American Family Radio thanks its sponsor, Preborn
>> Bobby Roza: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr.
>> Walker Wildmon: We inform Religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith, live out their convictions, no matter where they are. We quit. Sacred honor is the courage to speak truth, to live out your free speech. We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope. This is at the Core on American Family Radio. Welcome to the Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on this edition of the Core. Walker Wildmon here with you. The show is available live, on afr.net and on the AFR app, live streaming, that is. And then it's available 24, 7, 365 in the form of a podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts. So if you want to get today's episode in the future, just subscribe to the at the Core podcast wherever you listen to podcast and you'll, have the program there queued up in your library each and every day.
High priest asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine in John chapter 18
John, chapter 18 is where we are this week. John, chapter 18, looking at verses, 20, really. 19, 21. The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered him. I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet. And in secret. I have said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Indeed, they know what I said. And so here the priest, the high priest are trying to act as if, they're not sure about what Jesus is doing here, what his ministry is all about, when in reality what Jesus says is, look, I've been practicing my ministry on this earth, in the public, in the public square and the temples and the synagogues. And so this question, like, you're not really sure about my teachings, where have you been? Has your head been in the sand? but as we know, looking at the context here, oftentimes these religious leaders were looking to entrap Jesus or make him stumble, over himself with his answers to their questions. but Jesus just puts it plain, plainly Here that his ministry is public and he's spoken publicly about it. No secrets, no exclusivity here. Jesus ministry and his purpose and his, profession of being the Messiah is, for everyone to see. And that's still true today. The teachings of Jesus, the message of Jesus and the salvation he offers is a public message. It's a public proclamation for the world to hear and for the world to believe. That's, John chapter 18, looking at verses 19 through 21.
We've got some great trips lined up this year exploring America's spiritual heritage
Well, as I've mentioned, just about every show for the last month or two, we've got some great trips lined up this year, discovering America's spiritual heritage around the country in Williamsburg, Washington, D.C. and Boston. We're going to go to those three places. Colonial Williamsburg, that trip includes Jamestown, and Yorktown as well. And that's one trip. We're also going to go to Washington D.C. and Boston. We're going to be back in Boston for the second time in 2026. So we're looking forward to those trips. If you want to check out all the dates that are in June and September, you can go over to tours.afa.net tours.afa.net for all information on the pricing, the itinerary, the dates, everything. [email protected] it's America's 250th birthday. What better year than now, 2026, to tour colonial America and look at America's providential history.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pushing health issues at the Department of Health Services
All right, let's jump into some of the news of the week and, see what we can cover this segment. The, RFK Jr. Over at the Department of Health and Human Services, he is just making a lot of headway in various areas. And honestly, I don't think he's getting enough coverage, press coverage, on the work that he's doing over there. And I'm a little bit responsible for that. There's just so many other things to cover. You got the situation in Iran, you've got the midterms. I mean, there's so much to talk about, the, the economy. We talk about that each Friday with Krish Woodward. But, RFK Jr. Is really making some headway over at the Department of Health and Human Services. one of the things that he's doing is doing basically what amounts to an education campaign on the harms of some of these foods and drinks that Americans have been consuming for years, thinking that there's nothing wrong with them or that they're net neutral. but this is going to be clip 2, and RFK Jr was recently on a podcast on Katy Miller's podcast and she questioned him m on what's one of the most harmful foods or drinks on the market today? Let's listen to what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Had to say. Clip to what's the worst product you could buy today? Or food product?
>> Walker Wildmon: I think probably the, you know, the thing people should really need to look out for is sugar drinks because that sugar has no barriers in your body. It goes, you know, immediate work, doing bad things, subverting your metabolic system. Well there you have it. That's RFK Jr. On what he thinks of the most dangerous drink or food on the market. He says the sugar, these sugary soft drinks are the most dangerous. but this isn't breaking news but to hear this from the Department of Health and Human Services is a big deal and he's pushing this hard. And it's not that, you know, we've got to be careful here because the role of the federal government is very limited according to the Constitution. And so we ought not look to Washington D.C. for every single piece of advice and every single way of living. But it is important. If the Department of Health and Human Services claims to operate for the betterment and for the well being and the health of the American people, then they've got to educate the populace on what some of these harms are that Americans are consuming each and every day. And the sugary drinks are a disaster. They're an absolute unmitigated disaster. this is out of Fox, news. when you want to talk about the amount of sugar, this is insane. But the, the, the Dunkin Donuts and, and Starbucks. These are two companies that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Specifically has called out on recent occasion when he was speaking in Austin, Texas. some of these iced coffee drinks have over 100 grams of sugar. 100 grams of sugar. And you look at the, what, what these, these added sugars cause when, when they're over consumed. Obviously weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, non alcoholic fatty liver disease, tooth decay, increased inflammation and other chronic conditions and can also have mental health impacts. but when you look at the daily limit, the daily recommendation for women, about 25 grams, 25 grams of added sugar is the daily recommended value for women. For man, about 36 grams, is the daily recommended value. But you've got one drink at some of these coffee shops that's got four to five times the daily limit just in one drink. It's insane. And you ask yourself, why would you need that much sugar in anything? You know, it's not as if, you know, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks can't sell coffee without adding 125 grams of sugar. Are you kidding me? but the reality is that a lot of surveys, a lot of research rather shows that this sugar has an addictive nature to it. and so people are drawn back to it. They're drawn back to it, they're drawn back to it. And, and you end up having these cravings for this added sugar. but this is a big problem in our society, a lot. So much of America's health problems, boils down to the food that we eat. The food that we eat. I mean between the food that we eat and the inactivity of our modern lives, it's a problem. And this is, this is one concern I have with artificial intelligence and robotics is I don't, you know, we've got to be very careful as humans that we don't, you know, fall into this, this state of inactivity and laziness that becomes gluttony, it becomes sinful, it becomes unbiblical. And so this is kind of the resistance that I have towards this notion that hey, let's automate everything. let's make it to our. Humans don't have to do anything physical, to exert any energy physically. that folks, that's a very dangerous trajectory. I don't know that we want to go there because for all of human history, humans have needed to store energy and exert energy for daily living, for daily life. And of course things have gotten more convenient and easier as technology and mechanics have developed over the years with modern technology and innovation. Ah, so life has gotten, quote easier if you will, from a human, ah, labor standpoint. but, but this, this notion that Silicon Valley wants us to adopt, that we ought to create computers and robots to do all the hard work, the quote, hard work that humans do, that's, that's just has, that has a lot of negative implications down the road that people just don't seem to be factoring in. but RFK Jr. Is doing his part. He's highlighting the harms of these foods and these drinks that are really bad for your health. And people seem to be, in general, people seem to be waking up to this, they seem to be waking up to the harms of our modern food intake and taking note of it for the future.
American Family Radio explores how AI is sourcing its information and monetizing it
Well, another clip I Want to play is speaking of AI has to do with, with how AI is sourcing its information and monetizing it. And this is actually the, CEO of, OpenAI, Sam Altman. He's talking openly about how these AI companies are sourcing all this information that comes from you and me, and then they plan to monetize it indefinitely, like electricity and like water, down the road. This is going to be clip, four, let's roll.
>> Sam Altman: Fundamentally, our business, and I think the business of every other model provider is going to look like selling tokens. You know, they may come from bigger or smaller models, which makes them more or less expensive. They may use more or less reasoning, which also makes them more or less expensive. They may be running all the time in the background trying to help you out. they may run only when you need them. If you want to pay less. They may work super hard, you know, spend tens of millions, hundreds of millions, someday billions of dollars on a single problem that's really valuable. But we see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water, and people buy it from us, on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for. The demand that we see for that seems like it's going to continue to just go like this. Here we go. And if we don't have enough, we either can't sell it or the price gets really high and it, you know, kind of goes to rich people or society makes a bunch of sort of central planning decisions that I think almost always go badly about. You know, we're going to use our limited compute supply for this. And not that the best thing to me, throughout all the history of capitalism, innovation, whatever you want is to just flood the market.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Well, there you have it. That's Sam Altman telling us what they're thinking. Let's utilize, AI as a utility and like electricity and water, and we'll put people on a meter and we'll charge them on a usage meter base. Well, there's a lot of problems with this, and I'll talk more after the break about the litany of problems with using my knowledge and your knowledge to charge consumers on a meter base on information and knowledge and intellectual property that doesn't. It isn't owned by the AI companies. This is going to be interesting from a legal standpoint. We'll. We'll be back in a few. The AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations. You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains. It won't blow, Walk the dog, won't pick up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. But while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content through the app on your phone, smart device or Roku. Just go to your app store or visit afr.net listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app At
>> Walker Wildmon: the Core podcasts are [email protected] now back to at the Core on American Family Radio.
Walker discusses the legal and moral dilemmas surrounding artificial intelligence
Welcome back to the Core here on American Family Radio. Well, towards the end of the last segment I played a clip of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI on their plan to you how they want to use artificial intelligence. Here's, here's the dilemma. Well there's, there's a lot of dilemmas here, but here's the the legal and moral dilemma with how AI is currently being used. And, and really if you, if you draw the logical conclusion here based on my assessment, we, we shouldn't have AI. We shouldn't have AI outside of, of ownership, of, of intellectual ownership. All right? And so for for as long as America has had any semblance of a legal system, we've had what's known as intellectual property. And this, the intellectual property principle or legal understanding probably goes back even to pre America. I would have to do a study on that. But this is not my point is this kind of legal theory has been around for a long, long time. And so it's called intellectual property or ownership of ideas. and so people monetize their ideas all the time, right? They create a design of a, of a m, you know, technology or a tool or a software. They use their, their God given abilities to create value in something and then they use the law to to protect. And but what AI does, folks fundamentally is it scrapes the world wide web and any other data source of all combined intellectual property. It scrapes it all and then it uses it to spit out responses, okay, using the true knowledge of humans. And of course we get our knowledge from our creator and from natural revelation, from what's revealed to us through God's created order. And so humans, create knowledge from God. We create knowledge, we develop understanding and intelligence. And AI is scraping all of that en masse. All right? This is the computing that they're talking about. This is not. These computers aren't coming up with their own novel theories or their own novel information. This is all used from you and me and people throughout history that have that have developed this knowledge, okay? And so the problem with this is that these companies are monetizing it, and they're planning to monetize it indefinitely. And what's missing here is royalties. All right? What's missing is royalties. I don't know how this. I don't know how this withstands legal muster because you've got, just a massive. I don't even know what the proper, measuring would be. You've got massive amounts, amounts of data out there on these servers and on the web. And AI is using all of this human knowledge to spit out these responses. But these AI companies that want to charge for it, they want to charge for it indefinitely. Now, early on in AI, they weren't even using citations. AI wasn't even using citations. And then there were a couple lawsuits and. And then all of a sudden, now you find countless citations within an AI response, because the lawyers were coming after them. But this, this should concern all of us. And this is where, when Elon Musk and others talk about the, job displacement here that AI will have, now I can see what they're talking about. Now I can see what they're talking about. And so putting it on a utility, this is where the, the AI companies are going to make their money.
Companies have been spending billions of dollars developing AI, building data centers
All right, many, many market analysts have been speculating on, you know, how do these companies, how do these AI companies recoup their cost here? Because they've been spending billions of dollars developing AI, building data centers with no immediate way to make that money back. And this is how you have market bubbles. This is how you have companies go upside down. As they lean in, they lean in, they lean hard into a technology. and on the other side, there's only a few winners. Everybody else goes upside down. This is, this is bubble 101 for the markets. So people have been speculating, you know, how on earth do these companies get this money back? How do they earn the money back on what they've spent investing in AI? Well, Sam Altman just told us how they earn the money back. All right? And so what's happening now? Mark my word, what is happening now is the AI companies are making you and I and everyone that is subscribing to this, for free. As of now, mostly for free. We are becoming, attached to artificial intelligence. We are beginning to use it in our daily life. And what's going to happen at some point in the near future, I would suggest probably, probably less than three years out, is you're going to See, all of this go behind a paywall because it doesn't make sense. Why would you as an AI company spend tens of billions of dollars building something out only to offer it for free to the masses? Absolutely doesn't make sense unless there's an ad service behind it. Right, but that's not the case here. That's not the case here. and even for television with an ad service, you still pay a subscription for television. So, all of this is going to go behind a paywall at some point, I predict in the next three years, probably sooner than that. Because these companies, they have bills to pay, right? They just, they've taken out multibillion dollar loans, they built these data centers, they got to pay these bills. How do you pay the bills? You create this never ending subscription service. And as Sam Altman calls it, he calls it a meter. He is, he is, he is, he is applying the utility, the common utility lingo with electricity and water, to access to these, artificial intelligence tools and putting on a meter, a usage base. So this is where they get their money. Okay? And so we just thought that this, artificial intelligence was going to drive down the cost of things. And it may in some categories, but I don't know, I don't know here what they're looking at doing cost a lot of money to run these AI data centers and these, this mass computing that they're talking about. And so I think, I'm not sure that the savings on AI down the road is going to be as aggressive as some might suggest. I think we're going to have to pay a pretty penny for access to these tools and technologies, that is ultimately using humans, knowledge and intelligence to put people on a perpetual payment plan for the artificial intelligence tools. So that's where we are. But if you've been wondering how do AI companies recoup their cost and actually turn profitable based on all of these investments they've been putting out? This is how they do it. This is how they do it. They charge you in m perpetuity a fee to use artificial intelligence. And see that this is a, this is an absolute win win for the AI companies. And here's why. The AI companies don't have to like develop new knowledge or new intelligence. They're just constantly scraping the web. So when you and I do the hard work of actually thinking and actually producing intelligent thoughts and then putting it on the Internet for people to consume via, writing a blog or solving some, you know, sophisticated problem or maybe you're reporting on current events. All of this is going on the web and it's being just scraped constantly by these computers. Scraped constantly and grabbed and then applied into these AI chatbots and, used. And you and I, we don't get a cut from it, right? We don't get a cut from it. So, that's the problem here. That's just the fundamental problem here. I'm rather shocked that this has legally withstood, challenges thus far. The way this AI works and the way it steals from human intelligence, creates fake intelligence and then puts a price tag on it and resells it. Quite baffling to me how this is going to work legally, especially in such a litigious society. but we shall see. That's where we are. That's the latest on artificial intelligence. But get ready folks, get ready because you're going to be pulling out that wallet here in the not too distant future to use this artificial intelligence. And, we'll see what the cost is and whether there's some true savings down the road. but Americans need to be, very, we need to be very skeptical of this, path that AI is going on where they look to replace you and I. not just from a moral perspective, but just from a quality of life perspective. there's some, there should be some serious concerns here. I don't know about you, but I, don't want a robot doing everything for me. You know, I may want a robot to do some things for me, but not everything. And there's just some human experiences that we shouldn't want to just rush to have a robot replace us for. and that's the memo for today.
A Michigan synagogue was attacked late Thursday afternoon; no fatalities reported
let's play this, clip, five out of Michigan. Just late Thursday afternoon, a Michigan synagogue was, attacked. there in Michigan, a Jewish synagogue, obviously. Let's play this, latest Fox report on this clip. Five piers. This was a vehicle ramming and active shooter situation. To your point about the smoldering and what happened in the building, building or outside of the building? Cash Patel reporting right now via X that FBI personnel are on the scene with partners in Michigan and responding to the apparent vehicle ramming an active shooter situation out of Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan at FBI Detroit. He has tagged there. So they're working with their local partners there and they are on the scene. Garrett.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. And that confirmation is, is significant because that suggests that this is playing out exactly what we saw happen in Grand Blanc, Michigan. last fall, where you had someone that drove a truck into the chapel and then got out with an automatic weapon and started shooting individuals there, that were there worshiping. And this, these two areas are just about less than an hour apart from each other in Michigan. So, so this has been something that has been on people's minds there in that area because they are not far separated from one another. When they see and they hear this, their minds go back to what happened just a few months ago in that attack. Well, there you have it. That's the latest Fox report on this, attack in Michigan, where you had, the suspect, of which we don't have all the information yet, drive a vehicle into a Jewish synagogue. Down the hallway of the synagogue, thankfully, a hero security guard discharged, his firearm and took out this terrorist, this alleged terrorist, and thankfully, as of the latest report, zero, innocent, fatalities, zero innocent civilians were, killed in this attack on a Jewish synagogue. Same day yesterday, we had an attack at, Old Dominion University in Virginia. And this, this, individual that carried, out this attack at Old Dominion University was, a former Army National Guardsman. Listen to this. Convicted in 2016 for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. This was a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone released from federal prison in 2024 under Joe Biden. This, these original charges go back to 2016. He was let out of prison in 2024 and now has committed a mass shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia. All of this is breaking as of, ah, Thursday and Friday. So, as I said earlier in the week, this mass importation of foreigners just doesn't make sense from a national interest standpoint. It just doesn't make sense. I mean, there's no compelling case to mass import these, individuals that have no care, concern or, you know, value in our nation for the future of our nation and the history of our nation. Zero patriotism. Zero, familial, tethering to our heritage here as a country. And this is very problematic. And so this notion that, we ought to as a country just let anybody and everybody come in, even through legal means, is just idiotic. It just doesn't make sense and it's very harmful to our country. We should have legal immigration, but it should be very strict and only for the best interest of our nation. We should only bring in people into this country, to better the nation in the future and to preserve the values that this nation was founded on. And so, but we haven't been doing that. We've been letting anyone and everyone come in both illegally and legally, and it's very problematic. Now we have A Another naturalized U.S. citizen. This is in addition to the one from Austin, Texas last week who was also a naturalized citizen, meaning they weren't a US Citizen. They immigrated here most likely through legal means, and then at some point they attained citizenship. That's the problem. This is what's happening here. Very few of these radicalized Islamic jihadis, very few of them are American born US Citizens. Very few of them, not all, but very few of them are, American born US Citizens. Most of them we are bringing into this country and it's turning back and hurting us. We'll be back in just a few minutes.
>> Walker: Abortion moves fast, and right now in our communities, women are being pressured to make irreversible decisions. In moments of fear and panic, they're told to act quickly or risk losing support. Many feel they have no other option. But because of you, they do. At, PreBorn Network clinics. A woman who receives what the abortion industry will never offer, compassion without pressure, clarity about the life growing inside her, real support to welcome her baby and the hope of the gospel. She's given a free ultrasound and space to breathe. And more than 80% of the time when a mother sees her baby on a preborn ultrasound, she chooses life. This March, PreBorn is believing to save 6,800 babies. But it will take 124 partners saying yes every day. Here's my Pause your busy day for just a moment. Become a yes right now. Just $28 provides one ultrasound. $140 helps five mothers. Every dollar helps save babies and share hope. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250, baby. Or visit preborn.com afr that's preborn.com for free. Forward/AFR at the Core podcast are [email protected]
>> Jeff Chamblee: now back to at the Core on American Family Radio.
American Family Radio has a special guest today, Heidi Olson
Welcome back to the Core here on American Family Radio. This is our Friday edition, our last segment, and we typically have Krish Woodward in with us, but we have a special guest today. Krish is out. We have Heidi Olson in with us. Heidi is founder and president of Paradigm Shift Training and Consulting. She's also featured in one of our latest Impact series, episode, five, where we travel around the country and interview people who are in the trenches, helping to protect families and advance Christian values in our culture. Heidi, welcome to the program.
>> Heidi Olson: Thanks so much for having me.
>> Walker Wildmon: Well, I'm glad you've been Doing your rounds on the radio all day. So by now you should have it all figured out.
>> Heidi Olson: It's been really fun.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
Sexual assault nurse examiner specializes in helping children with sexual assault
So, so let's talk about your background in your work. Obviously we'll talk about the Impact series which you're featured in in episode five. But give us a little background on your story, your work and how you ended up in this space and talk a little bit about the space that you're in because people may not know.
>> Heidi Olson: Yeah, I'm a sexual assault nurse examiner, specifically with kids. So kids 0 to 17, most people don't know that that exists. So it's sort of a type of nursing where you're providing medical care meets the criminal justice system. So we collect evidence and we aid in helping when someone, a child's experienced sexual assault. It's really heavy of course, but I've been doing that for about 11 years. and then about four years ago I decided to start my own business just to raise awareness around the different trends and issues that I'm seeing and just things that we aren't talking about but are impacting our kids.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. This victimization of children is a very broad subject. I've just become kind of briefed on it in the last few years as we've been working on legislation to protect minors online. So like age verification laws. I know you're familiar with all of this. but a lot of the, as you know, I'm talking to the expert here, but our audience, for their benefit, a lot of the exposure, not all, but a lot of the exposure here, for children is online. Some of it's obviously a family member or a friend that abuses the children. But some of it is also like online predators. and so we've been working in this space trying to make sure that kids aren't accessing websites, they shouldn't, things like that. but this is a growing problem. But it's already a big problem. I mean the, and I think people, there's a couple things going on here. To your point, this is a very hard subject. no local news channel wants to cover this at least for more than like 60 seconds. because it's so heavy, but it's gotta be spoken about. I mean just like the issue of abortion, this has to be talked about because kids are being victimized all around the country via trafficking and otherwise.
One in four girls and one in six boys will experience sexual assault before 18
So talk a little bit about the graph, the scale of this problem and how it's not just, you know, a ah, one off instance here and A one off instance there. This is a very widespread problem.
>> Heidi Olson: Yeah. When you look at statistics, Researchers estimate about one in four girls and one in six boys will experience sexual assault before their 18th birthday. That's a massive amount of kids in our country. And what I found in being a forensic nurse is that a lot of kids are experiencing sexual abuse at the hands of other kids. And that's something we never talk about. I mean, think about the amount of shame that's involved. If a brother sexually assaults his sister. No one wants to talk about that. Who's gonna want to play with your kids? You know, it's just this secret that we all keep, but it's happening at really high rates. so when I was working in the hospital, we collected data on this and we found that at any given year, anywhere from a third to half of our offenders were kids themselves, primarily males between the ages of 11 and 15. And porn is playing a huge role in all of this. You know, there's lots of reasons why a child will sexually assault another child. But in today's day and age with porn being everywhere, it's teaching kids a sexual script. So I'm watching this content constantly now. I want to act it out on someone. Well, the opportunity is right in front of me with my two year old siblings, you know, so that's really what we're seeing play out over and over again. And parents have no idea this is happening until the trauma occurs between the siblings. And then it's like, oh no, what do we do?
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, the. I'll never forget this story my grandfather Don Wildmon told. And this goes back to the 80s to show how long this has been a problem. but this goes back to the pornography magazines in the homes. And I'm not going to give every detail for multiple reasons, but number one, I can't recall it all, but the essence of the story he told when he was speaking at this event, my grandfather, is that, there was this instance where local, news reported on, a pair of brothers who were, well underage. I mean these kids were not over 10 years old and they found their mother's pornography magazine. And then they were staying at home with their little sister who was like under 2 years old and they began acting out this stuff and the little girl died. She died right there. but it was because the hard pornography in the magazine that the mother left at home with the kids. And then before you know it, somebody's dead, a little girl's dead. And so that's just one horror Story that goes back to the 80s, maybe even before that. but now we've got the, ah, era of the Internet. All these kids got these phones in their hands, for better or worse. And, the access to pornography. once again we're talking to Heidi Olson here. The access to pornography is rampant and at much younger ages. Correct, correct.
>> Heidi Olson: So depending on the study, you're looking at, you know, on average kids are exposed to porn between the ages of 8 and 11. But I've seen kids as young as 3 years old who are being exposed to pornography online. And so the reality is if you hand a kid a device, there is a chance they will be exposed to pornography. So if you're handing your three year old the device or whatever, absolutely something could pop up they're not supposed to see. And so we need to be having conversations. I think sometimes there's this thought of like, well, they're too young or whatever. If we're going to let them access the Internet, then we need to be prepared for what they could see.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, absolutely. And I hammer home as many times as I can just to delay the giving. Delay giving your children devices, I mean, as long as you can. My wife and I talk and we're just like kicking the can down the road. we joking. Like, yeah, when they're 25, they can have a phone. Of course we're joking. but we're talking like, yeah, when they need a phone because they're not with us. So now we're talking like driving age. and I talked to, now this is social media, but I talked to Dr. Jessica Peck who's on our radio network. I'm sure you spoke to her earlier. she doesn't recommend social media usage until they're 18. just because there's so much emotions involved and peer pressure and bullying, not to mention, you know, blackmail through sexual abuse and otherwise. Ah, there's just not any benefit to exposing these teenagers to this world Wide web. It's just not any benefit there because you can get your social skills somewhere else.
Impact series looks at ways pornography is impacting kids in today's world
let's talk about the Impact series because that's why you're here. the website. By the way, folks, to check out the video episode we've probably produced with Heidi, you can go to afa.net protect afa.net forward/protect. but give us a little glimpse into this Impact series episode.
>> Heidi Olson: Yeah, it was such an honor to be featured. And really what we addressed was what are all the different ways that pornography is impacting kids in Today's day and age, because it's not like playboy from 30, 40 years ago, which, from your story, obviously had horrific implications. The ante has been upped and now we've got AI Right. Like, it's just getting more and more, ubiquitous. And the ways that children are being harmed by pornography are horrific. And it's normalizing exploitation. It's teaching girls, hey, you should be a porn star. This is great. Watch all these girls on OnlyFans who are making millions of dollars. And if you're a boy, you should engage in sexual violence, because that's what girls like in porn. How is this going to impact kids as they become adults? How do they have healthy relationships? right. I mean, it's just impacting every fact. So we talk through that in the Impact series, and we want to leave people with hope. Right. I think this can feel so overwhelming and so heavy. And the reality is there is hope, there's redemption, there's healing, and we want parents to have that message as well.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, absolutely. well, I'm glad we're doing this episode, because this is a very, large thing to try to conquer. And, But to your point, there's something parents and grandparents can do about this, because I mentioned, in my show a couple weeks ago that the device is the gateway. when we're talking about digital, pornography, and being abused online or these predators that are seeking young kids online, the device is the gateway. And so I think parents get overwhelmed that, oh, I don't know about all the security settings, and I don't know, you know, what social media profiles the kids have. Well, let's just pare it down to keeping it simple. And that is, does your kid have access to a device and when. Because if you can control the access to the device, that's half of the battle.
>> Heidi Olson: Correct, Correct. Absolutely. I agree with that. these companies do not make it easy to put parental controls in place. I mean, it's very difficult. And so I absolutely agree with that.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. but I would encourage parents, if your teenager or young adult does need an electronic device, study up or have someone, you know, study up on these safety settings. Because there's. Obviously these technology companies can do so much more, to prevent this stuff. They've got plenty of tools at their disposal to prevent a lot of this filth on the Internet. but there are some safety settings on some of these devices, that parents can use. So we encourage them to just study up on them. Have somebody, you know, Study up on if you're not comfortable.
Heidi Olson says children are exposed to harmful content on social media
Heidi, what, What's, what would you say is the most common, means of which these children are victimized? Is this on like your common social media platforms? where are kids being exposed to, to a lot of this harmful content?
>> Heidi Olson: Yeah. I would say X is a huge one. Or formerly Twitter. There is so much pornography on that website and almost no parameters. And very much because X is like we're this free speech platform now. Pornography is protected under free speech, which is mind blowing to think about. That statement shouldn't be, but it is correct. and really no parameters of, you know, click a box. Yes, I'm 18. That's it. So a lot of kids talk about being exposed on X, Instagram, Snapchat. yes, sometimes they go on to porn sites. But I would say social media more than anything. Or friends. Right. Sending them things or kids sending naked pictures to each other and opening that door. So lots of different ways, but social media is a huge one.
>> Walker Wildmon: How do you, counsel and parents on how to have these conversations?
>> Heidi Olson: I, say it's simple, but it's not easy, which is we need as soon as you hand a kid a device, even if it's your phone to play with, that you need to talk about this. So if that's your 3 year old, talk about it in an age appropriate way frequently. So just little tiny touch points throughout the week. Remember, if you see anything like this, please tell mom and dad so that we know we can talk about it, we can externalize it, we can protect you, versus we talked about it once. There was a lot of shame. That kid's never going to circle back around now. They've viewed porn for five years and by the time you realize it, you know, they're having anxiety and depression and all of these other issues. And so I think talking about it very frequently and knowing this is a safe space, we can talk about it. You're not in trouble if you see this or if it pops up. And we will deal with it when that happens.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, that's good. To your point, the concept is simple, like, hey, I need to address this with my kids. But then having the actual conversation, I would say the younger the better. Right? Because when they get teens and young adults, they start acting like they know it all. So, the younger you can start the conversations, the better. when you're still in a place of authority in their life. we're talking to Heidi Olson. Heidi's got an extensive background in dealing with children who have been abused or have abused others. her, title is founder and president of Paradigm Shift Training and Consulting. She's featured. Heidi's featured in our latest episode of Impact series. This is going to be episode five. Afa.net protect is that URL afa.net forward/protect? Well, Heidi, tell our folks, how they can find more about your work and read, more about what you do.
>> Heidi Olson: Yeah. you can go to my website. It's paradigmshifttc.com I should have picked an easier name to spell, but I did not. So there we have it. you can also just Google me, Heidi Olson. My last name is O L S O N and I should pop up, you know, and you can find information on me. So please go to my website. You can book an appointment with me there. I'd be happy to help however I can.
>> Walker Wildmon: Excellent. This is Heidi Olson. Paradigm Shift is, her organization. You can just simply Google that Paradigm Shift and get her website there.
Heidi Olson says legislative sessions are in session in several states
Heidi, last question. What are you. Are you staying busy? Like, are you seeing an uptick in parents and adults wanting to be kind of studied up on this stuff?
>> Heidi Olson: It comes and goes in waves.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Heidi Olson: So I've been busy lately because, legislative sessions are in session in different states. I have been. I just testified in Maryland last week. I've, testified in Kansas and Missouri and submitted testimony in Minnesota this session. so that's been great. On different bills, related to online safety and age verification.
>> Walker Wildmon: Sure.
>> Heidi Olson: so there is an uptick sometimes. And then there's other times where I feel everyone wants to put their head in the sand and they don't want to have this conversation, so it ebbs and flows.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Are you still. I, saw you're an RN and many other things as well. Are you still practicing your original field? You mentioned early on about the counseling and identification and stuff.
>> Heidi Olson: so I've taken the last year off, which has been so good for my nervous system. And I'm actually about to jump back in, hopefully with a different program than the one I was in in a. The next couple of months.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, this has got to be, I hear about, like, law enforcement detectives that are assigned to, child victimization. The. The units are. Sometimes they're just flying so low if it's a small agency. but this got to be very difficult to. To keep your sanity.
>> Heidi Olson: Yeah. I'm thankful that the Lord brings healing and redemption and truth.
>> Walker Wildmon: Amen. Praise God for that. Heidi Olson, thanks so much for being with us.
>> Heidi Olson: Thanks for having me.
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. Heidi Olson. She's featured in our latest Impact series, episode, Episode five. we've got a great article in our Stand magazine that we'll link to as well that our own Maisie Warren, who helped produce this series. by the way, our episode, wrote about Heidi and her work and a little bit of backgrounder on this episode, five here. So we'll link to that in the show notes. But glad to be with you today. Afa.net protect is the URL to find more out about this episode. We'll see you next time. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
