better protect children from online risks.

Lu cited instances where responsible parents may still unknowingly expose their children to inappropriate content by allowing them to use a parent’s phone, which may not have parental controls or restrictions.

“Since there are suggestions [on their phones] and these suggestions are not for the kids, it’s for the parent, lumalabas yung mga content that they do not, or should not see,” Lu explained.

The lack of awareness, however, should not be viewed as a failure on the part of parents, Lu said. Many parents simply may not know what safety features are available or how to activate them on the devices and platforms their children use.

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“I don’t blame parents for that kasi hindi naman natin naiisip yun. We don’t realize that,” she continued.

(I don’t blame parents for that because we don’t think about it. We don’t realize that.)

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Educating parents about these tools should be among the first steps in addressing children’s online safety, Lu noted.

READ: DepEd reminds schools to impose gadget use ban during class hours

She said the rapid development of technology means parents need to continuously learn how new platforms and devices work. This does not require them to become programmers or technology experts, but they should know how to use the safety features available to them.

Beyond parental awareness, Lu also proposed incorporating digital literacy into elementary and high school education so children can learn how to navigate online spaces safely.

“Implement classes or subjects inside elementary and high school on how to navigate in the digital world, because one of the weird things that we have right now is we just assume that our children know how to deal with themselves in the digital world,” Lu said.

Children should instead be taught to become responsible “digital citizens” who know how to protect themselves from bad actors and avoid becoming harmful actors themselves, she said.

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Lu urged lawmakers and stakeholders to focus on both sides of digital safety, equipping parents with knowledge about existing controls while teaching children how to responsibly navigate the digital world. Rendell Ivan Manuel, INQUIRER.net trainee /jpv