It’s August and it’s summer – yet Back to School signs are everywhere as kids and parents alike get ready to brave the new school year.

Backpack? Check. Pencil case? Check. Lunchbox? Check. New school shirt? Check. Everyone is starting a new school class – with some kids even beginning a brand new school. And as we all know, with kids wanting to fit in, along with parents wanting to keep kids safe, and just the general fact that we are in 2022 – giving your child a phone has become part of the back-to-school prep.

Giving your child a phone is a big consideration. Are they old enough? Are they responsible enough? You may have decided they need one for the school journey, or maybe they’ve reached an appropriate age, or maybe it’s simply peer pressure. It’s difficult these days with class Whatsapp groups being so popular – kids have genuine FOMO (fear of missing out) if they don’t also have a phone to call their own.

But 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! 

When you reach that milestone of handing your child a phone, utilizing a parental control app such as FamilyKeeper adds an important layer of protection for parents and kids. Now we know what you’re thinking: it’s all very well adding blockers and parental controls to the tablet my 6-year-old messes around with at home – but what happens when my teenager decides Mom and Dad are invading their privacy? 

Let’s take a look at the important reasons why you should be using parental control apps – and how to deal with any objections your kids may raise. 

## Geolocation

Parts of the world are safe; parts of the world are not so safe. It’s our job to protect our children. Maybe your kid takes the bus to school? Perhaps they’re meeting friends to go to the mall or to a park? As parents, our main aim is to keep our children safe, and knowing where your kids are is a part of that.

It’s understandable that from a kid’s perspective, they won’t want you to feel that you are invading their privacy – that’s why it’s so important for you to explain your concerns to your child. Unfortunately, the world isn’t a safe place and it’s also an enormous place! Thankfully, geofencing and location trackers enable a parent and child to decide together which areas are safe. Your child can have their own input into the discussions, as you set the “safe zones”.

A parental control app like FamilyKeeper gives that element of security to know that family members are in safe territories – but you can decide where, and how far that is, together, before you set the controls.

## Cyberbullying

Just think about this for a second – have you ever received a message that’s made your heart sink? Have you perhaps sent messages to someone that may have been unkind? Has anyone ever sent something that’s made you cringe, or been embarrassed, or that you think was inappropriate for social media? These are the kinds of questions that can be asked of both generations – there’s a very high chance that both parent and child can empathize with these situations.

Cyberbullying is on the rise, and the last thing anyone wants is for their kid to either be a victim or, in fact, the bully. It’s so easy to become a troll these days or to get away with writing something to someone that you wouldn’t even think of saying to their face.

Unfortunately, it’s also ridiculously easy for a kid to be so upset by an online comment about them, that they will hide it from their parents instead of asking for help and advice. This then triggers a vicious cycle of awful cyber behavior, that may be kept under the radar until something explosive happens.`

By all means, your kid should be able to enjoy social media, messaging friends, and adding posts, reels, videos, and comments. Adding the FamilyKeeper app and deciding on trigger words simply protects against anyone feeling emotionally hurt or vulnerable. With FamilyKeeper, you and your child can decide together which words should be added to the “keyword” list so that you’ll be alerted if inappropriate or offensive language is being used.

## The Family Schedule

We all know realistically that it’s unhealthy for your mind, body and soul to spend too much time glued to a device. Kids and adults alike these days are hooked on screens – but too much screen time can cause disruptive sleep patterns, and antisocial behavior, as people forget how to interact face-to-face. 

It’s also ridiculously easy to lose track of time when using a screen – we’ve all heard ‘Just one more episode!”, “Just one more level!”, or “Just five more minutes!”  Parents don’t want their kids to feel that they can’t manage or organize their own schedule but we all, adults included, know how easy it is to lose track of time while staring at a screen, and forget that there is a real-world out there with face-to-face interaction, physical activity and good ol’ fresh air.

A parental control app like FamilyKeeper can utilize screen time controls, which can help you decide together how much screen time is healthy for your family, when bedtime should be, and just generally plan a healthier weekly schedule. You can effectively plan your day / week / month so that real life doesn’t pass you by while you are staring at a device.

There’s no shame in wanting to keep your family safe – and the best parental control apps are a great way to do so. You wouldn’t let a driver out on the roads without driving lessons first, would you? Parental control apps like FamilyKeeper provide your kid with the tools they need to navigate their online environment safely – it’s the training wheels that will guide them through their early experiences of handling a phone responsibly, how to treat others (and be treated) with respect on social media, and managing their screen time effectively.

So before the back-to-school rush really gets going, take the time to open up the channels of communication with your child – both sides should feel they are being heard while bearing in mind that the key goal of the best parental control apps is to keep kids safe from harm.

For more information and to start your free 7-day trial: www.familykeeper.reasonlabs.com. 

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!

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

While screen time should definitely have its limits, there is no doubt that the experiences we can gain from online content can be of extreme educational value as well. Movies, TV programs, websites covering a range of topics, and apps can all provide added value, without being detrimental.

As summer approaches and your kids have more free time on their hands, you may be wondering how you are going to occupy them – especially if you are trying to get work or chores done! We’ve all resorted to using screens as ‘babysitters’ in one way or another – but did you know that you can do so, and still be assured your kids are gaining positively from the experience?

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!

## 1 Lingokids

This app uses cute animals to guide kids through learning English and expanding their vocabulary, writing letters, and spelling. The free version provides a daily activity limit as well, helping to ensure kids go out and get some fresh air and aren’t glued to the screen!

## 2 Chess for Kids

This one has it all in the title! The game of chess is excellent for cognitive activity, and the app teaches young players the rules of the game, technique, and has videos and puzzles they can access. Again, you need to sign up for a gold membership to get unrestricted access to all the lessons – but you’ll also get a small allotment of daily puzzles. 

## 3 Math Bingo

Yay – math and a game combined! This app allows kids to practice addition and subtraction, as well as providing game elements using cute little bugs – making math practice a much more enjoyable experience!

## 4 Solar System Scope

Want to look outside the book a little and expand their horizons? Then this is the education app for your family – with a focus on our solar system and all the objects within it, this app allows your kid to immerse themselves in outer space, and explore and learn facts, statistics and interesting tidbits.

## 5 Teach Your Monster

This phonics and reading game helps children with their reading practice by first creating a monster, and then taking it on a magical journey where they will meet more colorful characters, and improve their reading along the way.  millions of children learn to read. The app covers the first two years of learning to read, from matching letters, sounds and phonics to enjoying short books. Best of all, this designed-for-kids app contains no in-app purchases, hidden costs or in-game adverts.

**In Summary**

So this summer, have a browse through some of these educational apps and see what appeals to you and your child! Making learning fun is a key element of childhood, so it’s good to know that there are lots of choices for fun online education.

For more information on helping your child navigate their online experience safely, and screen time limits, check out the FamilyKeeper app – download from the Google Play Store, or visit www.familykeeper.reasonlabs.com for more blogs, tips and information. 

You are also most welcome to join our FamilyKeeper Community Group – Digital World Parenting – where you can share your own experiences of the best educational apps for kids, as well as learn from our parenting experts, and swap advice and recommendations from other parent members.

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!

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Can Screen Time be Beneficial? 5 Apps with Educational Value

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.

Generation Alpha, growing up in this digital world, is being affected the most. Kids don’t make friends like they used to. They use emojis instead of searching for descriptive words. They don’t build relationships like we used to because instead of organically letting natural friendships form, they have the option to stare at a screen from their bedroom. They ‘play’ games with friends online, rather than meeting in person. Previous generations used to get shouted at to come in from playing outside – now parents are urging kids to drop the screen and go outside to play!

You may be questioning: why is this even a problem? As long as kids are happily occupied on a screen, do we need to interfere? Is the quality of a friendship dependent on what medium you are using to connect?

In actual fact, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tests show that 80% of communication is physically looking into another person’s face. Consider the percentage of the brain that is taking part in the act: when you communicate via screens, you use no more than 14% of your ’communication brain.’ In other words, it is a totally different way to communicate, and a poorer communication into the bargain.

Of course, a lot of this is a result of two years of quarantine and lockdown periods, when we became thankful that we could at least manage to interact with others through a digital device. But will it cause long-term harm in the future? Too much screen time is already creating chasms in the family dynamic. Are families spending too much time staring at screens, rather than spending quality time together? 

While the ability to connect with everyone around the world is no doubt one of the internet’s biggest assets, online communication poses a host of other problems. When Facebook invented the ‘Like’ option in the early days of social media, the intention was to add more love to the world – creators never dreamt that not getting enough ‘Likes’ would lead to the shocking stories of self-harm and suicide that have been making headlines all over the world, as teens succumb to the pressures of social media and cyberbullying.

Alerts and notifications have a similar effect. Our brains receive a rush of dopamine, and we reach a state of nervous anticipation. In the 1998 movie You’ve Got Mail, the protagonist famously describes the ping of an email:

‘I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: ‘You’ve got mail’.’

People today feel the same anticipation when checking out the number of followers, the number of likes, loves, reactions, and responses to messages – there’s a rush of adrenaline that people enjoy, induced by online social media activity.

But unfortunately, this need to be ‘Liked’ has escalated so much in the last 10-15 years that it has led to more anxiety and more self-doubt – especially among kids. The ‘Like’ culture implies that if you don’t get enough Likes, your actions, thoughts and pictures are ‘worthless’.

More time spent on screens has also led child psychologists to research how this is affecting kids’ sleep. Kids dream about what they watch on the screen – and if they’re dreaming of something disturbing, they can have distressing nightmares. The way in which images from the media penetrate into your subconscious is sometimes called “signing”, and is considered to be one of the reasons that children suffer from anxieties. 

Additionally, studies have shown that screen time overload, combined with the sedentary lifestyle that staring at a screen offers, has resulted in kids having less resilience than they used to. Spending too much time in a 2-D environment gives kids less time to spend in a warm nurturing environment – which in turn affects how kids will approach problems or deal with struggles. They will miss out on building the life skills they need. Screen time also detracts from time spent doing physical activity, which is a huge factor in a person’s wellness, and mental well-being.

## Building your Identity

If you are aged twenty and above, you may already have a more developed sense of self, having navigated your formative years without platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. 

But where younger kids are concerned, we are seeing their self-confidence tied into the ‘mirror effect’, or spotlight effect – you give of yourself on social media and watch how people react. There’s a lot of social pressure to have certain accounts or to try different hacks found online. 

Ultimately, it’s not easy to say no – but you always pay a price. Challenges such as the Cinnamon Challenge, Skull Breaker Challenge and Benadryl Challenge have all resulted in serious injury. Teaching our kids to have the courage not to feel pressured into joining in with something that doesn’t feel safe is an important skill for life.

Social media, with its myriad of possibilities regarding fake profiles and names, is also affecting our ability to self-reflect – people can bully or troll anonymously, and hiding behind a screen means we don’t empathize with the pain we can inflict on others by simply typing a few words.

## Dangerous Exposure

One of the challenges of parenting today is that it’s possible to have literally no idea what our children are watching – and they are able to access all kinds of content at an increasingly younger age. Let’s set the scene: Your teenager has a tablet – they access Netflix – they choose to watch Squid Games – their little brother climbs up onto the sofa next to them and watches alongside … it’s just so easy for kids to access all kinds of inappropriate content, right under our noses.

Squid Games in particular garnered much notoriety, with critics pointing out that the utter lack of human empathy is extremely disturbing. One could also add that violent video games, which many parents have long objected to, offer similarly worrying content. Studies amongst psychologists today show that too much exposure to this kind of content will affect our children’s ability to empathize and be sensitive. 

Access to these violent and brutal plots and images messes with people’s heads – young, impressionable people in particular.  Without the benefits of life experience, it’s frightening to think that the younger generation will become desensitized to violent content if they’re subjected to too much of it. It also blurs the lines between right and wrong, real and unreal, natural and unnatural.

Then there’s the added social pressure – even if your child isn’t inclined to watch this style of show, if their classmates are talking about it, they will want to join in the conversation. In the past, it was easier to control exposure. Families would have one screen at home if that – and that screen would be for the whole family. Children would ask their parents before watching television. If there were new releases, the cinemas offered ‘parental controls’ so parents would know whether or not movies were age-appropriate.

If a youngster wanted to access porn, he would need to invest time and energy to procure it: he needed to save his pocket money, go out, find a shop, buy a magazine, convince the shopkeeper he wasn’t under-age … It was a whole performance! Nowadays, it’s available at the click of a button.

## Lack of morality?

We find ourselves questioning: Is it a lack of morality that’s driving more and more shocking material online? When huge conglomerates fail to safeguard users: is this the modern-day equivalent of ‘the banality of evil’, whereby entertainment and tech corporations will prioritize financial profit over the well-being of young users? Kids imitate without realizing they are doing it. We don’t even realize how much evil is out there – our challenge is to help eradicate a percentage of that from our kids’ lives.

Recently, due to pressure from governing bodies, we’ve seen more companies take responsibility and add parental controls to their platforms. For example, Instagram has launched parental controls, as has Facebook, after a whistleblower accused them of being more interested in profits than safety. However, while various companies are now trying to change at least one aspect for users e.g. location or screen time, the FamilyKeeper parental control app aims to encompass all aspects, in order to help combat social bullying, mental health issues and online dangers.

## Why do your kids need YOU?

The frontal part of the brain starts to develop around nine years old and finishes around the age of twenty-five. During this time, we learn, we perceive, we’re impressionable, and we’re engaged.

A parental control app such as FamilyKeeper gives parents time to teach their children how to live in this world. It gives them values from a young age. Even if as a teen they decide they don’t want you to have parental access, you’ll have started them off with the right tools in life.

Parental control apps also help parents to understand their kids – what do your kids like to watch, to play, to listen to?  Screens have become the ultimate toy – toy companies just can’t compete anymore with the allure of a screen.

To that end, as parents we may need to adopt an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ policy. We may not be able to rid the world of screens, but we can certainly make the experience of using them a safer one. An app like FamilyKeeper opens the shutters – it keeps the lines of communication open between parent and child.

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.

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

How many times have you been surrounded by people – but felt completely alone?

This is the illusion that social media gives us – online communications can open us up to millions of connections around the world, but how many web-based ‘friends’ or followers are real friends? If they aren’t in a good place mentally, scrolling through Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat can leave kids feeling isolated, left out and anxious. Over 40% of teenagers have reported experiencing loneliness as a result of social media – an astonishing figure considering that ‘social’ implies togetherness.

Yet unfortunately, over-using social media can lead to a host of mental health issues including:

- Feelings of isolation and loneliness
- Low self-esteem
- Lack of self-worth
- Social anxiety
- Depression
- Body dysmorphia
- Self-harm – and in the worst cases, suicide

As parents, we would love to protect our kids from all the bad in the world – but realistically, we need to prepare them for any challenges they may face, and equip them with the tools that can help them.

When it comes to social media and its negative effects, a parental control app like FamilyKeeper is a highly recommended jumping-off point for parents to be able to support their kids.

## Why does FamilyKeeper work?

We believe we can give parents and children ownership of their online experiences. FamilyKeeper aims to prevent negative feelings caused by social media. FamilyKeeper is already helping thousands of parents and children. Here are a few ways in which you and your family could benefit:

## Screen Time

Limiting the amount of time your child spends online can help with keeping your child grounded, and protecting them from exposure to harmful content. Less screen time lessens the chances of your child isolating themselves from the real world – and gives them more time to spend with family and friends.

## Keywords

Cyberbullying is currently a huge worldwide problem – and stems from the overuse of social media. With FamilyKeeper, you can detect incendiary keywords and offensive content, and receive alerts when these are being used. Instead of your child feeling hurt and isolating themselves if bad language is flung their way, you will be in the loop, and be able to help protect them.

## Location

With the FamilyKeeper location tracker, you can help keep your child safe. You can decide together which areas are safe to be in. Knowing where your child is and how they got there will give you peace of mind.

FamilyKeeper is here to help you and your family avoid the dangers that the world poses.

For more information on how to keep your child safe, visit www.familykeeper.reasonlabs.com.

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

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#Digital Parenting