What's The More Dangerous Device For Kids – A Bicycle Or A Radio?

What’s the toughest challenge about being a kid in 2025? Better put, what’s the hardest thing about being a parent?

Whether you’re raising children or you’re involved with grandchildren, these are tumultuous times in no small part due to the pressures of gadgets and technology. From smartphones to social media, kids are under profound pressure. And many of today’s parents are increasingly frustrated by a lack of solutions.

In a recent Opinion piece in the New York Times, “We Don’t Have to Give In to the Smartphones,” social psychologist, a researcher and a senior research scientist collaborated on the impact of media and technology on kids.

The trio worked with the Harris Poll folks last year to conduct two research surveys, the first among more than 1,000 Gen Zs and the second was the same sized sample comprised of parents with children under the age of 18.

It’s a fascinating look at the toll technology takes on young people, even though we so often assume they’re more than equipped to handle the stress. But even these so-called young “digital natives” often collapse under the weight of peer pressure and other forces that end up being hurtful.

One of the questions asked of the adult sample was especially revealing:

“When I think about my child’s experience growing up, I wish ___ had never been invented”

It was followed by a 22-item list of media brands, electronics, and actual products ranging from guns to alcohol. The hierarchy of dangerous things—according to these parents—may surprise you:

At the top of the heap is “mature adult content.” It is singled out by nearly three of four parents in the sample. Rounding out the top 5 includes guns, TikTok, X/Twitter, and Snapchat.

Interesting, ChatGPT—a brand often taken to task by just about everyone at one point or another—is thought to be problematic for children, according to under half (45%) of parents in the Harris research.

Interestingly, near the bottom of this list of troublesome “inventions” is legacy media—television, newspapers, and yes, radio—all viewed as problematic by well under one-fifth of the moms and dads in the survey.

In fact, radio is second from the bottom, deemed safer for kids than every other gadget, device, or product—with the exception of the bicycle. While 14% wish Marconi had never invented the radio, fewer than one in ten take the Germans to task for inventing the bicycle.

Good old radio.

We are sadly used to seeing radio end up at or near the bottom of these lists and charts, often a sign of declining relevance, popularity, or both. But in this case—delineating inventions and media least dangerous to kids, according to the people tasked with raising them, finds radio finishes just above the bicycle.

In a way, finishing close to dead last on a list of things deemed to be harmful to children is a lefthanded victory for radio, slugging it out for respect in this landscape. By omission, nearly nine in ten (86%) of parents in the same survey don’t select radio as harmful to their kids. Hey, that’s a moral victory.

But in today’s world where parents are trying mightily to keep their kids safe while radio is fighting for every shred of relevance and attention it can muster, it makes you wonder where there’s one of those Venn diagram intersections possible. After all, radio offers all sorts of protections you’re not going to get from online content. No porn, no marijuana ads, and no F-bombs for starters. Radio broadcasters may view these prohibitions restrictive to both the programming and sales departments of stations. But to parents trying to shield teens from the dangers of modern life, radio offers a safe haven of music and spoken word content.

For free, of course.

Ironically, radio broadcasters in the U.S. have shown about as much interest in appealing to teens as EDM festivals are ignoring AARP members. But in a world where distraught and exasperated parents are looking for safe entertainment for their kids, an “unholy alliance” makes a world of sense.

The sparkling exception is Christian radio, specifically Z88.5 operated by the visionary Z Ministries. Their long-running “Safe for the little ears” positioning is an integral part of their brand. In terms of sheer volume and coverage, Z88.3 is the best marketed station in the metro:

The troika of authors who penned the Times essay synthesized the Gallup research, coming up with four suggested family norms designed to provide a “road map for reclaiming a healthier and more joyful childhood” for their kids:

Delay giving smartphones to children until high school
Delay allowing kids to engage with social media until age 16
Create phone-free schools, including at recesses and lunch
Give kids something better to do

It’s this last norm that’s so fascinating. While the article suggest more free play, more independence, and even more unsupervised time outside the house, the definition of providing alternate activities for kids got my attention.

If you’re a Boomer or Gen Xer, chances are the radio was a big part of the soundtrack of your adolescent life. And while comparisons are often futile, my bet is that most of these now-adults believe they led happier childhoods than their kids have endured.

Frankly, growing up with the radio—whether it was a fun, energetic music radio station or the warm drone of a play-by-play broadcast in the evening hours—was actually pretty enjoyable. After all, a “boogie check” was a lot more inclusive and engaging than being “cyber-bullied” on social media.

Now, before you remind me how that ship has sailed—or even sunk—I’m well aware that each generation of kids and their parents is tasked with the challenging job of having to carve out their unique generational norms and structures—their rules of the road.

And radio plays absolutely no role in that process today. But perhaps we shouldn’t mistake the industry’s long-running lack of interest in and disdain for teens as a smart, prescient strategy. If anything, it is short-sighted, all but guaranteeing radio industry irrelevance due to the unstoppable aging of its silver-hair audience.

Rethinking broadcast radio’s audience targeting is probably about as productive as negotiating a sustainable Middle East peace. But one thing is for sure: If you don’t have aspirations and you don’t make a concerted effort, nothing happens. Surely, the last quarter-century has proven the impact of the radio industry sitting on the sidelines hoping for a better year.

And for those of you wondering how radio got bested by the bicycle as the safest form of leisure entertainment for kids, let me remind you of some basic positioning advantages radio has over two-wheeled transport: