New year, new resolutions, new technology, new apps, new dangers … at the rate technology is constantly evolving and changing, there is always something new on the scene. And while that ‘something new’ may be the most amazing piece of technology ever, as we are all aware, there are often side effects as well.

There are more new apps than ever exploding onto the scene. We’ve rounded up the top 3 new apps that parents ought to know about:

## ChatGPT
ChatGPT from [OpenAI](https://openai.com/) is currently taking the world by storm with its innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) to write and inform about anything and everything.

So what exactly is ChatGPT? In short, ChatGPT is a next-generation chatbot that uses AI in order to understand natural human language and generate impressively human-like written content. Created by OpenAI, an AI research and deployment company, the letters ‘GPT’ here refer to ‘Generative Pre-Trained Transformer’ i.e. a sophisticated model that uses deep machine learning to produce human-like text.

What’s most fascinating about this new chatbot is that it can generate new sentences and large volumes of material relevant to the user, rather than simply repeating pre-recorded responses, as seen with previous chatbots.  

With more than a [million users](https://www.demandsage.com/chatgpt-statistics/), ChatGPT is being used for anything and everything, from generating informal content like Secret Santa riddles and Best Man wedding speeches to creating more formal articles and academic essays, and writing computer code. Poems, plays, stories and essays - this text generator can seemingly produce entire written works after being fed a simple text prompt. 

Recent concerns surrounding this product have included: 
- Will students use it for homework? 
- Will it pass muster for academic essays? 
- Is it ‘cheating’? 
- Can people recognize that these texts are AI-generated? 

New York public schools have [reportedly](https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/05/as-nyc-public-schools-block-chatgpt-openai-says-its-working-on-mitigations-to-help-spot-chatgpt-generated-text/) already restricted access to ChatGPT amid fears that it will be used to cheat at schoolwork - leading OpenAI to open the discussion of whether they will add a watermark to their content to alert educators if the app has been used, and also how best they can direct the app to be of educational value.

Be sure to impress upon your child that they shouldn’t use this app as a ‘quick fix’ when it comes to homework and projects. It doesn’t help students develop problem-solving or critical-thinking skills.

## BeReal
Created in 2020, [BeReal](https://bere.al/en) is a French social media app that has been steadily gaining popularity in the U.S. In August of 2022, it [surpassed](https://petapixel.com/bereal-guide/) 20 million downloads - cementing it as a top new app by Apple. 

BeReal is a simple photo-sharing app, designed to be used among friends, whereby photos are shared at a different set time every day. Since users do not know in advance when the picture will be taken and shared, there can't be any planning or enhancing for the best impression. It’s designed to remove the fake gloss that tints Instagram and other social media apps, offering more authenticity and less photoshopping. Unlike other social media platforms, BeReal actively prevents branding and audience building, keeping the user experience as ‘rea’ as possible.

Although safety concerns have been addressed to a degree - for example, the default setting is private unless the user changes it to public, and as with Snapchat, photos are deleted after 24 hours. The ongoing issue is that if someone chooses to screenshot an image, they will still retain it even after the app has been deleted. Sharing photos online is an ongoing concern, there’s always the risk of strangers or possible predators. Additionally, you don’t know what other content your child could be exposed to.

Another thing to be aware of with the new app: Location. The default is that the user’s location is shown - a child or teen needs to turn it off to protect their privacy manually. It’s these little details concerning their privacy that young users may not know about. 

## Mastodon

Have you heard of Mastodon yet? [In 2022](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/01/revenue-tesla-elon-musks-twitter-staff-investors), millions of users began flocking to the new social media platform. So what is Mastodon? 

This decentralized social media network currently has 1.4 million monthly active users, according to its website. Mastodon is built on open-source software and resides on the Fediverse, which stands for "federated universe," an online universe of applications and websites connected by thousands of independent servers. Currently, there are about 5,700 Mastodon servers on the Fediverse. Much of the appeal of this social media network stems from the fact that it doesn't belong to any one person or organization.

So, unlike connecting to one platform or organization, in the case of Twitter for example, when you connect to Mastodon, you first connect to one of these servers, run by either a group or individual person. Each group may have its own rules for joining and how content is moderated - in a similar fashion to a Facebook Group admin or moderator. Once you are on a server, you can see posts and messages from anyone across the entirety of Mastodon's servers.

So what are the Mastodon risks and concerns?

Mastodon has a clear [Privacy Policy](https://mastodon.social/privacy-policy) explaining that they collect user data including email addresses, IP addresses, and browser metadata, as this helps with moderation and functionality. The actual privacy risks lie in the operator of the server, who can view a lot more sensitive information, like direct messages users exchange on Mastodon. These messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means that the server owner can read everything in plaintext. 

On its website [Terms of Service](https://mstdn.io/terms), Mastodon suggests that users do not share any sensitive information on the platform. However, young social media users have increasingly shown themselves to be relatively unaware of their digital footprint and their disclosing of sensitive information online. So before your kid uses this app, reiterate to them the importance of online privacy. 

Whatever new apps your kids are experimenting with, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with them and get savvy surrounding any risks and pitfalls. Using a parental control app, such as [FamilyKeeper](http://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com), is also recommended, as you will receive alerts if your child’s safety is being compromised, such as if an unknown contact is attempting to message them, or offensive language is being used on an app.

For more information, visit: [https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/](https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/)

There are more new apps than ever exploding onto the scene. We’ve rounded up the top 3 new apps that parents ought to know about.

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Three Popular Apps in 2023 That Parents Should Know About

## Cyberbullying On Social Media

At this stage in the development of social media platforms and worldwide internet usage, you’ve probably heard of cyberbullying. To put it simply, ‘[cyberbullying](https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it)’ is the use of technology to bully someone online - either through harassment, embarrassment, rude and offensive comments, or ‘trolling’, with the aim of shaming or scaring those targeted.

In the past, bullying may have taken place in the schoolyard or the workplace, and it used to be much easier to spot. What’s so scary nowadays is that social media platforms can be used - sometimes anonymously, sometimes in a more blatant manner - to bully a victim 24/7. There’s just no escape from it - a bully can attack at any time of day or night. Cyberbullying on social media has taken over as the new form of physical bullying.

Cyberbullying can affect a victim’s self-esteem, self-confidence, social behavior, school work, self-worth, and self-awareness, and lead to extremities such as self-harm and in the worst cases, even suicide.

## Social Media Cyberbullying Statistics

According to a recent Pew Research Center study that focused on social media cyberbullying statistics, almost half of US teenagers aged 13-17 say they are online “almost constantly”. The study also shows that the most popular social media platforms among this age group are YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

Over [50% of kids in the United States](https://www.npr.org/2019/10/31/774838891/its-a-smartphone-life-more-than-half-of-u-s-children-now-have-one) have a mobile phone device by the time they are 11.  95% of teens in the U.S. are online, and the [vast majority](https://cyberbullying.org/Cyberbullying-Identification-Prevention-Response.pdf) choose their mobile device as their preferred method of accessing the Internet - which in turn suggests that the use of these devices is the most common way to be cyber bullied.  

As of 2021, over 45.5% percent of middle- and high-school-aged kids in the US reported experiencing cyberbullying - a shockingly high rate.  And among social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are the ones with the [highest rate](https://enough.org/stats_cyberbullying) of cyberbullying cases.

## Effects of Cyberbullying on Social Media

Now that we’ve established what cyberbullying on social media is, it does beg the question, what effects is this having on our society? Worryingly, there’s a new buzzword in town: ‘cyber violence.’ 

Due to the way that humans can now interact with each other, it’s not just physical violence that poses a threat. The nature of abuse has transfigured into cyber violence. ‘Cyber violence’ is the upper echelon of cyberbullying. Cyber violence can affect anyone but unfortunately, the nature of gender-based violence means that at the moment, women and girls are the most likely victims.  

Women and girls are now having to deal with ‘digital assaults’ that result in permanent damage - they can often be either too embarrassed or ashamed to deal with their experience and so in many cases, there is no recourse.  There’s also a very real worry that these digital fists will be the forerunners to physical violence.

The most notable forms of cyber violence against females are currently:
- Non-consensual image sharing
- Non-consensual video sharing 
- Online intimidation and threats via email or social media platforms
- Online sexual harassment, or ‘sextortion’
- Stalking, including the use of tracking apps and devices 
- Impersonation
- Economic harm via digital means

These activities can all lead to sexual exploitation and abuse. Additionally, the online damage is usually irreparable - if a non-consensual, offensive image is posted on the internet, it’s almost impossible to remove it. The notions of ‘sharing’ and ‘screenshotting’ mean that once an image is posted on the world wide web, it’s always there. 

‘Revenge porn’ is another form of cyber violence, whereby images are used and shared on the internet without the person’s consent, to damage their reputation or humiliate or coerce them. And though revenge porn is carried out by someone the victim knows, other acts of cyber violence involve hackers stealing and distributing images without the victim knowing or consenting - and then ‘victim shaming’ them should they find out.  In a sick kind of ‘finders keepers’ fashion, there is a philosophy that anything appropriated on the internet is fair play - but this shouldn’t be allowed to be the case. 

Research by the World Health Organization has estimated that one in ten women has already experienced a form of cyber violence since the age of 15. If we are to assume that Internet access is now a human right - especially as livelihoods depend on its usage - then we need to make sure that cyberspace is a safe place to be. 

The European Council Commissioner for Human Rights [reported](https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/no-space-for-violence-against-women-and-girls-in-the-digital-world) in March 2022 that:

>“The lack of comprehensive and accurate data collection in this area results in information being fragmented and incomplete, but the little we do know suffices to conclude that the magnitude of digital violence against women and girls and ensuring impunity remains colossal, having an impact on society as a whole.”

In the UK, good news comes in the form of the [Online Safety Bill](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-bill-supporting-documents/online-safety-bill-factsheet), which reached the UK parliament this December in an effort to make the digital world a safe and empowering space for users. Acts such as upskirting, downblousing, and uploading non-consensual photographs will be criminalized for the first time. Platforms likely to be accessed by children will have a legal duty to protect young people using their services.
Likewise, even websites directed at adults will have to ‘address named categories of legal but harmful material accessed by adults, likely to include issues such as abuse, harassment, or exposure to content encouraging self-harm or eating disorders.’ Websites will have to start taking accountability for what they are posting, or what users are posting on their sites. By pushing these businesses to take responsibility for their users’ antics, governments hope to lessen the effects of cyberbullying on social media.

The Online Safety Bill will also impose a duty of care on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to prevent users from being exposed to illegal content. Any platforms which fail to protect users will need to answer to the regulator and could face fines of up to 10% of their revenues, or even be blocked.

In the words of the Human Rights Commissioner, there should be ‘no space for violence against women and girls in the digital world.’ As parents especially, our job is to create a safe environment for our children to be in, and a better world for their future. The battle to criminalize more of these activities and keep people safe online is paramount - this should be legislation that every country in the world is pushing for and adopting.

## Cyberbullying Examples on Social Media

The push for further legislation protecting online users from cyberbullying has been exacerbated by recent examples of cyberbullying on social media that have produced tragic results. In 2019, [Channing Smith](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/30/us/channing-smith-suicide-cyberbullying-tennessee-trnd/index.html), a 16-year-old from Manchester, Tennessee, took his own life on September 23 after two classmates publicized screenshots of explicit text conversations he had with another young man, outing him as bisexual. 

[McKenna Brown’s](https://www.abcactionnews.com/community/you-are-not-alone/pinellas-mother-says-cyberbullying-played-a-part-in-daughters-death) mother reported the changes that her daughter underwent in terms of self-confidence and mental well-being, ultimately leading to her suicide in August 2022, after a compromising non-consensual photo of her was shared online. And the case of [Amanda Todd](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/cyberbullying-case-b-c-teen-the-victim-of-persistent-campaign-of-sextortion-trial-hears-1.5934921), who committed suicide in 2012 after being the victim of online sextortion, continued up until this year, as her abuser only faced trial in June 2022. 

## Cyberbullying and Cyber Violence: What Do Parents Need To Know

If you are worried your child is experiencing cyberbullying: 

- Communicate: Use open-ended questions to get your child talking and ask how they’re feeling. Listen without judgment, let your child know that you support them, and make sure they know you will help stop the bullying.
- Block the Bully: Help your child block the bully on social media sites and messaging apps.
- Report It: If your teen is being cyberbullied, [report](https://cyberbullying.org/report) it to the website or app where it’s happening.
- Seek Professional Help: If you or your child is feeling overwhelmed, you can look to professional help and support.

The use of parental control apps, such as [FamilyKeeper](https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/), can also help parents monitor what their child may be experiencing online. Parents can set up offensive keyword alerts and image monitoring. Additionally, parents can block unknown contacts from messaging their child’s device. For more information on FamilyKeeper parental control app, visit: [https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/](https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/)

Cyberbullying can affect a victim’s self-esteem, self-confidence, social behavior, school work, self-worth, and self-awareness, and lead to extremities such as self-harm and in the worst cases, even suicide.

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Cyberbullying on Social Media: When Does It Become Violent?

Whether you love Turkey and cranberries, family get-togethers, or online shopping sprees, this weekend promises to be an exciting one. With companies gearing up for online and in-store sales, and people of all generations getting ready to celebrate, Thanksgiving weekend is one of the most anticipated of the year.

Amidst all the hype, at FamilyKeeper our main concern is that your family enjoys this time period, without any fears or worries. More time at home often means more screen time - and more screen time comes with a host of other problems. We all know that there is a lot of unsolicited content available online, and spending excessive amounts of time on a screen isn’t particularly healthy.

However, you can definitely direct the excess screen time towards being educational, beneficial, and productive. FamilyKeeper has rounded up the top apps to help you and your kids enhance Thanksgiving.

## Issa’s Edible Adventures

This cute app follows the adventures of Issa as she discovers the ingredients from around the world, to make exciting new meals. Free from in-app purchases and in-app advertisements, and suitable for ages 6 and above, this app contains cooking games, as well as inspiration for yummy new dishes for you to try this Thanksgiving.

## Zoom or FaceTime

It’s not always possible to be together on holidays. Make use of video-calling apps, such as Zoom or FaceTime, to speak to loved ones who are far away. Being able to video chat people from afar, when you can’t be with them in person, is one of the best uses of modern technology that has been made available to the masses. So whether your kids want to speak to their grandparents, cousins or friends abroad, using a video-calling app is a great way to enable this.

## Canva

Are you inviting people for Thanksgiving dinner? Have you got great photos from the weekend? Canva is a simple-to-use graphic design program that kids and adults can enjoy using, in order to create professional-looking invitations, enhance photos, and experiment with designs. 

## Just Dance Now 

These days, you don’t have to be a couch potato just because a screen is on - get involved with a dance app such as Just Dance Now and enjoy some great cardio after all that heavy turkey and stuffing!  The whole family can get involved as well, which is always fun.

So this Thanksgiving, you can let your kids enjoy some screen time in a safe environment. But be sure to make time for other activities as well. Play a game of football in the park, meet up with friends, pick a family board game - yes a family movie in the evening is also great to snuggle up to, just make sure there isn’t screen time overload! 

And if you are worried about your family's screen time schedule, there’s always the FamilyKeeper parental control app, powered by [ReasonLabs](https://reasonlabs.com), to help you effectively plan your family’s screen time for the day, block dangerous apps and sites, and get alerts that your kids are always somewhere safe!

Happy Thanksgiving!

FamilyKeeper has rounded up the top apps to help you and your kids enhance Thanksgiving.

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Top Apps To Enhance This Year’s Thanksgiving With Your Kids

Wednesday, October 12th has come to be known as National Stop Bullying Day. A little brief history for you: 

‘In 2009, eighteen sixth-grade students from St. Stanislaus Kostka declared October National Stop Bullying Month, the second week of October National Stop Bullying Week, and Stop Bullying Day on the second Wednesday of October.’

While originally motivated to prevent bullying towards children, the advent of cyberbullying, bleeding into other arenas like the workplace, has actually given rein to anti-bullying for people of all ages.

## When did bullying become cyberbullying?

The move from physical bullying to cyberbullying really got underway in the 2010s, when smartphones became mainstream and social media platform accessibility exploded. Anyone anywhere can view, post and comment online – and as such, it’s opened users up to being extremely vulnerable.

## What is cyberbullying?

Stopbullying.gov defines cyberbullying as ‘bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets.’ 

Cyberbullying involves sending, posting, commenting or sharing derogatory, false, or nasty content about someone, whether it’s text or images, in order to deliberately harm or humiliate them. It can often be done anonymously, using a fake profile, or by internet ‘trolls’. With new awareness of the harm it can inflict, these days cyberbullying may cross the line into unlawful or criminal behavior.

## Where can cyberbullying occur?

Unfortunately, there are many outlets for cyberbullying: 

🙁 SMS, and other messaging services

🙁 Social media platforms e.g. Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

🙁 Chatrooms or other forums where people can view, participate in, or share content.

🙁 Connected online games

As parents or teachers, one of the most worrying things about cyberbullying is that it can be happening under our noses and we may not even know.  Class WhatsApp groups, your child’s social media accounts, online chat rooms – unless you are constantly supervising every single message or photo that enters your child’s phone (which let’s be honest, they may not appreciate), it’s not so easy to detect if someone is being harassed or bullied.

What can you do to commemorate National Stop Bullying Day?
You may see the hashtag #StopBullyingDay trending on social media – join the conversation and get informed about the dangers of bullying in all its forms – and how to recognize where and when it may be happening.

This may also be the time to rethink what we as parents can do to prevent cyberbullying in all of its forms. Using a parental control app that can identify offensive keywords or images, and alert you if such a thing occurs, is an important step to take in defense against cyberbullying.

FamilyKeeper was developed with these challenges in mind – providing parents with peace of mind that their child can navigate the internet without being susceptible, in a safe, age-appropriate way.

If you have other concerns, or are looking for advice surrounding cyberbullying, you are most welcome to join [Digital World Parenting](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwparenting) – an online discussion forum for parents, where you can get expert advice, and join the conversation regarding all parenting issues in the cyber world.

Join our Facebook Digital Parenting Group