Family Tech Blog

Tag: news

  • Snapchat Update Adds New Effects and Sharable Links

    Snapchat Update Adds New Effects and Sharable Links

    Snapchat’s latest update will give the camera background effects and allow you to change your voice without using one of their filters. The other major feature is the ability to share links and open them within Snapchat’s very own browser. While you can’t type a url into the address bar at the top of the browser you can click around online and end up at any website you’d like. That’s right, that means your kids can now browse the internet within Snapchat. This has always been possible in other social media apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook but now Snapchat will allow users to tap right on a picture and open a link without leaving the app.

    What Parents Should Know

    If the Discover Page, disappearing photos, private video chat, and SnapMap isn’t enough to put this on your uninstall list, perhaps the ability to access the entire internet without leaving the app will help you pull the trigger. Yes, this feature is available in other social media apps but when you factor in all of the other features that can be a detriment to your internet safety plan it puts Snapchat at the top of my uninstall list.

  • FB Now Boasts 2 Billion Users, What Does That Mean for Your Family?

    FB Now Boasts 2 Billion Users, What Does That Mean for Your Family?

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the social media platform has surpassed 200 billion users every month. The growth has been said to come from a focus on developing countries and regaining lost users. Zuckerberg’s response to this growth was one of excitement and responsibility, he said:

    “We’re making progress connecting the world, and now let’s bring the world closer together.” -Mark Zuckerberg

    Facebook started in 2004 and reached 1 billion users in 2012. The social media is the most used platform with YouTube a distant second with 1.5 billion users every month. What’sApp and FB Messenger both have 1.2 billion but they are also owned by Facebook. The obvious staying power of Facebook is evident in these numbers and their strategy of gaining new users in developing countries and regaining users who had left Facebook is paying off. What do these numbers tell us about the state of Social Media and the Internet? (If they really are two different things.)

    1. Your kids are probably on Facebook.

    The joke has forever been that once parents started using Facebook the kids jumped off. In reality, your kids are most likely using Facebook again. The reason they’ve returned is simple. There is more there to offer. The option to adjust what they see on their timeline and what ads they see are appealing and the AR camera and story feature in Messenger and the Facebook app has come a long way to entice former users to give Facebook another try.

    2. The entire world is available to your kids on Facebook.

    Two billion users is almost a third of the entire world. That means the influence available to your kids is more global than ever. When you add in the other social media services your kids use the globe just gets even smaller. Every idea anyone has or has ever had is available to your children through social media. Every thought anyone has or has ever had on any topic is available to digest and use to develop their own beliefs and thoughts. The influence of the world available on social media has changed the way our kids grow up and what they believe tremendously and the more these services like Facebook grow the more confusing some of these voices can be. There is, of course, a great opportunity to help your kids understand the larger world they live in but you have to help them navigate that world in a healthy way.

    3. Your example of internet citizenship is more important than ever.

    The globalization of our kids’ influences through social media should be a wake up call for parents. We need to understand the responsibility we have to keep our kids protected from the many dangers that are available to them online and to teach them how to be a good citizen of the internet. What do we do when we see something that could be fake or click-bate? Do we fall for the trap? What photos do you share? Are you smart with how you broadcast your location? These are all important safety concepts that our kids have to understand. The best way they’ll learn this wisdom is by watching us implement it ourselves.

    Facebook is proud that they’re the pinnacle of social media greatness. Mark Zuckerberg is emphasizing the responsibility they have to use this influence to bring people together and not tear them apart. Recent news and election cycles have been an example of how social media can cause people to ignore facts and strengthen their own beliefs with information from sources that haven’t been proven or vetted at all. Facebook is doing what they can to curb this trend. The reality, however, is that it’s up to us as the citizens of these social media services to make the right choices and to teach our kids how to do the same thing. The responsibility lies with us, not with Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook. These tech giants are going to make choices based on what is right for their companies and we, as parents and leaders, have to step up and make the choices that are right for our families.

  • Social Media, Globalization, and Our Kids’ Convictions

    Social Media, Globalization, and Our Kids’ Convictions

    We’ve got “covfeve”, Hillary Clinton speaking about politics at a programming conference, Kathy Griffin vs Donald Trump on Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk talking about the President’s climate change beliefs, and all other kinds of tech notables using their platform to promote their political and ethical beliefs. There’s no doubt that our kids are growing up being more aware of the polarized political landscape we live in than ever before.

    I remember knowing there was a President when I was a kid. I remember hearing a thing or two about impeachment and adultery but I didn’t care or pay too much attention. I was a preteen and I had more important things to deal with. Mainly video games, girls, and baseball. I don’t remember hearing anything about politics while I was in middle school or high school. I registered to vote when I was 18 and voted for who my family said would be a good choice. Now, the people who run our favorite entertainment companies openly state their disdain or support for our government officials. Protests have hashtags and political videos and memes go viral equally because of people agreeing and disagreeing with them. It’s obvious to our kids now that we are living in a volatile political situation.

    Political opinion is formed by who you grow up listening to. It used to be formed by parents, grandparents, and the culture in your local community. Globalization now allows our kids access to every opinion from any voice they want to hear from. Many times these voices are people mom and dad may not be comfortable with. Declaring whether or not that is a good thing is not the intent of this article. My goal with this article is to give understanding to parents who are confused about why their kids grow up to think differently than they do.

    Your children live in a globally influential world instead of the small section of the country that we grew up in. I grew up in Texas, New Mexico, and Missouri and believed the better part of what I was raised to believe. The global landscape of social media (which is just the state of the internet in our culture) has caused many of those beliefs to shift or even outright be changed. Not just for me but for most in my generation and younger.

    Parents should be aware, whatever your thoughts are on today’s hot political topics, that your voice is most likely not the loudest voice in your children’s lives. The Snapchat Discover page, that YouTube vlogger, Instagram influencers, and even Twitter are telling them whatever message they’re more interested in soaking in. The algorithm’s on these platforms provide them with a steady stream of reinforcement for whatever it is they’ve been tapping or clicking on up to this point. Opinion isn’t being formed by their church, their school, or their family like it used to. It’s formed by anyone and everyone in the entire world. Whatever your thoughts on what your kids should believe or where they should form these beliefs, I just wanted you to know where it’s actually coming from. 

  • 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.
  • Original TV Content in Snapchat is a Sign of the State of Social Media

    Original TV Content in Snapchat is a Sign of the State of Social Media

    Have we come full circle? Maybe, because live-TV is becoming the trend. Well, it is now that television companies are bringing programming to social networks. Snapchat is the latest platform to announce that they’re bringing content from traditional TV to their feed. The shows will take the form of short-form supplemental episodes to direct Snapchat users to the shows on their networks. Snap has announced that Turner, A&E, ABC, the NFL, Vice Media, Discovery, and Fox are already signed on to produce this original content. Many of these companies are larger networks that can promote content from a large group of TV channels.

    Apparently Snap isn’t interested in advertising disguised as a show. They are after “true original content.” While the hope of the networks is to move users from their short-form shows on Snapchat’s stories to their programming on Television or their streaming services, Snap is hoping to provide more income from these companies. Especially since their first report after taking the company public showed some major losses. (They say most of the losses were due to paying shareholders after going public.) There is already data to support that social media content by TV networks improves their viewership:

    Nielson reports that media companies that publish Snapchat content see “notable audience growth” on TV and other platforms, and that the app delivered a 16-percent boost to the average monthly reach. – Digital Trends

    This means they shouldn’t have any trouble filling the Snapchat stories and discovery section with more of these shows. These short episodes will have ads that play before, during, or after. That’s where the income for Snapchat will come from.

    What Parents Should Know

    I think there are two things parents need to take into account as our social media becomes more inundated with traditional media and advertising. First of all, some parents are concerned with overexposure to media and entertainment. Setting restrictions on what content your child can see is getting harder and harder to do. Adding this content to their social media apps just makes it even more difficult. Moms and dads need to keep an eye on what shows and ads are showing up in these apps and take action if they see something that they’re not comfortable with.

    The second issue is time. Many of us are learning how important it is to watch the amount of time our kids are spending online or consuming TV, games, and movies. With Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and now Snapchat moving towards more original TV style content we are seeing social media become more about the entertainment and less about communication and sharing with friends. It’s important for parents to understand that social media platforms now count as entertainment. If you have a time restriction set on Netflix, Youtube, or Hulu, you should have it on Snapchat and Instagram too. That’s just where we are now. Social Media isn’t a trend. It’s basically the state of the internet in this culture. We have to treat it as such.

  • PODCAST: Date Night Monkey Business

    PODCAST: Date Night Monkey Business

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    Amazon is changing the parental controls game, Instagram has 200 mil users, and MONKEY is a hotbed for predators.

    FAMILY TECH WEEKLY EPISODE 3

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  • Fake News and Your Family

    Fake News and Your Family

    I’ve been hesitant to write about the fake news issue. While there have been plenty of stories come out about how the tech world is battling the fake news problem I have yet to be able separate the issue from people’s political feelings and so I’ve left it alone. Today, tech news sites are talking about the latest shot fired in the fake news war and it centers around the most popular site on the internet, Google.

    Google is going to be featuring fact check links on many news stories in your search results. The need for more fact checking has become more and more obvious as the internet becomes full of user generated content. The issue with UGC is that you can say whatever you want and, until recently there weren’t a lot of ways to prove your story right or wrong. Links underneath some Google search results will now feature fact check information from sites like Politifact and Snopes. These should help those seeking true news and information to have a better understanding of the sources for the articles they’re using for their research.

     

    What Parents Should Know

    Fake news isn’t a kids and teens problem. Many adults share stories without finding out where the information came from. It isn’t difficult to recognize a satirical news site from a real news site. Fake news sites work to disguise themselves as real news. Satire is an obvious attempt at humor while fake news is usually just created to get clicks and sell advertising. You see, the more clicks a site gets the more money they make from advertisers on their sites. Writers on these sites will write a story based on the number of clicks it will get and not the accuracy of their information. Often these stories will be twists on something that is true while sometimes it’s just a completely made up article with a “clickbait” headline. We can’t continue to share these articles for so many reasons; the biggest reason is that it further confuses our society and divides us.

    Your children deserve a world where news is actual news. No matter your beliefs or political leanings you don’t want your kids to have to function in a society where there is no difference between factual news and an inflated false story written by some kid in a basement in Ohio (no offense to Ohio.) You should learn to fact check. Spend some time on Politifact.com or Snopes.com and dig around for the issues that are most important to you. Teach your kids what it means to site sources and look for the purest form of information or news. Yes, you can read about the latest tech news from me and I’ll related it to parenting and protecting your children online; that’s great, but if want to know more about Google’s fact checking search results you can go read their blog to get the information straight from the source.

  • Use Twitter’s New Tools to Protect Your Kids from Trolls

    Use Twitter’s New Tools to Protect Your Kids from Trolls

    Surprisingly, more of our teenagers are using twitter than you may think. The common attitude among young people is it’s a good place to express yourself even if you’re not sure anyone is listening. Twitter is still a place for teens to go public with their thoughts and opinions. The potential problem with such expression is that there are always those out there wanting to counter your opinion. Often this takes on the form of trolling or bullying. Twitter has released some tools that can help their users filter out some of those trolls and parents need to learn how to use them.

    Twitter was in the news last year because of a common theme of internet trolls bullying users, especially celebrities. This caused Twitter to begin working on some new ways to “clean up” what you see in your feed. In the last several days Android and Desktop Twitter users were given the power to block notifications of posts from certain types of accounts, including those who haven’t verified their email address and phone number. The common practice of these trolls is to create fake accounts just for the sole purpose of messing with someone. They don’t verify the account or even include a profile picture, displaying the default bird’s egg logo instead. The new tools developed by Twitter will allow these trolls to be filtered out by simply clicking a couple of checkboxes.

     

    What Parents Should Do

    Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among teens and a teen that is cyberbullies is ten times more likely to think about killing themselves. These statistics are a reality in this digital world and are a wake up call that parents need to take the opportunity to filter content in their kids social media feeds seriously. These notification filters can help remove some of the negative and hurtful people that just seem to want to make trouble on Twitter.

     

     

    Take note of the above picture. If you go to the notifications tab on twitter you’ll see a Settings link on the upper right. Click that link and you should see something similar to this image. It’s pretty straight forward but if you turn off notifications for anyone who hasn’t set up their profile picture, validated their email, or linked their phone number you’ll eliminate many of those troll accounts that cause so much trouble. Remember that Twitter and other social media sites contain “User Generated Content” and therefore, can’t be considered safe for anyone under 17. This means you should keep an eye on what your child or teen seeing on Twitter and have conversations with them about it. As them why they use Twitter. Find out if they’ve ever been teased or bullies on the app. If so, ask what they did about it and who they told. Kids who talk about being bullied are far less likely to take drastic measure as a result of it so open the lines of communication and be present when they need you. You should be that safe place they can come to with any problem. Bullying on social media is no exception.

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  • Snapchat isn’t Just a Messenger Anymore

    Snapchat isn’t Just a Messenger Anymore

    It may have all started with “secret” messaging but it hasn’t stopped there. Soon public sharing became the norm on Snapchat, a feature that was copied by many other Social Media networks soon after it’s release. Then, Snapchat’s “Discover” page was released, this was a way for news and media corporations to reach the users of Snapchat with their messages and advertising. Lately, Snap Inc. has been working towards becoming a serious form of entertainment for it’s users, incorporating videos and even original show content into their network. Today, VICELAND has announced they’re producing several new shows exclusively for Snapchat. They’re starting with a “reality” dating show titled “Hungry Hearts with Action Bronson.”

    VICELAND Productions is following several other studios in making original shows for Snapchat. Networks including NBC, CBS, and A&E have already announced that they’re making versions of their existing shows for viewing on Snapchat. These studios are seeing the growing adoption of Snapchat as an opportunity to reach a broader audience with their shows and content. One of the fastest growing demographics on Snapchat is the 18-35 age-group, one of the main target audiences for the late night and primetime television networks. With this trend towards entertainment content on our social media apps, it’s important that parents are aware of what these apps are becoming, we have to make good decisions on whether or not we want our kids consuming the media they’re producing.

    What Parents Should Know

    Snapchat isn’t a trend and it’s not just a messenger anymore. What was once the “Secret Message App” or the “Sexting App,” as some called it, is now a major source of media for those who use the social media platform. This means we have to treat it differently than we do many social media apps. Keeping track of who they are friends with on these networks isn’t enough anymore. We have to keep a few things in mind if we are going to allow our kids to use Snapchat, Instagram, or any of these other apps that give advertisers and media content creators a direct outlet to our kids.

    Same Media as TV, Movies, YouTube, or Games.

    The creators of the content that will be made available through social media (Facebook has been signing agreements with media companies too) aren’t producing special more family appropriate shows. They will be making content that will reflect every other media outlet they produce for. Think YouTube Red, Netflix, or Amazon Prime. In fact, some of the rules that apply to broadcast television don’t apply to shows that are streamed online. This means that you’re more likely to see content like on Game of Thrones or Orange is the New Black than something with more restrictions like Blacklist or CSI. Don’t let the fact that these programs are being produced for free public streaming online fool you. They won’t be family friendly or edited for content.

    No Parental Control

    Snapchat currently has no parental control options. Their app is geared towards teenagers so they most likely won’t feel the need to add parental restrictions any time soon. The terms and agreements on most social media services allow for accounts to be created as long as you’re 13 years old or older. The question you have to ask is whether or not you’re ok with your 14-15 year old watching online reality dating shows or politically fueled sketch comedy. If you aren’t ok with these things then you have to make a choice about whether or not snapchat is welcomed on your kid’s phones or tablets.

    All or Nothing

    Social media apps are basically creating an “all or nothing” atmosphere for content created by these media outlets. Once you have an account on Snapchat, you have access to all that is contained in the app. Every person can be a friend or follower, every feed can be found and viewed, and every original show, no matter the target audience, will be available for viewing. With no parental control options the question isn’t what Snapchat content will be allowed, it’s “all or nothing.” They can see all of it, or none of it, those are your only choices. 

    Whatever you choose, you need to be educated about what these social media apps are producing. Keep checking in to Safe.BecauseFamily.org for up to date tech news that’s relevant for your family. Also, sign up for our Safe Online Newsletter. Just fill in the short form below.

     

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