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

National Stop Bullying Day: How Can You Do Your Part?

Here are 4 ways you can use FamilyKeeper to keep your kids safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Child safety during Coronavirus (COVID-19)

How to keep our kids safe online while giving them the space they need to grow.

Let Your Kids Spread Their Wings, Safely!

How to balance your kids’ need for technology with your need to protect them.

Worried about cyberthreats? Get your kids a digital helmet!

The current dangers of overexposure to YouTube.

The Dangers of YouTube

Cyberbullying is a type of bullying that happens over digital devices like smartphones, computers and tablets.

Cyberbullying - What You Need To Know

The three main indicators of Screen Addiction that you should watch out for

The Dangers of Screen Addiction

When discussing cyberbullying with your children, it’s hugely important to keep the lines of communication open. The more confident youngsters feel in discussing their online activity, the more autonomy it will give them in terms of pushing back against cyberbullies.

How to Help Your Kids Prevent Cyberbullying

With in-app purchases, it is all too easy to rack up the credit card bill by paying for added extras – whether it’s accidentally or on purpose.

Kids vs. In-App Purchases: 6 Tips to Prevent a Surprise Hefty Bill!

Here are a few tips to help you with gifting digital devices this Christmas.

New Phone for Christmas? Here’s How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online

The aim of Safer Internet Day is to make the internet a safer place, for kids in particular, by raising awareness of emerging online issues and current concerns – from cyberbullying to social networking to digital identity.

Safer Internet Day: What Can We Do to Effect Change?

We’ve put together 5 Pillars of Cyberbullying Prevention for parents to easily implement in the fight against cyberbullying.

5 Tips for Parents to Help Stop Cyberbullying

These five tips aim to help parents manage the unwitting dangers of screen time in a practical and purposeful way.

5 Simple Tips to Manage Kids’ Screen Time

Here are 7 apps to familiarize yourself with in order to best understand what kids may be viewing, how we can find safer ways to monitor them, and how to open up those conversations with your child surrounding if, how and when they should use certain apps.

The Dark Side of our Favorite Apps: 7 Most Dangerous Apps for Kids and Teens

International Stand Up to Bullying Day is a semi-annual event to raise public awareness around bullying in all its forms.

Don't Be a Bystander: It's International Stand Up to Bullying Day!

We’ve delved into the heart of social media use to find the 5 most prominent dangers that we need to be aware of.

The Dark Side of Social Media: 5 Dangers to Be Wary Of

The word ‘games’ implies fun – but some of these popular online experiences, even those aimed at kids, contain worrying content. Here's what you should be looking out for.

7 Alarming Online Games to Watch Out For

This International Children’s Book Day, whether your child is holding a tablet or a physical book, it’s time to explore the world of children’s literature.

International Children’s Book Day: Switch Off Screens and Curl Up with a Good Book!

Our job is to keep you and your family cyber safe – so this year, enjoy our top tips for a stress-free Easter!

3 Tips to Keep Your Loved Ones Cyber Safe this Easter!

Over 40% of teenagers have reported experiencing loneliness as a result of social media – an astonishing figure considering that ‘social’ implies togetherness.

40% of Teenagers Experience Loneliness. Help Protect Them With These 3 Steps

Social media platforms, chatrooms, WhatsApp and text messaging, online gaming – the advent of web-based connections is affecting our ability to form face-to-face relationships with people.

Too Much Screen Time? Risks, Dangers, and What We Can Do to Help

As adults, we may have trained ourselves to function on less sleep – but try reasoning with an overtired toddler or a moody teenager and you may well be on a mission to lessen screen time, and create a more serene bedtime experience for your family!

Put Those Screens Away! 4 Ways To Make Bedtime Easier

National Missing Children’s Day serves as a reminder that we should continue our efforts to reunite missing children with their families.

Keeping Our Children Safe – The No. 1 Priority Of All Parents

We’ve rounded up 5 top apps that provide educational value this summer – so that you can get stuff done, your children can be happily occupied, and they learn a little something too!

Can Screen Time be Beneficial? 5 Apps with Educational Value

How do you set the boundaries when your child receives a phone? And how do you keep your kids safe from online harm? Never fear - we've got you covered!

Back to School, Back to Routine. Why Do I Need A Parental Control App?

Lead gaming app Roblox is an online platform where games can be both made and played by users. With so many varied games on offer, there are games on the platform that aren’t remotely child-friendly or appropriate for all ages.

Worried About Sexual Roblox Content? 5 Games to Look Out For

Which are the latest dangerous crazes that have emerged from social media?

Online Threats To Be Aware Of: 3 Dangerous TikTok Challenges

Wednesday, October 12th has come to be known as National Stop Bullying Day.

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

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

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.

Cyberbullying on Social Media: When Does It Become Violent?

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.

Three Popular Apps in 2023 That Parents Should Know About

There are some inherent risks that parents and guardians should be aware of when it comes to their kids and Discord's safety.

Is Discord Safe For Kids? Everything You Need To Know

There are so many popular apps for kids in 2023, but there are several genres of mobile apps that parents should be concerned about. So which popular apps should you consider blocking?

Dangerous Apps To Block: How To Block Apps And Why

Gacha Games are a relatively new genre of online gaming, whose popularity is on the rise.

What are Gacha Games and who plays them? Everything you need to know

"Sneaky link" is a slang term that refers to a secret or discreet meeting between two people who are romantically interested in each other.

Sneaky Link: The What, Who, How, and Why of This Online Slang

The content of YouTube Shorts varies widely, and while some YouTube Shorts may be appropriate for kids, others may not be.

Are YouTube Shorts Safe For Kids? How to Block YouTube Shorts

Why should parents use a web content filtering solution? And how is it used to block harmful websites?

How Do I Safeguard My Child Online? Web Content Filtering in Parental Control Apps

In this blog, we will explore what screen addiction is, why it is detrimental to young minds, and how parental control apps can help prevent and manage this issue.

Prevent Screen Addiction & Tips for Screen Addiction Treatment

Instagram Threads is relatively new - but is it safe to use? Everything parents need to know

Is Instagram Threads Safe for Kids? The Risks You Should Know

We live in interesting times. Unfortunately for us, interesting, in the context of the latest news, is more akin to the famous “Chinese curse” than anything positive. Globalization and technology are double-edged swords; they bring with them both tremendous, life-altering benefits that we can no longer imagine living without — like smartphones and the internet — alongside newer digital threats and global health dangers that we’re still learning to come to terms with. 

With the coronavirus [now confirmed as pandemic](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51839944) by the World Health Organization conferences, sports stadiums, schools and houses of worship across the world are shuttering their doors. But that’s not all. Mass gatherings and public events — even small ones — are being canceled and outright banned left and right. In some regions, quarantines have been put in place across entire cities and counties.

All of this means that most likely, kids will be at home for some time. They’re going to be bored and will look to their smartphones mostly for entertainment, but also as a way to socialize during extended periods of social distancing and mandated quarantine. It’s safe to say that smartphone screen time and app usage will significantly grow during these trying times. 

And with this rise in usage, we can also expect a proportional growth in the potential online dangers and problematic digital behavior that may come along for the ride. 

Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning — we’re not just talking about cyberbullying, online predators and inappropriate usage anymore. Specifically now, in the time of corona, it’s critical that you’re able to keep tabs on your kids’ whereabouts at any given time. This is not just to ensure that they stay away from containment zones and public gatherings where the likelihood of exposure to the coronavirus is particularly high. It’s also to make sure that quarantined children stay at home even when the adults are out shopping or working.

Now’s the time to have a serious talk about the steps we can take to keep our kids safe during these challenging times. Luckily for us, some of the advantages of technology include powerful tools that we can use to protect our kids from the dark side of the internet, as well as from the spread of the Coronavirus. 

Here are 4 ways you can use FamilyKeeper to keep your kids safe.

**Stay on top of their location** — Use FamilyKeeper’s real-time GPS location feature to instantly locate your child. Coronavirus’ highly contagious nature means that gatherings of any size can pose a real danger. If that isn’t enough, children aren’t always fully equipped to understand the acute danger of coronavirus and may take risks like visiting sick friends or going into areas with high concentrations of the virus. 

**Set up digital fences** — Take advantage of advanced geofencing capabilities to set up ‘no go’ zones for your kids. You’ll get an immediate update if your child approaches a geofenced area so that you can take appropriate action. With geofencing you’ll instantly know if your child goes anywhere near dangerous areas, or tries to leave quarantine. That way, you can rest assured your children are safe, even if you’re not in their proximity.

**Establish rules and monitor usage** — Filter and block problematic websites, set up screen time limitations and block applications during specific hours. Access in-depth analytics on how your kids are spending their time on the smartphone. With the kids at home, they’ll be looking for entertainment. The smartphone will be the first place they look for it. Use FamilyKeeper to set up clear boundaries on how and when your kids use their smartphones. 

**Protection from cyberthreats** — Advanced monitoring capabilities detect suspicious behavior patterns, cyberbullying and other online threats across leading social networks and other platforms. Get customizable, real-time alerts if your child is exposed to inappropriate messages or photos. As kids around the world continue to use their smartphones more and more as a way to cope with the impact of the Coronavirus, the dangers of the digital world become more real. 

During these stressful times, the need for vigilance is greater than ever. With FamilyKeeper, your child is kept safe — both from the dangers of the internet, and from the spread of Coronavirus.

Remember, to work correctly FamilyKeeper should be installed on your childrens’ devices and your own. [Contact Us](https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/contact/) if you have any difficulties setting it up.

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Unsurprisingly, digital devices are set to be a pretty common feature on most kids’ wish lists this Christmas. As parents though, there are many concerns to be had before making this kind of purchase, be it a new phone, a first phone, a smartwatch, a tablet, a laptop – the list goes on.

Many parents will share the same sorts of reservations: How can I protect my child while they are online? Does my child understand phone etiquette? Are they even old enough for a digital device? 

Here are a few tips to help you with gifting digital devices this Christmas:

## Communication

Before you even give your kid their new phone (or other connected devices) – make sure you’ve sat down and had a conversation with them about how to stay safe online. Some topics you may want to include are:

 ☑️ Online shopping

 ☑️ Cyberbullying

 ☑️ Opening emails from unknown sources

 ☑️ Posting on social media

 ☑️ Protecting personal information 

## Parental Control Apps

Parental control apps such as FamilyKeeper can provide much-needed peace of mind, especially if this is your child’s first device, or their first venture onto social media. Setting up a parental control app on your child’s device before you present them with their gift is one approach. However, open dialogue between parents and children is paramount, so make sure to tell your child why you’ve installed the application. 

With parental controls, you can set healthy screen time limits, block inappropriate websites, and get notifications of any incendiary keywords. You can utilize location tracking to check that your child is in a safe place, and a battery tracker to make sure their device always has enough power to contact you if they need to.

## Reaching Out

They say it takes a village to raise a child – well, when it comes to your kids and technology, getting advice from other people in your community is a pretty good idea. It’s useful to see how other parents handle conversations about online safety – especially when these conversations vary so much, depending on the age of the child in question. Other parents can also offer advice such as:

☑️ At what age they gave their child their first device

☑️ Which type of phone they would recommend for kids

☑️ What other types of online devices may be appropriate for kids

Also, if you aren’t already on the same wavelength as your child, it’s worth reaching out to friends and family members to teach you about some of the most popular sites, so that you can check out what types of content your child may be viewing. You may be a Facebook and Pinterest pro, but if you have a kid who loves TikTok and Snapchat, knowing how to navigate these apps could be helpful.

Whatever decision you ended up making this Christmas, online safety is paramount. It’s amazing that there’s so much of the world now at our fingertips – but there are dangers out there. Forewarned is forearmed: so make sure you enjoy the festivities while keeping you and your family safe.

**Now is also the time to take advantage of our FamilyKeeper Christmas promotion with 50% off all plans! **

For more information, visit our website or [download the Android app here](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.familykeeper.parents).

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Safer Internet Day occurs on Tuesday, February 8th, and will be celebrating its 19th annual event this year. The aim of Safer Internet Day is to make the internet a safer place, for kids in particular, by raising awareness of emerging online issues and current concerns – from cyberbullying to social networking to digital identity.

This year, we’ve rounded up some of the key concerns that we feel surrounds internet use in 2022:

## CYBERBULLYING

### The Problem

Cyberbullying is a significant problem in society today. It’s a global issue that can come in many forms: trolling, harassment, cyberstalking, outing, and more. Cyberbullying causes a host of mental health issues, as well as loneliness, isolation, self-harm, body dysmorphia, and in the absolute worst cases, suicide. Cyberbullying mainly affects teens but has been known to affect younger kids as well, and also adults. 

### The Solution

Raising awareness is our first port of call – in schools and educational institutions especially. We need to make ourselves understand how to recognize the signs of cyberbullying and find effective ways of dealing with it. Parents, teachers, and governing bodies also need to adopt a zero-tolerance policy where cyberbullying is concerned – it is not acceptable on any level. In the words of the Safer Internet Day manifesto, we can only maintain a better world if we all work together.

## DATA PRIVACY

### The Problem

This is a slightly tricky one because children especially won’t always understand what the ramifications are of posting or giving away personal data. The main premise is: be extremely careful about what you post on the internet. Posts, images, messages can all come back to haunt you later in life. Even with social media platforms such as Snapchat’s ‘disappearing messages’ feature, all posts can ultimately be used against you – all it takes is for someone to take a screenshot.

### The Solution

Again, in terms of who this affects, all generations need to be more careful about what we post online, in order to make the internet a better place. There needs to be more education surrounding cyberspace awareness – especially for kids. Once personal private data, or potentially embarrassing images, get put onto any public forum, it’s out there and likely to stay out there for years to come. 

## INTERNET SCAMS

### The Problem

The internet is full of enticing offers – adults and children alike can easily be duped by the many freebies and promotions out there. Children are more likely to be enticed by game freebies, in-app purchases, and music downloads – but phishing, formjacking, and cracked games are also notoriously hazardous. These types of scams encourage you to do things like give up sensitive personal information, offer up credit card details, and even make payments.

### The Solution

We need to teach our kids to be wary of online offers – especially ones that sound too good to be true. Kids should be taught to not give out credit card information without first checking with their parents or reviewing the site’s credentials. Adults and kids must also look out for suspect hyperlinks – just because it says ‘open here’, doesn’t mean you should! Kids should also be taught at an early age to not engage with messages from strangers online, in order to avoid scams.

The general overall themes here are ‘Education’ and ‘Awareness’ – and it’s these two components, together with positive action, which will help us make the internet a safer place.

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Growing up in today’s hyper-connected world comes with a whole host of issues. In and of themselves, the majority of apps and sites aren’t inherently dangerous. The problems occur when they are mismanaged or, as with anything, used for bad instead of for good.

It’s scary to see how the apps we love the most can also be the most dangerous. Even the least unassuming apps, such as YouTube, enter the realm of being unsafe once we realize how much alarming content our kids are subject to – whether it’s the videos themselves, the comments underneath posts, or the various ads.

As with most things in life, moderation is key – as are expectations. Here are 7 apps to familiarize yourself with in order to best understand what kids may be viewing, how we can find safer ways to monitor them, and how to open up those conversations with your child surrounding if, how and when they should use certain apps.

**⛔ 1 TikTok**

There are negative newsworthy stories related to this app seemingly every week, whether it be mental health issues, dangerous challenges, or body image issues. Just last month, kids in Texas were hospitalized after trying out the TikTok Benadryl Challenge 

According to TikTok’s community guidelines, the video-sharing app is “deeply committed” to child safety and has “zero tolerance” for behavior that could lead to child abuse or sexual exploitation – but even so, parents should make sure to turn on all privacy settings for their kid’s account, so only people their kids know can interact with them.

**⛔ 2 Snapchat**

As the images and messages get deleted instantly, people sometimes use the app for unethical activities, including images and messages they think they can ‘get away with.’ These include embarrassing photos, nude images and ‘revenge porn.’  And once those images are out in the ether, it only takes one second for a crafty person to take a screenshot – and then that proof is out there forever. 

**⛔ 3 Psst! Anonymous**

Psst! Anonymous is a chat room app that prides itself on messages being deleted almost immediately from the server, ID-masking, and identity-less private chat. For parents, these so-called benefits are super disturbing. Basically, if someone contacts / messages / trolls / bullies your child – there is no way to catch the perpetrator. 

Psst! Anonymous is only one of many anonymous chat room apps available – other current popular versions include Whisper, Blendr, Tellonym, Ask.fm, and more. Not only is anonymity an issue here in terms of ‘stranger danger’ and online grooming – but at the most basic level, social etiquette goes out the window. There’s no accountability for what someone writes – and kids are losing the ability to empathize, as they don’t see the negative impact that their hurtful words may be having.

**⛔ 4 Kik **

Kik is a popular free messaging app used for group chats or direct messages – and enables you to contact both friends and strangers. As with the apps mentioned above, it also allows users to remain anonymous. While anonymity could be seen as a positive aspect, it’s also a concerning one – anonymous messaging apps can make kids feel safer and bolder, leading them to divulge too much information, participate in cyberbullying, or even make risky decisions. Kik Messenger has been associated with sexual predators and inappropriate content in the past, and is rated as inappropriate for anyone younger than 17.

**⛔ 5 Instagram**

Instagram’s emphasis is on ‘the visual’ – the best pictures, photo collages, reels and ‘stories’. 

One of the main problems with Instagram is the ‘My Perfect Life’ pretense – users are so keen to match their lives to the ‘picture perfect’ images they see on this social media app that it becomes difficult to separate fantasy from reality, especially as the majority of images are heavily edited and filtered. This often leads to low self-esteem, low self-confidence and body image issues. 

Additionally, ‘Influencer’ culture is rife on Instagram – and not all influencers are a good influence! They may also hold religious, racial, or cultural beliefs which you wouldn’t necessarily want your child to be influenced by – and there is the added worry of ‘dangerous selfies’, whereby influencers will post pictures in risky situations, prompting their followers to try and emulate them. 

**⛔ 6 YouTube**

YouTube’s incredibly vast array of content is not always kid-friendly. As well as educational and How-To videos, YouTube is also host to explicit videos and offensive language. While YouTube does monitor content, their commitment to openness means that some videos remain that may be suitable for adult viewing, but may not be suitable for kids.  Once a child has access to YouTube, including every ad that precedes the videos, they can roam freely – and it can be very difficult to monitor what disturbing, offensive or age-inappropriate content they may be viewing. 

YouTube will also auto-recommend videos it thinks a user is interested in – so one violent video could prompt a viewer to watch many more as the app continues to auto-load ads and videos – leading to a downward spiral of negative influence. 

Remember: YouTube is user-created – so while the app can and does red flag content where it needs to, this doesn’t necessarily happen before a child has already viewed it.

**⛔ 7 Roblox**

Roblox is an online platform where games can be both made and played by users. While imaginative play is to be applauded, there are games on the platform that have horror or bloody themes. Roblox themselves do offer parental controls, but it’s important to check what types of games your child is actually accessing.

**What Part Can We Play**

Part of the danger isn’t necessarily the various apps and online content – it’s the scaremongering amongst parents can often distract from the real issues at hand.

Using any social network can be risky, but it is possible for kids to safely use certain apps as long as they have excellent privacy settings. Parental supervision is also recommended. 

The answer is not to remove social media from kids’ lives completely. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) as well as the camaraderie that some games and social media apps bring can be important aspects of children’s, tweens’ and teens’ lives.  Our job as parents is to make sure that whatever is happening, it’s within a safe environment. 

Parental control apps are a great solution for managing the vast amount of potentially dangerous apps out there. You’ll be able to have peace of mind that your kids are keeping cyber safe.

**A parental control app like FamilyKeeper will:**

- Notify you if incendiary keywords are used
- Supervise which apps your child is downloading
- Allow you to block age-inappropriate websites
- Help to protect your child from online predators
- Alert you when unknown numbers or profiles attempt to contact your child
- Detect suspicious or dangerous images

FamilyKeeper also encourages parents to discuss with their children the dangers of these apps, and why a parental control app is an important safety feature. During the app set-up process, you can review with your child when, why, and how to use certains apps and sites – and why some may not be a good idea.  

For further information, visit www.familykeeper.reasonlabs.com.

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#Child Safety