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

Kids are under immense pressure in today’s ‘Look at me!’ world. It’s become the norm to judge ourselves and others by the number of followers and reactions that we garner on social media – but using social media stats as the bar against which self-confidence is measured can be extremely harmful.

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

## 1) Body Image

Social media platforms, such as Instagram, are flooded with photos and selfies of users trying to show their best self, but the images are often heavily filtered, edited and photoshopped – so what we see is often unattainable.

When kids only see picture-perfect imagery, they may start to question themselves – how they look, and how others see them. Throw in puberty and changing bodies, and suddenly there’s a maelstrom of uncertainty.

Using social media, we scrutinize images over and over again. The search for “perfection” can be obsessive and unhealthy, and bring up all kinds of insecurities – so much so that the AAFPRS reported that the dramatic 2021 increase in facial reconstruction requests stemmed from ‘selfie awareness’, triggered by overuse of social media.

## 2) Online Privacy

Generation Z are notoriously laissez faire when it comes to online privacy – private details such as address, habits, check-ins and locations are often splashed across social media. The culture of ‘sharing’ on social media can lead to an over-sharing of personal information. This can lead to doxing – hackers steal information gleaned from social media cybersecurity breaches to set up fake accounts based on a person’s profile, friends lists, and likes or dislikes.

By 2021, it was estimated that 43 million Americans had experienced doxing – leading to publishing of personal details, harassment, embarrassment, and loss of personal information.

## 3) Cyberbullying

Despite international efforts to prevent cyberbullying, harassment on social media apps is still on the rise.  Currently, the top three social media apps most associated with cyberbullying are YouTube – where 79% of users have reported a form of cyberbullying, Snapchat (69%), and TikTok (64%).   

Cyberbullying includes sending or sharing harmful or embarrassing content, trolling, and making malicious comments. By posting online anonymously, cyberbullies can write whatever they want, without fear of repercussions. This trend is causing a really nasty side of humanity to emerge.

Cyberbullying can affect mental health and can cause physical harm, self-isolation, anger, and mistrust of those around you – making it harder for the victim to confide in someone.

## 4) Predators

One of the best things about social media is the ability to connect with people all around the world, from all walks of life – but the flip side is that this is also one of its biggest dangers. Cyber predators can contact your child through public chat rooms, online messaging platforms, and gaming apps. 

Grooming and inappropriate messaging is becoming more prevalent. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported that 2021 was the worst year ever for online predators, as the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the amount of time spent indoors and online. It’s a horrifying thought that strangers could be contacting your child without your knowledge, and endangering them. And as always with the internet, once content is uploaded, it’s lurking out there for the world to see.

## 5) Sexual Content

Although social media apps all have a minimum age requirement, it’s very easy to bypass this, and countless numbers of kids are using social media at increasingly younger ages – despite the content not being age-appropriate. Sex education through online media has become extremely common – but if a child is too young to be viewing it, it can disrupt their childhood innocence, and impact their attitudes, behavior and health. Social media  increases the likelihood of a child being faced with pornography, and ‘sexting’ messages or images that they may be too young for.

The use of sexual content on the internet is also one of the drivers of cyberbullying and online predators  – as well as affecting online privacy, and body image. These dangers are often intertwined with one another – and can have an all-consuming effect.

How do we go about preventing these dangers?
## 
Being aware of the dangers of social media apps is the first step – but it isn’t enough. And taking social media options away from your kids isn’t the answer either – interacting with friends, taking part in online games, and the educational and social elements of social media platforms are considered by most users to be paramount in 2022. 

Using a parental control app like FamilyKeeper can help your child navigate social media apps safely. Millions of users around the world are using FamilyKeeper to allow their kids, tweens and teens to use social media without any worries.

## With FamilyKeeper, you can:

☑️ Monitor and block inappropriate apps and sites

☑️ Receive alerts if offensive or incendiary keywords are used

☑️ Set screen time limitations

☑️ Locate your child with the geo-location tracker, so you know that they are somewhere safe

☑️ Monitor saved images on your child’s device

☑️ Help your child with their Privacy Settings, so that they can’t be contacted by strangers

☑️ Track conversations and content across a range of social media platforms

And more!

16_The_Dark_Side_of_Social_Media_5_Dangers_to_Be_Wary_Of_GC_4a8c1bcb0f.avif

It’s now September and the kids are firmly back in school!

As well as meeting new teachers and classmates, and navigating school corridors and timetables, kids of today are also negotiating their way around the latest social media platforms, and what’s trending.

Unfortunately, what’s currently in fashion where social media is concerned isn’t always rosy.  Over the summer, the tragic story of Archie Battersbee unfolded, resulting in his life support being turned off, months after he attempted the TikTok Blackout Challenge – and yet this hasn’t stopped other teenagers from attempting, and losing their lives to, the same challenge.  

As parents, we need to be aware of what ‘challenges’ are in vogue on social media – some may seem innocuous, some alarmingly dangerous, and no child should ever feel peer pressured to try something they don’t feel comfortable with.

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

## Blackout Challenge

The ‘Blackout Challenge’ has been around since 2008, but while it seemed to dissipate for a while, it resurfaced in 2021, causing untold agony for parents and families. Also known as the ‘Choking Challenge’, the Blackout Challenge encourages the participant to hold their breath until they pass out.

What people may not realize is that the resultant loss of oxygen to the brain can in fact cause irreparable brain damage, and in extreme cases result in loss of life. According to the CDC, the Blackout Challenge has been responsible for over 80 deaths – and that number has only increased since it re-emerged as a TikTok challenge.

We strongly urge our readers to look out for the following signs that someone may be attempting this challenge:

🚫 Bloodshot eyes

🚫 Marks on their neck

🚫 A sense of disorientation after spending time on their own

🚫 Severe headaches

If you fear that someone may be at risk, seek help and advice immediately.

## Angel of Death Challenge

This challenge originated in Indonesia in 2021 and saw a resurgence in 2022. It involves jumping in front of a moving vehicle and acting on the assumption that said vehicle will stop in time.  Unfortunately, and realistically, this is not always the case – and footage was posted in June of this year of a group of teenagers trying the challenge, resulting in death.

Common sense should tell us that this is undoubtedly an awful challenge to attempt to do – but again, the widespread nature of social media trends can lead to susceptible young people being misled, and mistaking ‘dangerous’ and ‘risky’ for ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’. 

## Orbeez Challenge

Sweeping across the States this summer, the Orbeez challenge involves shooting water beads, which are sometimes frozen into hard pellets, out of a toy or air gun.  

Pointing any kind of weapon at somebody else, however harmless your intention may be, is never acceptable. If these pellets strike someone on the head, they can actually kill – leading to this challenge now being a prosecutable offense.

There are many more challenges of varying degrees of danger that are possible to view online – and we urge you to discourage your family members from viewing these as anything but the dangerous pranks that they are.  It’s vital that parents and teachers warn kids and students about the dangers of trying out these challenges.

TikTok itself has its own rules and guidelines to try and eliminate any dangerous activity, and there is the option to report videos or images that may be on the social media site.

## How can you report content on TikTok?

❇️ On the right-hand side of a TikTok video, find and click on the white arrow

❇️ Tap the ‘report’ icon / flag symbol

❇️ Continue to follow the instructions provided in order to report dangerous content

In addition, we recommend using a top parental control app, such as FamilyKeeper, that can notify you when your child visits an inappropriate site, provides alerts when incendiary keywords are used, and lets you block specific platforms and content.  Let this school year be one with peace of mind for your family – read more about staying cyber safe at https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com

You are also most welcome to join our Facebook group [Digital World Parenting](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwparenting) for advice from experts, tips from other parents, and to join our parenting discussion board.

28_Online_Threats_To_Be_Aware_Of_3_Dangerous_Tik_Tok_Challenges_GC_1083bf859b.avif

## 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/)

31_Cyberbullying and Cyber Violence_v02.jpg

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/)

#Social Media