Digital Safety

If your kids love online gaming, it is important to keep up with the latest tips on how to keep them playing safely and smartly. Got just a minute to do that? Check out this video entitled 7 Easy Hacks for Parents of Young Gamers.

Media stories about online predators make for sensationalized press, playing on parental fears, but how worried should you be? Overall statistics show that unwanted sexual solicitation is down but the most important thing is to arm yourself with facts about the issue and solutions if you suspect your child is, or could become, a victim. Common Sense Media recently took up the topic in an article entitled The Facts about Online Predators Every Parent Should Know. The article outlines the facts and strategies for handling your concerns about online predators.

In a recent Pew Research study on online harassment, about half of female respondents ages 18-29 reported that someone had sent them explicit images they did not ask for. Parents of teens should consider having a discussion about what to do if this kind of situation arises, because chances are it is happening with younger teens as well. One place to start with getting the information you need is the Wikihow entry on How to Get Someone to Stop Sexting You .  It is broken up into four sections with step-by-step directions for each section. The four sections are: Getting Help if You’re a Minor, Blocking Their Message, Confronting the Person and Contacting an Authority Figure. These sections are followed by a very helpful Community Q&A touching on many of the issues faced by both parents and teens.

As you may have observed with your own teens, Facebook and Twitter are fading and Snapchat is the app of choice these days. Even if you are familiar with Snapchat, you may need to get up to speed on a new feature called Snap Map. The feature lets users see where Snaps (messages or pictures) are being composed from. If users want to keep that information private (versus letting the whole world know where they are), users must choose Ghost Mode. Need more information on how to set up Ghost Mode and Snap Map? See Talk to your teen about Snapchat Ghost Mode on the USA Today site.

As you may have observed with your own teens, Facebook and Twitter are fading and Snapchat is the app of choice these days. Even if you are familiar with Snapchat, you may need to get up to speed on a new feature called Snap Map. The feature lets users see where Snaps (messages or pictures) are being composed from. If users want to keep that information private (versus letting the whole world know where they are), users must choose Ghost Mode. Need more information on how to set up Ghost Mode and Snap Map? See Talk to your teen about Snapchat Ghost Mode on the USA Today site.

Although both young men and women in high school are affected by digital dating abuse, researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of California Santa Barbara have found that girls suffer more issues such as being pressured to sext, receiving threatening messages, and having someone monitor their whereabouts and activities. Both girls and boys, however, also reported they respond to direct aggression by blocking communication.

As the retraction of acceptance offers to potential Harvard students because of their online activity reminds us, there are real-life consequences for virtual actions. What can parents do? Ana Homayoun, the author of a forthcoming book called  “Social Media Wellness: Helping Teens and Tweens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World” in a piece in The New York Times reminds parents that they need to shift the conversation around teens’ social media use away from a fear of getting caught and more toward healthy socialization, effective self-regulation and overall safety. This could become all the more important if a bill that was just overwhelmingly passed in the House becomes law. The bill could make it a felony — punishable by 15 years in jail — if teens send consensual nude photos of themselves.