TECHNOLOGY
On Android devices, restrictions
vary depending on the handset
you own. On Google Play, users
can set similar limits on what
content kids can access based
on ratings.
KEEP AN EYE ON APP
DOWNLOADS
Both iOS and Google Play
include ways to check out your
app history if you plan on sharing
accounts with your kids.
In Apple’s App Store, for
example, users can view what
apps they’ve downloaded as
well as what apps aren’t on their
current devices. In Google Play,
users can head to their account,
then order history to view
downloads.
Also, on the App Store, users
can enable automatic downloads,
which will add an app on one
device to all of them. It’s handy
for knowing when your kids have
downloaded a new app.
Depending on the age of the
child receiving the smartphone,
parents can also explore settings
within apps to limit activity.
There are also apps dedicated
to tracking how much time
someone is spending on their
phones or in a app: Moment
for iPhones, Space (formerly
BreakFree) for Android. Moment
also has a feature that makes the
whole family (including parents)
go screen-free for a period, say
dinner time.
THE MORE YOU KNOW
Perhaps the most important
thing parents can do is stay
informed. Talk to your kids about
why they want a phone and how
they plan to use it.
“It’s not high-tech parenting
that’s going to win the day here,”
Steinberg says. “It’s traditional
low-tech parenting and just
making a point to ask the right
questions, to be having the con-
versations in households and
schools and making a point to stay
on top of the latest new high-tech
developments.” ●
TRACKING TEENS ONLINE
More than a quarter of parents use a device to track or monitor their kids’
online activity, finds a survey from Common Sense Media and Survey Monkey.
It’s far more than the percentage of teens — 15 percent — who think their
parents are tracking or monitoring what they do online.
Whether all that snooping is effective seems unclear. Only 30 percent of
teens who responded to the survey said their parents were “extremely” aware
or “very” aware of what they do online. By comparison, 52 percent of parents
believed they were “very” aware of their kids’ web activity.
“There’s a pretty big difference between parents who say they know and
what kids say parents know,” says Michael Robb, director of research for
Common Sense Media.
The online survey from Common Sense Media and SurveyMonkey was
among a national sample of 884 teens ages 14-17 and 3,282 parents of teens.
Options for tracking kids’ online activities vary from tools for your router
capable of tracking the websites users visit to apps letting you review your
child’s smartphone call logs and text messages.
Devorah Heitner, author of the book Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and
Survive) In Their Digital World, suggests mentoring kids about best online
practices instead of monitoring. If parents do choose to monitor, they should
talk with their kids first.
“You have to really ask yourself what you think you’re going to learn by
covertly monitoring your kid,” she says. “What’s your plan of action if you
see something that concerns you?”
BE CAUTIOUS
WITH SNAP MAP
F
orget Facebook and
Twitter — Snapchat
is the digital stomping
ground where all the
kids are hanging out these
days. A new study from the
Associated Press discovered
that while 66 percent of teens
use Facebook, and 47 percent
use Twitter, a full 75 percent
use Snapchat. It’s incredibly
popular, and if you have a
teenage son or daughter,
there’s a good chance that
they’re using Snapchat on their smartphone.
Snapchat’s feature called the Snap Map is
raising lots of parental eyebrows. It’s like a
funky GPS locator for all your kids’ Snapchat
friends. When they first activate it, it asks
if they want to share their location with all
of their friends, some of their friends, or
keep it private with “Ghost Mode.” Far-too-
trusting teens may be tempted to let the whole
world know where they’re hanging out, but
parents know better. It might be useful for
20-somethings trying to find a party on a
Saturday night, but why does the world need
to know where your teen is spending the
afternoon — or even weirder — where they
live?
Snapchat’s answer to this is that the
only people who can see your kids location
on a map are people they’re friends with.
So, the first question is, has your teen ever
friended anyone they don’t know first-hand?
The answer is often, “yes,” which leads to a
potential for creeps to exploit. According to
Snapchat, “Snaps you submit to Our Story
can still show up on the Map, no matter what
location setting you choose! These are not
Snaps sent between friends, but ones shared
with the Snapchat community.”
Want to wipe your kids avatar’s off the
map, so to speak? Here’s how they can go into
“Ghost Mode,” and control exactly who can see
where they are. First, tap the little gear icon
in the upper right corner, then scroll down to
where it says “Who can…See my location.”
Tap it, and click “Ghost Mode” so it turns on.
Now your teen can browse the map without
showing their own location to a whole bunch of
people who shouldn’t know it in the first place.
— Jennifer Jolly
(201) FAMILY | SPRING 2018
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