Using Parental Controls Effectively: Apple Screen Time & Google Family Link

The goal of monitoring kids’ technology use is to both ensure their safety AND build their skills toward self-protection and self-regulation when they are online. To this end, the goal is not to ‘catch’ them doing something wrong. Rather, we want them to learn what poor online behavior is while encouraging and discussing what positive online behavior looks like. When you talk about time limits, web filtering, and settings, this can lead to productive conversations while you are in a position of educating and ensuring safety. This is why we HIGHLY recommend being open and transparent with how and why you are using parental controls. When the monitoring is done covertly, the opportunity to engage in positive conversation is greatly diminished or possibly eliminated completely. Obviously, the primary goal is to ensure safety, but a close secondary goal is to provide your child with the knowledge and skills they need to eventually be able to SELF REGULATE. 

Depending on what device you and your child have, these tools are a great start to monitoring what your child is doing on their smartphone and good news – they are most likely already installed on your device! 

Family Link: Can be used on Android devices and Google Chromebooks  

Screen Time: Can be used on Apple devices running iOS, like iPhone and iPad devices. 

The idea behind both monitoring tools is that you can manage your child’s device remotely, or you can simply set screen limits directly on the child’s device. If you set it on their device, you will be asked to establish a passcode specifically for these settings. The specific settings you establish can only be changed or overridden with the code. This code acts as an ‘Administrator’ setting for the device. Both monitoring tools allow parents to manage and restrict app downloads and set content restrictions. They also allow location tracking. Both Family Link and Screen Time serve similar purposes but are just tailored to different platforms, whether you use Apple or Android products.   

These are some of our favorite features of Family Link and Screen Time smartphone monitoring: 

  • Weekly Activity Reports – This reporting feature displays daily and weekly screen time amounts. Total usage time for the device is tracked as well as time by app category (social, games, etc.). Additionally, you can also see the amount of time by specific app (Snapchat, YouTube, etc.) Family suggestion: Have a month-long contest with your child. Turn on your screen tracking and compare weekly totals. Talk about how you can reduce or set simply reduction goals, i.e. if the weekly average for Mom was 35 hours, set next week’s goal at 30 hours and do the same for your child. 
  • App Limits – This feature allows for time limits to be set for category of apps as well as specific apps. For example, if your child is struggling to manage their use of social media, you can set a time limit for all social apps. More specifically, if your child is struggling to manage their use of Snapchat, you can set a time limit for only that app. These limits reset at midnight each day. Family suggestion: Let your child set a time limit for the app you use most😊 and then Mom sets a limit for the app that your child uses most.
  • Content & Privacy – This feature allows for content filtering, managing the installation and deletion of apps, purchases, and downloads. This is where you can set age limits for content for music, TV shows, apps, movies, web content, multiplayer games, etc. The default settings are the most inclusive like Unrestricted and Explicit. If content is a concern, be sure to look through these settings.

Consider walking through all the settings with your child. This can be the beginning of a great conversation about healthy technology habits. We believe that overt monitoring is better than covert monitoring. Talk through what reasonable limits might be. As always, you, as the parent, are the ultimate decision maker. However, it can be a smoother transition if your child feels that they have a voice in the limits and monitoring that’s being established. It also opens the communication lines to deeper conversations around technology use.  

Another suggestion would be to engage in the limits as a family. For example, perhaps you agree to limit your total screen time or have a shared app time limit. Take some time to familiarize yourself with these features. Even if you choose not to utilize it from a parental controls’ perspective, it can be fun to track your weekly use, and be mindful of your own screen habits. Remember – Monitoring tools do not replace parenting. Monitoring tools simply helps you do your job of parenting around technology. 

 

Cyber Safety in the News

High School Students Walk Out Over Cellphone Ban

Newsweek, Feb 9, 2024

Students at a high school in Texas are protesting a new cellphone ban. Hundreds of students gathered outside James Madison High School in South Houston. Some held signs that read “We are high school kids not cellmates!!!” and “You are not here to imprison us or confine us,”. In the letter, the students also demanded they be treated like students, saying the school “currently operates like a prison.”. Students went on to say that “Our personal property is confiscated as we enter the building and returned once we are released, as if we are serving a prison sentence and released after completing our punishment.” As schools attempt to create and redefine their cell phone policies, we wonder if we will see more backlash like this from students in the future.

‘God, What If I Was 15?’: Julia Roberts Responds To Being Shamed In A Photo With Her Niece

Upworthy, February 13, 2024

A recent photo shared online opened Julia Robert’s eyes to the world of cyberbullying and its effect on teenage mental health. Reports show that online bullying is pervasive among teenagers and looks are a common target. Nearly half of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, with physical appearance being seen as a relatively common reason why. Older teen girls are especially likely to report being targeted by online abuse overall and mostly because of their appearance.

Senate Poised To Pass Biggest Piece Of Tech Regulation In Decades

Washington Post, February 15, 2024

With more than 60 backers, an updated Kids Online Safety Act finally has a path to passage in the Senate but faces uncertainty in the House. KOSA, first introduced in 2022, would impose sweeping new obligations on an array of digital platforms, including requiring that companies “exercise reasonable care” to prevent their products from endangering kids. The safeguards would extend to their use of design features that could exacerbate depression, sexual exploitation, bullying, harassment, and other harm. If passed, it would become the first major consumer privacy or child online safety measure to clear a chamber of Congress in decades.

A Marketplace Of Girl Influencers Managed By Moms And Stalked By Men

New York Times, February 22, 2024

What often starts as a parent’s effort to jump-start a child’s modeling career, or win favors from clothing brands, can quickly descend into a dark underworld dominated by adult men, many of whom openly admit on other platforms to being sexually attracted to children. The troubling interactions on Instagram come as social media companies increasingly dominate the cultural landscape and the internet is seen as a career path of its own. Pedophiles have frequently praised the advent of Instagram as a golden age for child exploitation. This article gives insight into the world of influencers who get younger and younger every year.

Texas Sues Pornhub Parent Company For Allegedly Failing To Block Access To Minors

New York Post, February 27, 2024

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Pornhub’s parent company for allegedly violating state law by failing to implement age verification measures to ensure that children can’t access the adults-only site. “Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content,” Paxton said in a news release. Texas is one of several states that have pushed forward legislation aimed at cracking down on minors’ access to porn. Similar laws were put in place in Louisiana, Virginia and Mississippi. Pornhub has retaliated by blocking access to its site for users based in Virginia, Mississippi and Utah. The availability of online pornography has long been a problem for minors, with the average age of first access at 11 years old.

Cyber Safety in the News

Meta Adds New Teen Safety Features Following Renewed Criticism

CNN, January 7, 2024

Meta recently announced that it is expanding its youth safety efforts by rolling out new settings for teenage Facebook and Instagram users, including content restrictions and hiding search results for terms related to self-harm and suicide. This is in an effort aimed at protecting young users. The announcement comes after Meta has faced renewed scrutiny and several company whistleblowers have raised concerns about student safety online and its impact on teenage users.

 

‘Where Is My Son?’ Scammers Using AI Put Bay Area Family Through Terrifying Ordeal

San Francisco Chronicle, January 14, 2024

Rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence mean technology is now available that requires only a few seconds of a voice sample to create a digital facsimile of a person’s voice. This kind of short voice clip could easily be gotten from social media or elsewhere online. Phone scams — with and without the use of AI — have rolled across the U.S. in recent years. This article shares the terrifying story of one family who was targeted by a scam like this. Cyber Safety Consulting wants to remind you to always be suspicious when answering phone calls from unknown numbers.

Meta Documents Show 100,000 Children Sexually Harassed Daily On Its Platforms

The Guardian, January 18, 2024

Meta estimates about 100,000 children using Facebook and Instagram receive online sexual harassment each day, including “pictures of adult genitalia”, according to internal company documents made public this month. There have long been concerns over child safety from parents whose children use Facebook and Instagram.  In a July 2020 internal Meta chat, one employee asked: “What specifically are we doing for child grooming?” According to reports, he received a response: “Somewhere between zero and negligible.” We agree that more parents need to understand the dangers their students face online, especially when using social media. Education is key!

 

Bill To Ban Minors From Social Media And Terminate Youths’ Accounts Passes Florida House

USA Today, January 25, 2024

The Florida House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill known as HB-1 that would ban social media for minors under the age of 16. The bill would require social media platforms to prohibit minors from creating new accounts, terminate existing accounts of those younger than 16 and use age verification for account holders, without a parental permission exemption.

Facebook’s parent company Meta is opposed to the legislation. The company argued that the bill undercut parents’ ability to make their own decisions about their kid’s social media use and raises data privacy concerns. There is a definitive correlation between teenage mental health and social media, but it remains to be seen if banning minors is the solution.

 

Tech Experts Warn Parents About Privacy With New iPhone ‘Journal’ App: What Parents Should Know

ABC News, January 26, 2024

Apple is giving parents more reason to talk to their kids about privacy and encrypted information on their phones. The new update released last month automatically installs a new Journal app on all iPhones. This app allows students to store private information that can be hidden from parents, too. The new Journal app works similarly to a “vault app,” which is a hidden app that stores private information, like pictures or videos. We recommend that parents routinely check the apps on their minor children’s phones for safeguarding.

 

White House Deplores Alarming Sexually-Explicit AI-Generated Images Of Taylor Swift, Urges Social Media Companies To Enforce Their Own Rules

Fortune, January 28, 2024

Fake, sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift have flooded X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in recent weeks, racking up millions of views and tens of thousands of reposts. In other instances, images of Swift and other celebrities have been manipulated to make it seem like they were endorsing commercial products.

X has said it is removing the images and taking action against the accounts involved in spreading them. But the controversy has inspired bipartisan calls from members of Congress for new safeguards. The White House has stated that “Social media networks also need to do more to prevent the spread of these AI images”. With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, there are likely to be more and more images like these spreading online in the future.

Cyber Safety in the News

200 groups push Senate to vote on Kids Online Safety Act in 2024

NBC News, December 6, 2023

More than 200 organizations sent a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to schedule a vote on the Kids Online Safety Act first thing in January when Congress reconvenes. The bill known as KOSA, which was reintroduced in May 2023, seeks to create liability, or a “duty of care,” for apps and online platforms that recommend content to minors that can negatively affect their mental health. The measures in the bill could affect social media sites like Facebook or messaging apps like Discord.

 

Digital Distractions in Class Linked to Lower Academic Performance

Education Week, December 8, 2023

A majority of teenagers in the United States reported becoming distracted when using digital devices in class, and it has some correlation with their academic performance, according to results from the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment. The PISA questionnaire, which is administered to 15-year-olds every three years, asked students how often they were distracted by using digital devices during their lessons and how often they were distracted by other students as well. About two-thirds of U.S. students reported that they get distracted by using digital devices, and about 54 percent said they get distracted by other students as well. We hear from students and teachers every day how distracting these devices can be in the classroom.

 

Teens’ Social Media Use Remains High: What Can Parents Do?

Psychology Today, December 12, 2023

Social media use among teens is as high as ever, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. Conducted between September 26 and October 23, 2023, the survey finds that nearly one in five teens use YouTube or TikTok “almost constantly.” Over 50% of teens are daily users of YouTube (71 percent), TikTok (58 percent), and Snapchat (51 percent). Various states have passed or proposed parental consent laws for the use of social media, and a proposal to ban TikTok continues to gain bipartisan support in Congress. Yet teens remain undeterred in their devotion to time spent on their favorite platforms.

 

Cheating Fears Over Chatbots Were Overblown, New Research Suggests

The New York Times, December 13, 2023

According to new research from Stanford University, the popularization of A.I. chatbots has not boosted overall cheating rates in schools. While there was a panic from schools when students first started using ChatGPT, the data suggests that those concerns may be unfounded by many in higher education.


Students say their New York school’s cellphone ban helped improve their mental health

CBS News, December 13, 2023

Ebony Clark, assistant principal at Newburgh Free Academy, says banning phones has helped cut down on online bullying. “All I’m doing is giving them the opportunity to engage in school and leave the drama outside these doors,” Clark said. A student named Monique May is happy about the school’s decision. She disclosed she sometimes felt bullied or isolated after looking at social media and that phone and social media use was entirely to blame for her mental health struggles in the past. May said she’s experienced improvements in her mental health because of Newburgh’s phone restrictions. “I’m more confident in who I am,” May said. “And I think that just comes from not being able to worry about what other people are saying about me. Just being me.”

Cyber Safety in the News

Teens exploited by fake nudes illustrate threat of unregulated Artificial Intelligence

Axios, November 3, 2023

A phone, a few photos, and artificial intelligence have stirred controversy and shattered the privacy of several teens at a New Jersey high school after they learned that nude images of them – created via AI – were circulated in group chats. This incident is a poignant example of the threats that come with the unregulated and expanding artificial intelligence access. This is an issue that all school districts are grappling with as the omnipresence of technology — including artificial intelligence — impacts students’ lives. Given the ease of use and access to AI, this will certainly not be the last incident of this nature reported.

 

A Meta engineer saw his own child face harassment on Instagram. Now, he’s testifying before Congress

AP News, November 7, 2023

“I appear before you today as a dad with firsthand experience of a child who received unwanted sexual advances on Instagram,” Arturo Béjar told a panel of U.S. senators. He is known for his expertise on curbing online harassment and used his position at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to recount his own daughter’s troubling experiences with Instagram to Mark Zuckerberg. “I can safely say that Meta’s executives knew the harm that teenagers were experiencing, that there were things that they could do that are very doable and that they chose not to do them,” Béjar told The Associated Press. This, he said, makes it clear that “we can’t trust them with our children.”

 

Omegle Shuts Down as Founder Acknowledges Crime on Video Chat Site

The New York Times, November 9, 2023

Omegle, the popular website and app that paired random users through video chat, has shut down after its founder acknowledged persistent criminal activity and critics said that it had become a haven for pedophilia and child sexual abuse. In the past, we have often made parents aware of the dangers associated with this site. The end of Omegle comes as lawmakers and law enforcement agencies continue to examine the role of technology and social media in the explosion of online child sex abuse in recent years.

 

Opinion: Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help.

Washington Post, November 25, 2023

We hear every day from individual schools and school districts that are trying to crack down on smartphones. Some schools have  required their students to store the devices in backpacks or lockers during classes, or to place them in magnetic locking pouches. In 2024, these efforts should go even further: Impose an outright ban on bringing cellphones to school, which parents should welcome and support. In educational settings, smartphones have an almost entirely negative impact: Educators and students alike note they can fuel cyberbullying and stifle meaningful in-person interaction.

 

Cyber Safety: Shop smarter by avoiding online scams

ABC57 News, November 27, 2023

It is easy to feel confident thinking it would never happen to you, but the reality is that with over $2.7 billion lost in online scams just between 2021-2023, everyone is at risk of falling victim to scams. Online scams are becoming more difficult to spot as scammers use new technology to their advantage. Learning about current scams is always a great reminder as the holiday season approaches.

 

Cyber Safety in the News

Want to raise happy, successful kids? ‘Wait as long as possible’ to give them a phone, says Yale expert

CNBC, October 23, 2023

How old should a child be before getting their first cell phone? It is a question we get asked all the time by parents. According to Yale University psychology professor Laurie Santos there is only one correct answer: “Wait as long as possible.” She goes on to say “I think the more we can hold off on giving kids technology — the longer, the better,” She backs up her claims with studies that show too much screentime is likely to encourage poor mental health in children.

Is Social Media Addictive? Here’s What the Science Says

New York Times, October 25, 2023

Experts who study internet use say that the magnetic allure of social media makes it so that consumers find it hard to turn away from the incoming stream of information. David Greenfield, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction said the devices lure users with some powerful tactics, just like a slot machine. As with a slot machine, users are beckoned with lights and sounds but, even more powerful, information and rewards tailored to a user’s interests and tastes. Young people are particularly at risk, because the brain regions that are involved in resisting temptation and reward are not nearly as developed in children and teenagers as in adults.

Parents urged to delete their kids’ social media accounts ahead of possible Israeli hostage videos

CNN Business, October 12, 2023

Schools in Israel, the UK and the US are advising parents to delete their children’s social media apps over concerns that Hamas militants will broadcast or disseminate disturbing videos of hostages who have been seized this month. Parents have voiced their concerns: “We cannot allow our kids to watch this stuff. It is also difficult, furthermore – impossible – to contain all this content on social media.” This is a good reminder that parents need to be always aware of the content on their children’s screens.

41 states sue Meta, claiming Instagram and Facebook are addictive and harmful to kids

Washington Post, October 24, 2023

The federal lawsuit alleges that the company engaged in a “scheme to exploit young users for profit” by misleading users about its safety features and the prevalence of harmful content on its products, harvesting data from younger users and violating federal laws on children’s privacy. We have long been concerned about these social media apps violations against COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act. The lawsuit seeks a variety of remedies, including substantial civil penalties.

Michigan teen’s suicide highlights growing dangers of online sextortion plots

ABC News, October 20, 2023

Jordan DeMay was a typical and outgoing 17-year-old who his friends and family say made everyone’s life brighter. But last year, after the Upper Peninsula Michigan high school homecoming king received a message from an Instagram account that appeared to be a teenage girl, he wound up going down a dark road that within only six hours would end with him taking his own life. “Impact x Nightline” takes a look at Jordan’s death and the growing sextortion scams targeting teens around the country in a new episode now streaming on Hulu. We recommend viewing this episode with your middle and high school students.

New York State takes steps to protect children online

ABC News Buffalo, October 11, 2023

 New York elected leaders have come together to announce two new bills to protect children online. According to the governor’s office, recent research has shown the mental health impacts associated with children and young adults’ excessive social media use which includes increased rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. The two New York State bills are titled Bill #1: Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act and Bill #2: The New York Child Data Protection Act.

 

Cyber Safety in the News

Nigeria hands over two suspects in sextortion case linked to suicide of Michigan high school athlete

In a rare move, two Nigerian men were extradited to the U.S. to face charges in a sexual extortion scheme that authorities say prompted the suicide last year of a 17-year-old Michigan high school student. “Here was three Nigerian men that conspired from across the planet and came into my house in the middle of night while I was sleeping, and murdered my son,” his father John DeMay told NBC News in May. In most cases, families of sextortion victims never see justice served.

 

Finding the right technology balance for your kids

The goal is to make sure our children are not tech illiterate, but also not tech saturated. In other words, how do we find the proper amount of exposure to technology to make sure our kids aren’t overwhelmed by it? This article gives great ideas for creating healthy technology habits in your home, and ones you can begin from an early age. One of the best habits we recommend is to designate specific areas of your home as tech-free zones, such as the dining table or children’s bedrooms.

 

NYC principal threatens to suspend students who follow specific Instagram accounts

A New York City principal issued an unusual threat this week: All students who follow anonymous social media accounts connected to the school community could face suspension and lose out on a recommendation letter for college or work. This is an attempt to curb many of the anonymous confession type pages that are posting “horrifying content” including “graphic and direct threats to specific children with bullying comments,” which can be the source of many student behavior issues.

 

Top Parental Concerns? Screen Time and Social Media

This comes as no surprise to many: As kids head back to school, many parents are worried about technology use. Specifically, the use of screen time, social media, internet safety and the effects on student’s mental health. One of the solutions mentioned is technology safety education for students and we couldn’t agree more!

 

Being 13: What it’s like to be a teenage girl in the digital age

If you have teenagers, this is a must read!  This article gives a great in depth feel for what it’s like to be 13 in the age of social media, as the journalist worked with 3 teenage girls for over a year’s time, studying their social media habits. The article includes links to more information about how social media affects the teenage brain, and advice to create healthy phone habits.

 

UK’s Online Safety Bill finally passed by parliament

In their effort to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online, Britain’s long-awaited Online Safety Bill has been agreed by parliament and will soon become law, setting tougher standards for social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. The bill will be focused on child protection and the removal of illegal content from popular platforms. It will also be expected to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content like pornography by enforcing age limits and age-checking measures.

Cyber Safety in the News

Instagram’s new feature protects users from unwanted images and videos in DMs

Instagram is launching a new feature that is designed to better protect users from unwanted images and videos in direct messages. Instagram says with these new restrictions, people will no longer receive unwanted images or videos from users they don’t follow, nor will strangers be able to message them repeatedly. This is a great step to protect the many students who use social media from predators.

Professors have an assignment: Prevent ChatGPT chaos in the fall

AI chatbots have triggered a panic among educators, who are flooding listservs, webinars, and professional conferences to figure out how to deal with the technology. Many educators are using AI in their classrooms for the first time this year to help lesson plan, create assignments and further help students with special needs or English as a second language. They are also possibly encountering students using ChatGPT within their assignments for the first time.

New law entitles child social media influencers to a percentage of earnings: ‘It’s kind of a new world’

Illinois is the first state in the U.S. to ensure child social media influencers are compensated for their work. Besides coordinated dances and funny toddler comments, online family vlogs nowadays may share intimate details of their children’s lives like grades, potty training, illnesses, and misbehaviors for countless strangers to view. Now, those children will be paid for it.

China wants to limit minors to no more than two hours a day on their phones

China is proposing new measures to curb the amount of time that kids and teens can spend on their phones, as the country takes aim at internet addiction and tries to cultivate “good morality” among minors. It would restrict daily screen time to a maximum of two hours a day, depending on the age group. It is interesting to see what other countries are doing to combat screen time issues amongst minors as the US works to create legislation to tackle the same issues.

Parents Are Using Apple Airtags To Keep Track Of Their Kids, And To Hopefully Give Them More Freedom

Many parents and caregivers have recently turned to tracking devices to keep tabs on children old enough to wander away but too young for a phone. Trackers are being placed in backpacks, on bikes, or directly on kids for extra accuracy, and some parents sew them into jackets as an ever-increasing paranoia settles over our kids’ safety. So innovative!

Officials share school safety tips before posting photos of your child online

When it comes to your back-to-school pictures, law enforcement advises parents to not disclose their child’s information online. Keeping these tips in mind as you post can help eliminate predators from knowing personal information about your child and avoiding contact with them.

Cyber Safety in the News

So your tween wants a smartphone? Read this first

Your tween wants a smartphone very badly. And they’re giving you many reasons why. Before you hand one over to your child, make sure they are ready, as we find it is much harder to take the device away after the child has experienced it. Many industry experts agree: delay, delay, delay.

Threads Becomes Most Rapidly Downloaded App, Raising Twitter’s Ire

Instagram’s new app was downloaded more than 30 million times in 16 hours. Twitter threatened legal action against its rival. Time will tell whether Threads will become one of the social media apps that teens and tweens continue to use daily.

Evidence of social media’s harm is abundant

Social media screen time contributes to ongoing feelings of anxiety, depression, irritability, and an increase in impulsive behavior. Students who use their screens too much are often sadder and lonelier. The average time spent on a smartphone is more than seven hours a day. When we speak with parents, teachers, principals, and teens, we often hear about social media’s particular harm within the schools.

Personalized chatbot tutors will likely revolutionize traditional education and benefit students

The future is bright as AI revolutionizes education. Berkeley professor and leading AI expert Stuart Russell speculates that as technology evolves, it could revolutionize traditional education with ChatGPT-style personalized tutors. “Education is the biggest benefit that we can look for in the next few years,” Russell told the Guardian of AI’s potential impact on education. “It ought to be possible within a few years to be delivering a pretty high quality of education to every child in the world. That’s potentially transformative.”

Child predators are using Discord, a popular app among teens, for sextortion and abductions

The popular app Discord has a dark side. In hidden communities and chat rooms, adults have used the platform to groom children before abducting them, to trade child sexual exploitation material (CSAM) and to extort minors whom they trick into sending nude images. Experts have suggested that Discord’s young user base, decentralized structure, and multimedia communication tools, along with its recent growth in popularity, have made it a particularly attractive location for people looking to exploit children.

Get Phones Out of Schools Now

Experts often agree that smartphones in the classroom impede learning, stunt relationships, and lessen belonging. Many educators say they should be banned from schools. We are noticing an increase in schools making policies to ban phones during classroom use throughout the school day.

More than 2,000 families suing social media companies over kids’ mental health

More than 350 lawsuits are expected to move forward this year against TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Roblox and Meta – the parent company to Instagram and Facebook. Experts often debate whether this is a technology issue, or a parenting issue and it will be interesting to see if a precedent is set once these lawsuits are decided.

 

 

Cyber Safety In The News

As part of the Cyber Safety Consulting mission, we want to bring you as much current information as possible. To that end, we have pulled together a compilation of news articles over the past month. One may catch your interest, two, or maybe all of them. Take a look and we hope this helps!

For the full article, click the headline and you will be taken to the original article.

The Best Parental Control Apps to Manage Screen Time (And Keep Your Kid Safer Online)

We often recommend parental controls apps during our presentations. Parental controls allow adults to set limits on their child’s app access and overall phone usage, and they serve as “training wheels” to help kids and teens build healthy tech habits. Keep in mind – parental control apps are not perfect – they simply help parents do a better job of parenting around technology.

His Son, 17, Was Sextortion Victim, Then Died by Suicide. Now, S.C. Dad Protects Other Kids from Same Fate

Unfortunately, we are hearing stories like this one all too often. We consistently warn teenagers about the dangers of online sextortion schemes. According to the FBI, they are the fastest growing crime on the Internet. While these stories are very tragic, teenagers need to not only understand the risks they face, but they need to hear the examples of HOW those risks come at them online in order to better protect themselves.

It’s time to put kids’ online safety ahead of Big Tech profits

According to recent CDC data, teenagers are reporting record levels of sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) aims to protect and empower young people against the toxic content driven at them by black box algorithms and will hold Big Tech accountable.

The Kids Online Safety Act is Still a Danger to Our Rights Online

While The Kids Online Safety Act is a step in the right direction with many positives, this article raises the privacy concerns regarding the newly proposed legislation. Who would control all of this new personal information and how can we protect it?

The Best Smartwatches and Phones for Kids

If parents don’t want to give their child an adult smartphone but do want them to have a way to communicate as they become more independent, there are definitely options and we love to share these alternatives with parents.

Surgeon General Issues New Advisory About Effects Social Media Use Has on Youth Mental Health

We applaud Surgeon General Murthy and the awareness he brings to children’s online and social media safety.  He has stated “The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids?’. The answer is that we don’t have enough evidence to say it’s safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health,”

‘Shemy’ Schembechler and accountability in the Twitter age

We warn students that people will judge and make assumptions about your character based on your social media presence. In a very real sense, what you endorse on social media captures what you are willing to broadcast about yourself to the world regarding who you are and what you believe. Unfortunately, some people have had to learn that lesson the hard way.