MSPC provides digital safety keynote address at Idaho Department of Education conference
- Sebastian Griffin
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
On October 24th, 2025, I was honored to be a keynote speaker at the Idaho Department of Education’s 10th Annual Family and Community Engagement Conference in Sun Valley, ID.
Over 300 teachers, principals, and community leaders came together for this year's event, giving a state-wide perspective on all the things we should be doing to better equip our parents and students with what they need to succeed in educating their youth.
The keynote addressed my most recent research project: “The Parental Guide to Digital Media Safety Resources.” Together, we went through real-world applications of parental controls that are already available on the devices most families use every day, including some that never have to be downloaded in order to use.
We stress-tested how these tools help parents put limits on the digital world, manage exposure to content, and teach children the basics of responsible tech habits. It was a lively, pragmatic discussion focused on the vision that parents should have the last word, not platforms, in determining how their children interact online.
The “Parental Guide to Understanding Digital Media Protection Resources” focuses on voluntary parental tools as market-driven solutions, making the aim one that encourages innovation, competition, and consumer options. Efforts by the government to regulate social media, or force one-size-fits-all digital rules on society, only too often encounter constitutional questions and don’t create the intended outcomes. Courts in California, Arkansas, and elsewhere have invalidated policy mandates as free speech violations.
Conversations such as the ones I just had in Sun Valley should remind us that empowering families starts with information and choice. Parents don’t need the government to police their children’s phones, they need support and encouragement to be better equipped for the job of parenting. Strengthening parental rights is about creating policies and systems where the power of policy empowers parents, not circumventing them.
Once again, I am grateful to the Idaho Department of Education for the invitation and to every engaged attendee who was a part. The interest in market-oriented approaches to digital safety is the exact place and path we need to be on for Idaho families. Let’s keep the conversation going and keep parents in the driver’s seat.