Digital Safety for Parents

Agenda ● Science ● Social Media ● Gaming ● Messaging ● Influencers ● Digital Classroom ● Scams ● Takeaways

Who am I

Who Am I? Personally ● Married to Gillian, 5th grade room parent ● Father to Saibh (7th grade) and Tadhg (5th grade) ● Constantly struggling with “screen time” ● Irish, with a very dry sense of humour Professionally ● Worked in tech 20+ years ● Cyber Security for 10+ years ● Spent 8 years in video games, working on League of Legends, Valorant etc ● Worked across multiple industries - finance, fintech, tech, start-ups, video gaming

Science

Scientific Research Teens who use social media for more than three hours a day face double the risk of depression and anxiety symptoms, which is particularly concerning given that the average amount of time that kids use social media is 3 1/2 hours a day NPR His heart rate increases from 80 to over 100 beats per minute, and his blood pressure rises from a normal 90/60 to 140/90. Psychology Today Numerous studies have linked video gaming to behavior and mental health problems. This study suggests that there may also be cognitive benefits associated with this popular pastime, which are worthy of further investigation. Functional MRI brain imaging analyses found that children who played video games for three or more hours per day showed higher brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory than did those who never played. At the same time, those children who played at least three hours of video games per day showed more brain activity in frontal brain regions that are associated with more cognitively demanding tasks and less brain activity in brain regions related to vision. nih.gov

Government Regulation https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-yout h-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf

Social Media

Social Media Today US Surgeon General (2023) 95% of teenagers ages 13-17 say they use a social media app, and more than a third say they use it "almost constantly." The Social Media and Youth Mental Health advisory says social media can perpetuate "body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent girls."

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Social Media is no longer just for personal use, it’s everywhere, including work.

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Social Media - Summary Positives ● Connection and Communication ● Information Sharing ● Business Opportunities ● Creativity and Self-Expression ● Entertainment What to Watch Out For ● Cyberbullying ● Online Predators ● Sharing too much information ● Inappropriate Content ● Scams/Fraud

Gaming

My Childhood

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Gaming - Summary Positives ● Cognitive Benefits ● Motor Skills and Coordination ● Social Interaction and Collaboration ● Stress Relief and Relaxation What to Watch Out For ● Age-Appropriate Content ● Excessive Screen Time ● Online Interactions with Whom? ● Physical Health and Well-being ● Financial Considerations ● Control Access, how?

Messaging

Does this look familiar :) ● Bombarded ● So many chat apps ● So much data

Ding Ding Ding

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Phone Research Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00221

Change is coming!!! ● The academic literature on phone and social media’s harms is complicated, but change is coming and governments are acting after years of doing nothing!

Messaging & Phones - Summary Positives ● Access to information ● Improved Communication ● Access to entertainment ● Stress Relief and Relaxation What to Watch Out For ● Age-Appropriate Content ● Excessive Screen Time ● Online Interactions / Cyberbullying ● Physical Health and Well-being ● Privacy & Security ● Addiction & Dependency

Influencers

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Influencers - Summary Positives ● Empowerment ● Unique Content ● Direct Engagement ● Financial Opportunities ● Flexibility ● Diversity of Voices What to Watch Out For ● Content ● Online Privacy ○ Sharing personal data ● Inappropriate Interactions ● Well-being ● Financial Literacy

Digital Classroom

What? ● Teachers can create and organize assignments, send announcements, and start class discussions instantly. ● Students can interact with their classmates and teachers, view their assignments and submit their work, all in one place.

Scams

Scams - Tips from the FBI AI Scam Kidnapping Call Advice:

Extortion of Minors Online

Recommended Preventative Actions ● Be Mindful of the Information you Share ● Privacy Settings - use them :) ● Downloads - you don’t need that free wallpaper ;-) ● Money - Purchase Approval >> Monitor & Alert ● Educate your children - communicate, do NOT shame ● Authentication - strong passwords, don’t share ● Reporting is super important ○ If they don’t know …..

Takeaways

General Takeaways ● Leverage privacy settings ● Cyberbullying is real ○ Report & get help ● Use parental controls ○ Until a certain point ● Scams/Fraud ○ Discuss & educate ○ Monitor purchases ● Rules ○ Stick to them ● Monitor ○ Review content/messages ● Be aware of digital footprint and online reputation ● Observe emotional well-being ● Digital citizenship ○ Educate ● Question & Challenge ○ Encourage curiosity ○ Free Play

Have the Difficult Conversations ● DO NOT AVOID ● Monitoring ● Modifying Restrictions ● Giving Advice ● Rules ● Other Parents Don’t :)

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Resources

Digital Safety Resources ● Digital Safety for Parents (my book) ● Glow Kids: An excellent but at times terrifying read on screen addiction and the dangers. ● General & Hands-On Guides: ○ EFF: ○ Common Sense Media ○ Stay Safe Online ● A sample of possible parental controls ○ Cloudflare’s “1.1.1.1 for families” ○ Eero Parental Controls - “How to Geek” ○ Ubiquiti Unifi: ○ Google - use Family Link ○ Apple - use Families

CyberBullying Resources ● StopBullying.gov ● Cyberbullying Research Center ● Common Sense Media ● National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ● Parenting for Digital Futures ● Unicef ● From Meta: ○ Online Bullying Prevention Tips for Parents ○ Online Bullying Prevention Tips for Teens ○ Bullying Prevention Get Digital Lessons

Reporting Resources ● Some places to report online issues: ○ USA Government ○ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - Report Fraud ○ Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) ○ Better Business Bureau (BBB) ○ Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) ○ Companies ■ Snapchat; Facebook; Instagram; Google, Tiktok; Reddit; Discord; Twitch; Roblox

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