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  • You Can Finally Get a Refund for those Old Amazon Purchases Your Kids Made

    You Can Finally Get a Refund for those Old Amazon Purchases Your Kids Made

    Remember those unintended charges your kid racked up on your Amazon account? You can finally get a refund for that. Amazon announced this week, after teasing in April, that they’re opening up their refund system for those old charges. You may recall that Amazon got in to some trouble with the Federal Trade Commission for being too lax on in app purchases. This caused thousands of parents to see charges show up on their accounts that they weren’t responsible for. Their kids could buy gems, gold pieces, upgrades, or whatever else in the games they were playing with no secret pin or passcode required. At the time Amazon added the parental restrictions but were still working on a way to give out all of the refunds.

    They will be emailing users who are eligible for a refund and you can follow the steps from there. There is a one year deadline to submit for your refund and them the time is up. These refunds will cost Amazon up to $70 million dollars and are available to users who had this problem from 2011 through 2016. If you think you’re eligible but didn’t get an email you can visit https://www.amazon.com/gp/mas/refund-orders/in-apprefund/ to find out if you qualify.

    The Federal Trade Commission’s Official Statement

    What Parents Should Know

    Obviously you should get your refund if you qualify but these charges can still happen if you don’t have your settings right. You can set up purchase permissions on iTunes, Amazon, or Android’s Google Play store. You also have to set individual permissions on most of your devices. This will allow you to require passwords and pins in order to make a purchase, thus keeping you from seeing strange charges on your credit card or bank statements. I’ve made a video to help you with your Apple devices. Hopefully you can use these steps to keep from having to apply for any refunds for purchases you didn’t make yourself.

  • Here’s Why Your Kids Watch Other People Play Video Games

    Here’s Why Your Kids Watch Other People Play Video Games

    Watching other people play video games may not be something that you, as a parent, understand. The truth, however, is that it isn’t weird. It’s called esports and its popularity has grown in leaps and bounds. In fact, the recently released Kleiner Perkins 2017 Internet Trends report states that the popularity of esports has grown 40% every year. Also, 40% of the demographic that your kids belong in (millennials) even state that they prefer esports to traditional sports.

    Esports is growing all over the world it allows those with video game skills to test their abilities against the best on our globe. Most esport competitions begin with online qualifying matches and then culminate in an actual tournament style playoff in front of a live, and online audience. You can find an esports league for pretty much any video game you play. There are sports gaming leagues, Role Playing Game leagues, first person shooter game leagues, and even leagues and competitions for the most casual of puzzle games.

    Not all video gaming entertainment is competition based. “Let’s Play” video games on YouTube and LiveStreams on Twitch have also seen a massive increase in popularity. These videos feature gamers playing their favorite games and narrating their experience while thousands of fans watch and comment on the videos. On Twitch, streamers react in real time to the comment section or “twitch chat” allowing them to engage with their viewers and even let those watching help them make in-game decisions and strategies. These Let’s Play gamers build large communities that are extremely faithful and supportive. Many have even been able to make gaming their full time job because of ad revenue and the generosity of their viewing community. 

    What Parents Should Know

    First of all I recommend you take the idea of esports being a fad out of your mind completely. The truth is that esports is simply the next phase of the same video game culture that started while or before you were even a child. When people start to do something that takes any level of skill, opportunities to measure your skill against opponents will soon follow. Then, of course comes the chance to play for money since these competitions will surely draw a crowd who will pay for the privilege to be entertained by your tournament. Just think about poker or chess or cheerleading. These are all things that many start out doing as a hobby but there is a real competitive culture for these activities and therefore, a real industry. Video Gaming is no different.

    As far as your kids’ safety, I recommend that you know what games and gamers they like to watch. Get into that world a little bit for yourself and learn who these people are that your kid is watching play. There are adults that play games you kids love on YouTube but they don’t use very kid friendly language while they play. There are also people on YouTube who play very adult oriented games. You should have a general idea who your kids are viewing and what kind of content they share. The best way to do this is to share their YouTube and Twitch account and keep an eye on who they follow or subscribe to and their viewing history. I know this just adds more pieces to the internet safety puzzle but it’s worth the effort.

  • Teaching Your Kids Healthy Tech Habits

    Teaching Your Kids Healthy Tech Habits

    One of the most popular questions I get when I do tech safety workshops for parents is “how do I set restrictions for my older teen?” I think the most important thing to remember is that you’re not just setting restrictions, you’re teaching healthy habits. The brain of an adolescent is developing in such a way that your guidance is critical as they navigate these murky digital waters.

    I like the term healthy when it comes to internet use because right and wrong is subjective. Your sixteen year old may believe that it’s ok to watch YouTube videos for five hours on a Saturday afternoon but you can use facts to help him understand that it may not be healthy. Our conversation with our teenagers shouldn’t be about what digital habits are right and wrong but what is healthy. Here are three critical factors to keep in mind while teaching healthy tech habits.

    Relationship

    Boundaries without relationship become rules and rules were made to be broken. Because of your healthy relationship you can help your teenager understand that the rules exist to protect them. You can create a safe place for them to come to when they need guidance on their tech habits, about how they’ve been treated online, or about regrets regarding something they’ve seen or done online.

    As parents we shouldn’t close the door to conversation with instant judgement or constant nagging about the time they spend online. I recommend using digital means to keep track (with their knowledge) of what they do online and only bringing it up when it becomes a consistant problem. Relationship is the most important part of any internet safety strategy.

    Transparency

    Openness and transparency is key, not just on your teen’s part but on your part as well. It is critical that you are transparent with them about your tech habits. They need to understand that you’re trying to get it right as well and that the habits they develop now will affect them as they grow older. The best way for them to learn this is by watching you and hearing about how you’re having to deal with these same issues now. Whether you’re trying to keep them from dangerous content or help them avoid tech addiction, they should understand that you’re trying to protect yourself from those things too. The quickest way to cause your teen or young adult child to stop taking you seriously is for you to not practice what you preach.

    Time Management

    Obviously time management will be critical as your child graduates high school and enters college. Between jobs, studying, and extra activities they’ve probably already had to develop some form of time management skill. The lure and appeal of constantly available video, music, and gaming entertainment can make time management more difficult now than it’s ever been.

    You have to help your teen understand what good time management looks like. Point them towards content on the tech that they enjoy, like YouTube videos, podcasts, or productivity apps and other tools that will help them learn more about healthier time management habits. Encourage them to use these tools alongside some of the entertainment they consume.

    All three of these steps are related to each other and will greatly impact one another. If you don’t have a good relationship with your child that encourages communication, if you aren’t being a good example, and if you aren’t teaching and showing time management skills your kids are going to have a hard time navigating healthy tech habits. Online life is a real part of our world and it’s too important to ignore so utilize these steps and let me know what others you have used that have been successful.

  • Instagram Rolls Out Major Updates to Direct Messaging

    Instagram Rolls Out Major Updates to Direct Messaging

    Instagram has launched their seemingly weekly major update today with a focus on their direct messaging feature. Now it’s possible to see previews of links and to send full size images. (Not just squares.) While most of Instagram’s updates have focused on it’s Stories feature, the DM gets quite a bit of attention every now and then too. There seems to be a race between Instagram and Snapchat to develop the best private messaging option out there. Features like link previews and removing the image dimension limits will go a long way to make Instagram a serious contender for direct messages.

    Link previews look a lot like in FB Messenger.

    What Parents Should Know

    Obviously it’s important to know who your kids are talking to online. Private messages open up the possibility for kids to contact people they don’t really know very well. This can lead to full, private conversations with videos and images that are difficult for parents to monitor. There is no way to disable direct messaging in the Instagram app so if your kids are using the service they have the ability to contact people in private. These messages won’t show up on their image timeline and images won’t be stored on their phones unless they manually save them. This can result in private messaging that may cross your line of what’s appropriate.

    Links that show up in Instagram will open in the Instagram browser when clicked. This means some accountability software and filters won’t take affect. You should keep that in mind when deciding whether or not to allow them to use Instagram.

    My advice, as always, is to take whatever measures you’re most comfortable with to monitor your kids Instagram activity. The only way to monitor their private messaging is to have their login information. I show you how to log in as them on your own device in a video here. Prevention, monitoring, and conversation are the most important things you can do to keep your kids from unwanted material online.

  • Four Blue Whale Challenge FACTS

    Four Blue Whale Challenge FACTS

    There are a lot of misconceptions about the Blue Whale Challenge. Some are calling it the latest threat to our kids while others are saying it’s being blown out of proportion. The short video below unpacks some of the facts that I’ve discovered as I look deeper into this trending topic.

     

    The Facts:

    1. Kids ARE hurting themselves because of this the Blue Whale Challenge
    2. There have been zero (0) confirmed suicides resulting from the Blue Whale Challenge.
    3. Authorities are concerned we are going to turn this into something because of the popularity we’re giving it.
    4. There are steps you can take and you should take them now.

    What Parents Should Know

    There are always reasons to take a trend like this seriously. We, as parents should be vigilant to keep an eye on what our kids are doing online while not allowing the trendiness of a topic like the Blue Whale Challenge cause us to inflate it into even more of an issue. Be wise and take the steps you know to take to keep your kids safe online.

    My Advice:

    1. Know who they talk to online.
    2. Follow them on your social media accounts.
    3. Have their login information for EVERY social media account they have.
    4. Keep an eye out for the signs of depression or other struggles.
    5. Talk to your children openly about the dangers of buying into these trends and communicating with people you don’t know.
  • Is Pinterest Safe for Your Kids and Teens?

    Is Pinterest Safe for Your Kids and Teens?

    Is there porn on Pinterest? Does Pinterest allow porn? I’ve heard both of these questions many times and the answers are very very different. Today, as Pinterest announced their new approach to advertising videos on their site and app, I’m reminded of the many parents who have discussed the potential dangers of Pinterest with me at workshops and other events. Lets unpack a few of those dangers, what Pinterest’s approach is, and what parents can do about it.

    There IS porn on Pinterest.

    I can confirm that there is pornography on Pinterest in two ways. First of all, I started some searches for inappropriate topics and (without having to click through to results) could see that there was porn available. Just typing the first few letters of these search terms produced recommended searches that told the entire story. 

    These results pretty much let you know what is available on the site and in the app. Searching more specific terms would, obviously, produce more specific results.

    While this covers intentionally searching for content, your kids may not be the type to have been in to that before so you don’t expect them to go searching for it. This is where it gets a bit tricky. Pinterest feeds you new content in two different ways. They show you pins from people you’ve decided to follow and they show you pins that have been “picked for you.” Pinterest uses what you do in their app and site as well as what you do on other websites to recommend different things to you. If you’ve liked art before then you’ll start to get more art posts. If you’re into geeky quotes, you’ll see pins from people you don’t follow based on what you’ve pinned or viewed in the past. This can lead to being shown pinners who’s pins may not line up with what you’d consider “safe” for your kids. There is, however, a way to turn off the “picked for you” option. See the image below:

    Go into your profile, then settings, and you can turn off personalization AND picked for you.

    Pinterest Doesn’t Allow “Explicit Content.”

    From Pinterest’s terms of service.

    Pinterest’s rules don’t allow explicit pornography to be posted but it relies on reporting from users to identify and remove the offending pins. This means that the post can be up for days or weeks before it gets enough reports to have it taken down. Another thing to keep in mind is that Pinterest will still use their own definition of “explicit.” You may think something is not good for your 14 year old son to view while they view it as art or expression. This means you have to truly stay on top of what they’re seeing.

    What Parents Should Know

    Again, much is left to interpretation. Some parents may say a photo of a nude statue is artistic and cultural and some might say it’s inappropriate. While some folks think any nudity should be considered explicit, there are parents who would disagree unless it’s in a sexual situation or atmosphere. There are many factors that keep photo sharing sites like Pinterest from making a blanket NO NUDITY rule.

    I would prefer if there were some way to turn off nudity as an option for users but as of right now that isn’t possible. It also isn’t easy to monitor what content is being viewed in the Pinterest apps. Yes, the service is built to work best on the mobile apps, my recommendation is that you limit your younger teen (over 13 to comply with the service agreement) to using Pinterest on a browser. Use something like Accountable2You to monitor their activity so you can be alerted if they’ve come across something inappropriate. This could help keep you from difficult situations stemming from your kids happening upon something adult oriented on Pinterest.

    So, to answer the question, is Pinterest safe for your kid or teen? The answer is no and yes. No it isn’t recommended for your child. The age restriction to get an account is 13. I would, however, begin to ease up on a strict anti-Pinterest rule as my kids enter their teen years but I would monitor their usage in the most effective way possible. Just because you’ve never seen anything when you creep Pinterest doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Know that this risk is real and that your kids are as susceptible as any. Take precautions BEFORE anything regretful happens.

  • PODCAST: How Does a Tech Safety Expert Protect His Kids Online?

    PODCAST: How Does a Tech Safety Expert Protect His Kids Online?

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    How does a tech safety expert keep his own kids safe online? Is Instagram accessible without the app? What was in the big Snapchat update? What’s with fidget spinners in the app store?

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    FAMILY TECH WEEKLY 7

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  • Location and Hashtag Search Makes Instagram Stories Unending

    Location and Hashtag Search Makes Instagram Stories Unending

    Instagram has added the ability to search Stories by hashtag and location. This means that your explore tab will now give you access to basically unlimited Instagram story content. Instagram is going to feature location tagged stories by people you follow and also from people you don’t. If you search for your town, or any town for that matter, you’ll see a small map, the posts featured from that town, and if it’s been tagged in a story you’ll see that above the map as well. This will give more access to more stories and may lead to following more people on Instagram. Hashtag results will work in much the same way. You’ll be able to search stories by topic with the hashtag. It will also highlight the posts you and your friend’s made by featuring them first in the results.

    What Parents Should Know

    There’s always a bit of a red flag for me when there’s more potential to be connected with strangers on Social Media. Location and Hashtag filters allow you to find people you’ve never met and see what they’ve posted. Granted, the explore feature already makes that pretty easy. Instagram’s algorithm will gather these people and posts and present them to you from a simple search. These explore and search results aren’t going to be monitored by any accountability software since they’re not technically in a browser. You should take steps to monitor what your kids do in Instagram yourself. You should also lead the conversation with them about Instagram as these new updates come out.

  • 5 Apps that are Tech Safety Expert Approved!

    5 Apps that are Tech Safety Expert Approved!

    When I do Digital Boundaries Workshops I begin by sharing all of the dangers of unsupervised internet and mobile device use. I then walk through the best practices for keeping your kids safe in the digital landscape they are navigating. I also, spend a lot of time answering questions. I received a question this week that I hadn’t been asked ever before. “What are some apps that you would recommend for my family.” Huh…I hadn’t thought of that as much. I spend so much time looking at the dangers that are so prevalent online that I often ignore some of the resources that can be fun for families. Here’s a list of five apps that I approve of.

    Social Media

    Instagram

    While I always recommend parents keep to the age restrictions recommended by the terms of agreements on a social media platform (usually 13 plus;) I also know how popular social media is and that your teen is going to want to open an account as soon as you’ll allow them. When you’re ready to give them permission, I recommend you start with Instagram. The first reason is pretty simple. Instagram is easy to monitor. You can easily put your kids’ account(s) on your installation of Instagram and keep close tabs on what they’re doing on it. You can even use that method to be notified when they get a direct message.

    Any social media opens you up for some problems. They say it isn’t great for self image and self esteem and there is always inappropriate content that can be accessed because of the fact the content is posted by users but if you’re going to give in and allow some form of Social Media then Instagram is a better starting point than Snapchat or Twitter. There a a lot of reasons and I’ve written about most of those already.

    Gaming

    Ballz

    This game is super fun and addictive. It’s a pretty basic concept. You swipe back and release to launch a ball to bounce around the game-board and break up blocks. The blocks have numbers on them that show how many times you need to hit the block to make it go away. You collect more “ballz” and launch them all at the same time. (I’ve launched as many as 110 at once.) This becomes extremely satisfying when you fire all of the balls towards the blocks and watch the numbers on them decrease as quickly as the block is hit by each ball. Like I said, while it’s satisfying, it’s also very very addicting.

    This game is approved because, while it has ads, the ones I’ve seen have all been for more games by the same developer. This has kept anything inappropriate from creeping up as a banner ad. I approve because it should be pretty safe and because it is just so darn fun to watch all those little balls bounce around and devastate the the game-board full of blocks.

    Research/Education

    Kiddle

    Kiddle isn’t an app. It’s a website. You can very easily save the site to be an icon on the home screen of your phone and then tell your kids to use it as their search engine. I’ve written quite a bit about Kiddle already, so go read about how the search engine works and let your kids research and learn without fear of coming up on anything nasty or scary.

    Entertaiment

    Amazon Prime and Freetime

    Amazon Prime’s kids profiles are some of the best because the shows are curated by human editors. That means that actual people have looked at the shows and determined that they are actually safe for kids. Freetime is a special way to subscribe to only kids content so that you can be sure that they’re not seeing and adult targeted shows. If you don’t have Freetime you won’t have access to kids profiles but you can still set parental controls so that content above a certain age range won’t be accessible without a pin number. Kids can’t see these shows and movies without the pin but they’ll still be able to see the thumbnail image in their “carousel.”

    YouTube Kids

    YouTube kids is a good option simply because of the popularity of YouTube for our children. Kids love watching all different kinds of content on YouTube and YouTube Kids makes it possible to allow them to watch their favorite channels without potentially finding videos that aren’t appropriate for their age. YouTube Kids separates their content by topics like music, education, and shows so kids can find what they want pretty easily. The only downside to YouTube Kids is that it’s monitored with an algorithm and depends on reports from parents to remove suspicious and inappropriate content. This has caused some concern for parents in the past but if you are going to allow you kids to watch YouTube then YouTube Kids is absolutely a better option.

    That Being Said

    I’m not used to thinking about what apps parents should install but I’m grateful for the question this week to give me the idea for this article. Please remember that all of these apps constantly add new content and features and sometimes that makes them less appropriate for kids. As for right now, though, I give these five apps a green light for your kids’ devices as long as you and they use the apps in the way they’re designed to be used.

  • You Can Now See What Advertising Data Twitter Has on You

    You Can Now See What Advertising Data Twitter Has on You

    A new update today from Twitter allows users to look at the information that’s been gathered about them by Twitter and by “partner” advertisers. Not only can you view this information but you can edit it as well. If you don’t like a category you’ve been placed in, you can simply uncheck that option and opt out of the advertising for that topic. I took it for a spin and was surprised at a few of the assumptions that were made.

    First of all, I was on the list for pretty much every type of food. Packaged food, fresh food, deli meats, non-dairy milk, and the list goes on and on. Apparently I’m an eater. I was also labeled the mother of 3+ children. It’s half right. I’m the FATHER of four kids. Obviously I am being targeted for minivans and pick up trucks and family vacation packages. It was even pretty spot on with my annual income. Kind of crazy, really.

    Here’s how you can check out your Twitter ad data for yourself:

    What Parents Should Know

    It’s pretty safe to assume that if Twitter has this information about you then your other social media platforms have the same information or even more. This info can be helpful to us because it helps connect us with the products we want or need. It can be troublesome, though, to think about all of the data that’s been gathered about us and especially our kids. I recommend you use this new feature as a tool. If you have a Twitter account then use the steps above to go check out your ad data and learn about what you reveal about yourself with your online behavior. Then, talk to your kids about what you’ve found. If your kids have a Twitter account then you should have them go take a look at their information as well. Then have a conversation with them about how they represent themselves online and what this date means in real life. Here are a few talking points.

    1. Advertisers track information from all of your internet activity. Not just what you post on social media.
    2. When you click “I Accept” on any Terms and Agreements for a website or social service you’re agreeing to allow them to have this advertising information.
    3. Since this advertising info is being collected you should keep that in mind while you surf the internet. Remembering that info is being saved could help you think twice about unhealthy internet habits.

    Using a tool as vast as the internet has its tradeoffs. You’re going to have to give a little in order to get the benefits that the world wide web has to offer. In this case, twitter is allowing you to see a bit of what you’re paying. Thankfully, they’ve also given you a bit of control. Being able to turn off advertising options for different topics is a cool feature that I hope will show up on more social media services. In the mean time, remember to keep talking to your kids about how they use the internet and be sure to be a good example yourself.