The Most Precious Real Estate - Some Personal Thoughts on Protecting Children's Minds

Stephen Alexander Beach 

(700 Words)

There is a growing awareness today of protecting children from sexual abuse and sex trafficking, which recent movies like the "Sound of Freedom" have brought into the public conversation. It seems to me, though, that at the same time, there is a glaring inconsistency staring people, and parents, of good-will in the face when it comes to protecting children. The inconsistency is that so much will be said about protecting children from physical sex abuse (and rightly so), but when it comes to protecting the minds of children we often become silent and fade into complacency. Maybe it is because when it comes to the mind there is no physical scar for mental pain and confusion. Whatever it is, parents are not taking seriously the sexual, emotional, psychological, and ideological abuse that passes from the internet into our children's minds through Iphones, Ipads, tablets, laptops, computers, TV, and so on. And yet ... is not the mind of a child the most precious real estate that exists in the world? 

Why do we let this holy sanctuary be raped and pillaged without a second thought? Infants and young children know no guile and no wickedness. They are thoroughly sincere and humble in their existence. Their minds don't yet know of the evil of this world, and certainly not the chaos and confusion that results from it. Their minds are a place that can be full of love, peace and untainted joy. In fact, even an adult person's well-being, personality, confidence, and general psychological health are all rooted in the state of mind of the person. If they have a peaceful state of mind, then a peaceful person will result. If they have a tortured state of mind, likewise. And so it is that the images, sounds, music, and messages that reside in one's mind make up the landscape in which that person lives most deeply. This is by no means some deep philosophical insight, and yet it is a basic common sense fact that seems to be continually overlooked in our society today with the constant firehose of informational overload that most adults consume. It is this peace of mind today which is so often lost today for our children by allowing them to consume media and entertainment in unfettered or unmonitored ways. 

If one thinks deeply about the nature of what the internet really is, it becomes clear that it represents something of a collective human mind, only that it is not just the mind of a good person, but it includes every possible iteration of the human mind into every possible state and perversion. Every path that a human mind can go down is represented in the information collection of the internet, even those parts of the mind which are so taboo that they would never be manifested in real life public situations. And so what does it mean when you go to a restaurant, a family gathering, to the grocery store, or generally anywhere in today's world and see children with their gaze locked into an ipad or smart phone? What is means is that parents are opening a door from the collective mind of humanity into their child's mind. We would never allow random people off the street into our child's bedroom unmonitored, but we will gladly open the doors to their mind and allow anyone and anything in to take up residence. 

We have a grave responsibility as parents to take action on this issue to protect our children. So many parents have been outraged from their exposure to what was being taught to their children during COVID, as they listened from the background. And rightly so, as one does not want their children corrupted by forces which do not align with their family values. And yet, we allow much more potent and sinister voices to raise our children when we plop them down with their digital pacifier so that we can get some rest, or worse, so that we can feed our technology addiction ourselves. 

Protect the minds of our children, please.