A 3 Step Family Plan for Tech Safety

The average teenager now spends eleven hours a day plugged into media. They spend two hours a day just checking social media. More than 3 out of 4 high schoolers and over half of middle schoolers now own their own cell phone. All of that media time means your child is not only staring at screens for an insane amount of time, but they are also sharing more information than ever before.

Just as you have taken steps to protect your home and car by locking the doors, you must do the same thing for your family when it comes to all the screen time in their life. You would never want your teenager to sit on a bench in the mall next to a stranger and share intimate information about themselves. Nor would you ever intentionally set up your child for a moral failure or help them scar their reputation. Living with technology day in and day out without a safety plan is basically the same thing.

There are three different fronts for you to guard when it comes to protecting your family and setting healthy boundaries with technology.

Step One: Guard Their Heart

More than 80% of high school guys and 30% of girls admit to struggling with digital pornography. The first place your child is likely to see digital porn is through google search. They weren’t looking for porn; they were looking for answers. The second most common first encounter with digital porn is on YouTube. YouTube takes down more than 10,000 inappropriate videos each day, but there are more than 300 hours of new videos uploaded each minute. It is impossible for them to catch everything that should not be there. This is why it is important that you have a good filtering software for the devices they use. Filtering software allows you to not only set restrictions on porn, but content such as violence, racism, gambling, drinking, and social media. A great place to start for both Android, iPhones, and your laptops is the free program K9 Web Protection by Blue Coat.

Step Two: Guard Their Reputation

More than half of all twelve year olds in the US have a social media account even though, by law, every company requires a minimum age of thirteen. By the time they get to thirteen, over 70% have an account. At that young of an age, teens do not have the life experience to understand how the information they share can be used against them or have serious long-term consequences. The majority of college admission counselors say that they now check Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter accounts of applicants. By the time your child is old enough to consider what college to attend, they have a digital reputation of several years. Beside communicating your expectations of them when it comes to social media, there is software you can also use to help protect them. If your child is just starting out on social media, I would recommend a program such as uKnowKids by uKnow.com. uKnowKids tracks all the social media in your child’s life telling you who has friended or followed them, messaged them, and commented on their posts. This is great accountability and protection for young users who are getting their feet wet on social media.

Your child is going to be on social media. It is how they connect to the world and peers whether it to engage for work, social, school, or academic reasons. At whatever age you agree to allow them to dive into social media, you should always be connected to them on the same platform. This will help create accountability and show them that you desire to be a part of all aspects of their life.

Step Three: Guard Their Information

Chances are pretty good that a device your teen uses has been infected with malware, adware, or a virus. Teenagers are notorious for opening social media spam that has been passed from one friend to another. Many of the popular topics that teens search for such as celebrities, video gaming, and shopping lead to sites packed with free downloads that are ready to sabotage your home. One of the best solutions I know is a new device called CUJO. It’s simple and protects every wireless device in your home from viruses and spam. More importantly, anything from your cell phone and gaming system to your smart TV and tablet are protected from hacking.

A hands-on approach to helping your child guard their information is to periodically review what they are sharing online. If you see something inappropriate or that even makes you uncomfortable, it’s time for a conversation. Ask your teen to remove the post or comment, but do so in a calm, reasoned voice that is free of guilt or shame. Use this as an opportunity to revisit your agreed upon boundaries.

This three step process of protecting your family’s heart, reputation, and information will give you peace of mind, but should never be replaced with honest dialogue with your teen or tween about God’s boundaries for their life and how to honor him in how they use technology.

Share this Post

Comments are closed.

Raising Responsible Teens

Tech Savvy Parenting

How You Always Meant to Parent

Single Post

Raising Responsible Teens

Tech Savvy Parenting

How You Always Meant to Parent