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Parent Tips for Social Media

Parent Tips for Social Media
Parent Tips for Social Media

PARENT TIPS: CYBERBULLYING

MONITOR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS

Have your child/children sign a contract on appropriate social media usage.

Discuss scenarios with them:  What would you do if someone posted something mean about another student?

Do NOT allow them to have social media accounts at an early age:

The minimum age for a Facebook account is 13.

Monitor your child/children) social media postings.

Have your child/children check their cellphones in and out. Check-in should be a 7 p.m.

Teach "Netiquette" - online manners.

Teach your child/children to be aware of trolling activities and strategies.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS BEING CYBERBULLIED:

Do NOT erase, omit, or alter texts or e-mails. DO screenshot the posts. This is your evidence.

Copy and paste the social media URL and provide it to your school site.

Fill out a Notification of Harassment/Bullying form available at www.cnusd.k12.ca.us/cnusdiskind.

HOW TO ADD RESTRICTIONS TO A CELLPHONE

iPhone

Go to SETTINGS

Click on GENERAL

Click on RESTRICTIONS

You'll be prompted to create a code. After creating a code, you will be able to select any phone functions you DO NOT want your child to have free access to without your approval.

Android

Go to SETTINGS - USERS

Select ADD USER/RESTRICTED PROFILE

You'll be prompted to create a code. After creating a code, you will be able to select any phone functions you DO NOT want your child to have free access to without your approval.

 

IS YOUR CHILD USING THESE APPS?

 

It is important to monitor what apps your child is using and what they are doing on those apps.

Below is a list of the most common apps among kids.

 

 

SHAMCHAT

What is Shamchat? Well, It’s tagline is “Don’t Be Yourself.” And it introduces itself as a place where you can be anything at all. It can be an attractive idea for tweens and teens who aren’t feeling particularly comfortable in their own skin. They can assume any identity they want and then enter into the app and interact with others who are also pretending to be someone their not. If that’s not enough to give you pause, the apps is known as a place to carry on pornographic conversations and other sexualized behavior.

KIK

What is Kik? This is an instant messenger/social networking hybrid. Kids can send basic messages like texting, but also photos and files. Since it is used over the internet and anyone can attempt to connect with your child. This app allows kids to send private messages that can be very difficult for parents to access or which can be easily deleted. Since photos are involved, there is considerable opportunity for children to be exposed to inappropriate images. In addition, this is a commonly used app for sexting.

SNAPCHAT

This app allows kids to send photos that once opened by the recipient disappear after 10 seconds. However, should the recipient grab a screen shot of the picture, it is now a permanent image that could easily be shared with others. Most children won’t think about the possibility of the screen shot and may be tempted to take risks sending things that they think will no longer exist after 10 seconds. Also, recent versions of the app can reveal the exact location of users via geo-location, so be sure that part of the app is turned off.

CHAT ROULETTE

Combine the randomness of roulette with spontaneous video chat, meaning you never know who you’re going to be paired with or what they might show you. Google it, and you’ll discover that it’s not something anyone should want to be a part of, let alone a young person.

WHISPER

Whisper’s tag line is “Express Yourself Share Secrets Meet New People.” Already this doesn’t sound good for kids, right? Anonymity is the lure of this social meet-up app, where names are never used, but location can be provided within a one mile radius. Again, because kids are online when using it, they are open to anyone who wants to try and connect with them. This is yet another app with picture sharing capabilities as well, making it appealing for both cyber bullying and sexually oriented interaction.

ASKFM

A social networking app set-up in a question answer forum that offers complete anonymity and no monitoring whatsoever by the company. This app has already been involved in numerous serious cyber-bullying incidents both in the U.S. and abroad. There is very little ability to control privacy settings and even if your child blocks someone who is harassing them, the individual can still access their profile and view all interactions your child is having on the app.

YIK YAK

Twitter meets texting with complete anonymity thrown in. A child can send an anonymous message of up to 200 characters and then using GPS, the message can be read by the nearest 500 other people using the app. No images with this one, but it still has gained in popularity quickly and has become a powerful tool for bullying and sexual content.

VOXER

This app enables you to transform your mobile phone into a walking talkie. However, beyond just being able to say “over an out”, kids can also exchange photos, texts and other personal information. It’s gotten national attention as part of a high profile cyber bullying case. However, if you allow your child to use it, just make sure you’ve got the location services turned off and privacy settings enabled. Plus, be clear who your child is communicating with when using it.

MUSICAL.LY

Musical.ly is a video based social app for video creation, messaging, and live broadcasting. . It allows users to can videos and choose soundtracks to accompany them. Users can also check out popular “users,” content, trending songs and sounds and hashtags. It’s gotten popular with younger users, because of the funny filters that can be added and many parents view the app as relatively harmless. Unfortunately, it is possible for inappropriate or pornographic hashtags to pop up. Plus, settings autodefault to “public” which if not changed can let anyone in the app view what your child is doing on the app.

POOF (AND SIMILAR APPS)

Poof actually no longer exists, but it represents a whole category of apps that are constantly being created and then deleted, just to pop up as something new. These apps provide the ability to hide apps from being displayed on the phone screen. Therefore, parents who think they are being diligent about monitoring what apps their children are using, may not realize some have been hidden from their view.

GHOST AND VALUT APPS

These apps are similar to the “Poof” app phenomenon and are constantly changing. For anyone who heard about the sexting scandal at a Colorado High School involving half of the student population, and where more than 500 explicit photos were being exchanged of kids some as young as 8th grade, a vault app was involved in helping keep the photo sharing undiscovered for so long. The apps will often appear as an innocuous app on your child’s phone and can even be disguised as a calculator or some other simple tool. To guard against their use, the best protection is to password protect the ability to download apps onto their phone. Additionally, you can check for duplicate apps or tools as that could also be a red flag.

 

REMEMBER:

Monitoring your child's phone for these apps is parenting, not spying.

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