This week’s article is brought to us by contributing guest editor, Miles Muehlbach.
If you’re anything like my parents, you are constantly looking for ways to keep your teen both safe physically, and on the internet. Here are some tips that help keep me protected as I navigate the web… and middle school.
Safety on the Internet
- Consider using parental controls to make sure that your teen only goes on approved websites and programs. Try to keep it reasonable however, ahem… Mom and Dad, are you reading this?
- Use parental controls to ensure that your teen won’t make in-app purchases or other transactions without your consent.
- Check-in with your teen occasionally to see what they are posting and remind them to make sure there are no elements that can show personal information.
- Take notice of what games your teen plays and what videos your teen watches. Familiarize yourself with the ESRB.org rating system so you can know what content is in the game that your teen is playing.
- Check your teen’s phone and search history from time to time while keeping the balance of respecting their privacy.
- You might want to learn how to use the apps that they are using and follow their accounts.
- Enable 2-factor authentication, or 2FA for all your accounts. This ensures that even if someone can guess their password, there is still a second step for them to go through.
- Don’t use the same password across multiple accounts. This is important because if someone guesses your password, even if you have 2FA, they will have access to you or your teen’s personal and financial information.
- Make sure they never download suspicious or untrustworthy files.
- Check to see if your teen’s school’s online filter has e-mail reports, so you can see what websites your teen is visiting at school.
Physical safety
- Consider installing a tracking app like Life360 that can show you where your teen is. These apps can detect if they are in a crash or can tell if they are driving too fast. Life360 also has insurance options in case their phone gets lost or damaged.
- You can also use the built-in tracking on the iPhone or other Apple products. You can also use other devices designed for children under 10 as well.
- You can keep their devices safe from getting damaged by keeping them away from food and drink and being careful with them. If possible, get a case or screen protector for added protection.
In conclusion, I hope these tips will help you and your teen navigate the role that devices play in our everyday lives.
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