Technology Tools for Parents Revisited

 This is reposted from September 21, 2022.  We've reposted it today as the topic is still an important one, especially as our students return to school and use technology to complete their schoolwork.

Image by Luis Garcia Wikimedia Commons

Children are now growing up immersed in an online world. They watch their parents on their phones, older siblings are glued to their devices for both school and social activities, and they start playing online games at earlier and earlier ages. While the debate is still out on how this affects children long-term, the fact that keeping a child entertained on the internet can be a risky situation for their mental health and physical safety, unless the adults in charge have put necessary safeguards in place. 

Social media is one of the top places child predators seek out new victims, so it's important to both talk to your child about online dangers, and to set up parental controls to protect them. If you are a parent who is comfortable with technology, you probably have already put parent controls in place on all your child's devices, apps and accounts, monitor your child's online activity, and restrict their internet access. If you are a parent who is completely baffled by technology, and your 7 year old is your go-to tech expert, all these controls can seem overwhelming. What is a non-techie parent to do? Where do you even start? Once those parental controls are in place, how do you keep up with the latest ways for kids to bypass them besides fervent prayers to St. Isidore of Seville, the patron saint of the internet? (Yes, there really is a patron saint of the internet.)

Fortunately there are MANY resources available for parents, a simple Google search will bring up countless results. I'll point you to a few from organizations that are either currently in use at ASA, or that we've used in the past. Disclaimer:  ASA does not receive any compensation for any of the resources we recommend to parents. We share the resources we've found and used because we are passionate about working with parents to keep students safe.

Resources for Talking to Your Children About Online Dangers

It's never too early to start these conversations about online dangers and inappropriate content. Sadly, you'll want to have these conversations sooner than you think. 

• Childhood 2.0, A Handbook for Raising Kids in the Digital Age, from Bark
• How to Talk About Online Predators With Your Kids, from the Bark Blog
• How to Talk to Teens About Dealing with Online Predators, from Common Sense Media
• Talk to Your Kids, from the US Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice
• Chatting With Kids About Being Online, from the US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure security Agency
• Be Internet Awesome, by Google. Children learn online safety in a game.
• The Protect App from Protect Young Eyes provides bite sized lessons for parents and their children.
• What's the Right Age to Give My Kid Social Media, from Wait Until 8th

Parental Controls

• Protect Young Eyes Parental Controls for Every Digital Device - Step by step instructions for setting up controls on any mobile or gaming device, computers, wireless routers, smart TVs, smart speakers, e-readers, etc.
• Recommended Parental Controls from Protect Young Eyes - scroll down the Resources page to find the parental controls
• Common Sense Media Parents' Ultimate Guide to Parental Controls - Everything you wanted to know about parental controls and more.
• Bark Blog posts about parental controls
• Child Predators:  Ultimate Guide to Protecting Your Child, from the Bark Blog

Which Apps and Games are Safe?

So your child has an iPad, gaming system or mobile phone, and they want all the latest apps and games that everyone else is using. How do you know they are safe?

• Social Media, Gaming, Photo, and Video Apps Explained from Protect Young Eyes. Pretty much every app your child wants will be listed here.
• App Reviews by Common Sense Media
• Game Reviews by Common Sense Media

How to Keep Up With New Tech?

Let's face it, our children have far more time on their hands than adults, and they are fearless. They always find the latest and greatest app, game, site, way to bypass parental controls, etc.

• The Protect App from Protect Young Eyes provides bite sized lessons for parents and their children.
• Subscribe to the Bark blog The prompt to subscribe is at the bottom of the page.
• Subscribe to the Protect Young Eyes blog
• Recommended books from Protect Young Eyes, scroll down the Resources page to find the recommended books.

If you have questions or concerns, or wonder about the technology your child uses at ASA, please refer to this Technology in Use With Students page on our website, or feel free to reach out to me at kszczytko@asagr.org.

Many blessings,

Karen Szczytko (Sitko)
Technology Coordinator