Recently I wrote a column about news that Facebook knows its social media platforms are harmful for girls, and isn’t doing much, if anything, to change them. Here’s an excerpt:

Delaying smartphones and social media is an important strategy when children are young. But it’s only part of the solution. If your children are still young, this is the season for laying a foundation of biblical truth.

Do they know they are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa. 139:14) and created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26)? Are they convinced that they, like all of us, have a sin nature (Rom. 5:12), are under God’s wrath (John 3:36), and are powerless to earn his favor (Rom. 3:20)? Teach them that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,” (Eph. 2:4-5) sent Jesus, the divine Son, to take our place on the cross (Rom. 3:25). Tell them that he paid the price we could never pay, opening the way for us to be restored to God (Col. 1:19-20). And exhort them with the amazing news that everyone who believes in him and calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:13).

These are the truths they need for all of life, and beyond — certainly before they venture into the virtual world. Give them the gospel. And ask God to help them to desire the obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5). Weave it into conversations when you sit in your house, walk along the way, lie down, and rise up. That’s the all-of-life discipleship Deuteronomy 11:19 commands, and it’s no less needed in the virtual world than in the physical one.

Before you send them out, equip them to be in the world, not of it (John 17:14-16). This is the call for every Christian parent (Psa. 78:4, 6-7).

You can read the full article at the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission’s website.