It’s trillion dollar tech vs. parents. The fight is not fair.

I am a parent of two young children. Like many families, I live with a quiet fear that has become a part of everyday life. We are raising our children in a digital world that didn’t exist when we were young. Screens promise connection, learning and fun. What they often deliver is isolation, vulnerability and exploitation.

As parents, we tell ourselves that supervision and honest conversations are enough. I no longer believe that honest conversations can compete with systems backed by billions of dollars and designed to get attention. Haley Buzbee’s death has made it clear that parenting today is nothing like parenting in the 1990s.

My children are 7 and 9 years old. They still sit next to me on the couch. They ask for password help. They show my favorite games. Even now, I can see how quickly their digital world grows beyond what I can fully see or control. Feeling innocent today will no longer be so. Early access is early exposure before children are able to recognize danger.

Haley was a 17-year-old junior at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers. Authorities say she was contacted online by an older adult before she disappeared. That contact began in digital spaces designed for private and seamless interaction. These spaces allow adults and minors to connect anonymously and at scale.

Tech companies built the playing field

Meta leads this digital landscape. Through Instagram and Facebook, it has aggressively targeted younger users and teenagers, embedding social verification, private messaging and constant engagement into everyday life.

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Gaming networks powered by Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and Epic Games expand access to social gaming. Discord normalizes private conversations outside of adult viewing. Google’s YouTube shapes attention and behavior at scale. Roblox invites kids into immersive worlds built around interaction and spending.

These companies have engineered environments where children gather, communicate and trust. They have created a modern digital playground where engagement often outweighs security by design.

Algorithms reward time spent. Recommender systems suggest connections. Private messaging removes barriers. Voice chat creates familiarity. These characteristics carry particular risks for adolescents who are still developing judgment and impulse control.

When systems make it easy for adults to form hidden relationships with minors, harm is predictable.

Parents are left competing with trillion dollar companies whose profits depend on keeping kids engaged and accessible. Families are asked to monitor devices and set limits. No parent can compete with always-on algorithms, cross-state access or digital trails that disappear faster than the local police can respond. Parents are expected to protect children who are still learning what trust means.

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Public health teaches that predictable risk demands prevention. Seat belts exist because vehicles create foreseeable hazards. The same principle applies in digital environments that scale children to adults.

Healey’s Law provides a way forward

Online grooming now takes place in gaming lobbies, private messages and voice channels. It crosses state lines and delays response. The parents have suffered. Public systems struggle to keep up. Missing teenagers are often labeled as runaways in the early hours.

Alert systems do not always reflect digital risk. Platforms tout reporting tools and terms of service as safeguards, though these measures only respond after harm has occurred.

Haley’s family and this community are responding with purpose. Pink ribbons have appeared on the fissures. Thousands have signed a petition supporting Haley’s legislation. The proposal calls for pink alerts when online grooming or suspicious digital contact is suspected. It also calls for annual education in Indiana schools on online predators, grooming strategies and digital safety.

Her death demands that we confront the systems that shaped her vulnerability. Big tech didn’t kill Haley, but it helped create an environment where such tragedies became easier.

I write this as a concerned parent and I know I am not alone. Our children deserve better.

Dr. Raja Ramaswamy is an Indianapolis-based physician and author of “You Are the New Prescription.”

This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: We’re raising kids in a digital world engineered for profit. opinion