Family Tech Blog

Tag: parenting

  • Google Has Taken Away Chromebook’s Native Parental Control Solution

    Google Has Taken Away Chromebook’s Native Parental Control Solution

    What is “Supervised User?”

    I wrote all about your parental control choices for your kids’ Chromebooks a few months ago:

    “Supervised User is an account based system that’s built into the Chrome browser. It allows you to set filters, monitor sites visited, prevent installation of apps, turn on safesearch, and change settings. You do have to use blacklists or whitelists to block websites, there is not an automatic filter built in…”

    This wasn’t a foolproof solution but it was something that could give parents a head start on protecting their kids while they use the computers their schools have given them. Supervised User, however, has been discontinued so that they can focus their attention on another “parental control option to be released later this year.” Having received several calls from parents and principles this past year asking me to help them teach parents about the controls available, I know the need for Chromebooks to be safe while kids are online. Unfortunately, the simplest, most obvious solution is no longer available. At least for a while.

    From “Google Chrome Help”

    But There Are Solutions!

    Mobicip

    For a full-featured filter option, consider Mobicip. One of the only full-service filter and monitoring apps for Chromebook, Mobicip offers a plugin that you can download from the Chrome app store. Mobicip will give you customizable filters, time limit controls, and usage reports and its pretty easy to set up. You just download the extension from the Chrome app store and then log in. It takes you through the setup steps and lets you set your desired filter levels. Once it’s all set up you can make changes from anywhere using their web-based controls dashboard. Their SUPPORT page has good How-To resources to walk you through the process.

    If you want more controls than the Supervised User option gives you then Mobicip is a pretty good choice. It’s $39.99 per year for all of the features mentioned above for up to five devices. If you are going to need to protect more than twenty devices (I’ve met families with upwards of 30) then you’ll have to get a quote for their “Enterprise” option. Mobicip is a good option and will give you quite a bit of control.

    Accountable2You

     This accountability software doesn’t block content. This software will keep an eye on what’s being viewed and then red flag and report anything that it deems inappropriate. This allows you to more easily see when something questionable has been viewed. Otherwise, you’ll spend time sifting through link after unrecognizable link to find something that may be naughty. You can even set up Accountable2You to send you a text message when an inappropriate site was accessed. The software works across all of your devices including Chromebook and is $6.99 per month for six devices and $9.99 per month for twenty devices. They have easy setup instructions on their SUPPORT page and have excellent customer service. (NOTE: Accountable2You just released their lates iOS app that will cover every browser used on an iPhone or iPad. One of the first accountability solutions of it’s kind.)

    Use SOMETHING!

    I advise against waiting for Google to release a different option. Please set something up and do it soon. Kids are using their computers for much more than school work and there is more content showing up every day that would prey on your children’s innocence and even their safety. A Chromebook is basically a machine built only to run the internet. It has little to no other use. Pretending that it’s safe just because the school issued it is foolish. Use one of the affiliate links above and set up a solution. I wouldn’t recommend something I don’t or wouldn’t use myself.

  • CES 2018: Here’s What Marketing Researchers are Saying About Your Teenagers

    CES 2018: Here’s What Marketing Researchers are Saying About Your Teenagers

    Karen Rampacher and Kathy Sheehan from the market and user experience research firm GfK spoke about the changing culture of one of the newest most powerful buying groups. This group is teens and young adults ages 15-24 and they’re calling them Generation NOW. GfK studies the trends of buyers of all ages but they’ve been doing it so long that they can compare different age groups from different eras and track the differences. Here is what they’re saying about your older teens.

    Who is GenNow?

    GenNow is a major market for businesses and advertisers with $830 billion spent by them or on them. They are digital from birth (digital natives) and don’t have to spend much time getting to know devices and screens. Interestingly they don’t define themselves by their ability to use tech but feel as if it’s something everyone can do now, no big deal. In fact, they don’t really worry too much about how they define themselves at all. The research has shown that they aren’t concerned as much about “standing out” as they are being true to their own identity. Identity brings up a whole new set of issues for marketers, who consider the self-identification of the Now Generation to be a puzzle that they have to solve. This age group’s interest in social justice and equality surpasses any generation before them and they are content to just let people be who they have decided they want to be. They are also less likely to reach the traditional “adulthood milestones” as early as their predecessors. Things, like getting married, having children, moving away from home, and starting a lifelong career, aren’t less important but have been placed on the backburner for most of this group.

    GenNow and Advertising

    The question of for the meeting I attended was: “How do you market to a group like Generation Now?” The answers may surprise you. First of all the data suggests that, while this younger generation is most likely to adopt new tech, they’re more concerned about their privacy and security than generations before them. They know what data is being collected, who is collecting it, and what it’s being used for. Sometimes they’re ok with it and sometimes they aren’t. A recent mistake by Netflix on Twitter shows that this generation isn’t going to ignore an inappropriate use of their data. This generation understands artificial intelligence to some degree and they aren’t afraid of it. They are, however, smart enough to disapprove of a misuse of their own info and invasion of their privacy.

    More interesting data suggested that some in this group may never enter a retail store. They purchase things online and trust user/peer reviews to help them determine what they’d like to buy. They value convenience and there’s nothing less convenient than having to go to a store to buy a pair of pants.

    As far as how they consume media, things are changing but not in the ways many have expected. Yes, more kids are viewing streaming media but they haven’t necessarily lost interest in the traditional TV. 85% of Gen Now polled admitted that watching TV makes them happy. They usually define TV, however, as anything you watch on a television. Many even label watching content on any device as TV. Streaming, DVD/BluRay movies, and gaming all fall into the “TV” category for most of the Gen Nowers polled by GfK.

    The amount of content watched was no surprise with an average of 29 hours per week being consumed. More than three-quarters of those polled admitted to binge-watching their favorite shows. (Binge watching is defined as watching three or more episodes of a show in one sitting.) Most of them are watching content on “ad-free environments.” Netflix, Hulu, Youtube Red, and other paid streaming services keep them from having to watch commercials.

    Media companies have answered with short “six-second” adverts that even run alongside live events like sports games and concerts. Product integration or product placement has also become a very important thing for advertisers. Think, Eggo waffles in Stranger Things. Finally, marketers are having to be more careful about how they use the data they collect from this generation’s online and social media activity. They have to prove that they’re not being “creepy” and that the information is being used to bring value and not inconvenience.

    What Parents Should Know

    Obviously, all of the information in this post falls into the category of things parents should know. To summarize, Generation Now is bringing some interesting challenges for marketers and corporations as well as for parents. Moms and dads should take heed of some of the trends this research has found. Use this information to help you build your strategy for internet safety, security, and health.

    As for advertising you’ve probably already noticed short social media videos and posts being used to promote various products. You’ll also see social media influencers being used more and more by companies to review and sponsor their offerings. Your child’s favorite YouTuber or Instagram influencer will be trying out products on their channels and accounts in no time.

    The advertising world is always working as hard as they can to reach our kids with their message. It is important for us as parents to understand the message we want to convey to our kids and retrofit the message that the media is telling them to fit our standards. That’s why this blog is here, to teach you how to do exactly that.

  • BecauseFamily Offering a Family Tech Masterclass

    BecauseFamily Offering a Family Tech Masterclass

    Our kids and teens are spending more and more time online. Research continually tells us that the more time our kids spend playing video games, texting, and posting on social media the more dangerous their habits become. As parents, we have three options when it comes to protecting our kids. Option one is to throw up our hands and say that it’s all too much for us to understand, we can just let our kids do as they will and hope for the best. Second, we play the hermit, keeping our children away from anything with a screen until they are old enough to be held responsible for their own mistakes. I am proposing the third option. My suggestion is that we learn everything we can about the digital culture our kids are growing up in. We can and should know what each social media service is mostly used for and what games are recommended for kids’ our ages. We should be able to set up our accounts online and protect them with passwords that aren’t on the “Worst passwords of 2017” list. As parents, we won’t be fooled into thinking we can trust everyone else to protect our kids from danger, why would we assume that about digital society? This is why BecauseFamily has launched Raising Digital Natives.

     What is Raising Digital Natives?

    Raising Digital Natives is a “masterclass” of family internet safety. The point is to give parents more than just inspiration and basic social media and tech news but to continually educate them on what they can do to protect their kids online. This exclusive content will include past seasons of our podcasts, tutorial videos, live workshop events, live Q&A sessions, and one on one parental control support opportunities. The tools included in Raising Digital Natives will give parents a major advantage to raising kids in this digital culture we’re living in. The live workshops will feature topics such as, “What is a digital native?” “Sexualization and the internet,”Legal ramifications of sexting,” and “Keeping them safe when they’re away.”  Workshops will be done online and archived in the member’s section of the website so geography and schedule won’t hinder parents’ ability to learn. Membership costs $4.99 per month and gives 12 months worth of access to anyone who users share their password with.

    What are you waiting for?

    Content is already available and live meetings begin at the end of January (2018.) Go to BecauseFamily.org/rdn to learn more and to sign up. BecauseFamily is the non-profit that is responsible for all the content of FamilyTechBlog.com.

  • Why I Told My 10 Year Old EVERYTHING About Pornography

    Why I Told My 10 Year Old EVERYTHING About Pornography

    Disclaimer: This post is a bit different than usual but it hits to the heart of why this blog exists. Thank you for understanding.

    Yesterday my 10-year-old son asked me what pornography is. Honestly, I thought he knew. I talk about it a lot when I speak and in podcasts and videos. I was surprised at his question but I answered him. I told him what porn is and why we avoid it.

    I told him that it affects your brain like drugs and causes your synapses to stop firing properly. I told him that what you see sticks in your mind and imprints as a template for what you prefer sexually. I explained, also, that the pornography industry is well known for abuse and sex trafficking. I told him EVERYTHING. Even though he’s only 10. Why did I tell him these things?

    First, because he asked. If we don’t take advantage of our kids’ curiosity we miss a chance to help them learn in a way that they’ll never forget. What’s worse is when we say “Ill tell you when you’re older” so they go find another way to learn about it now. Then we find out they googled “porn” or asked a friend about it and we come down on them. We get scared and explode at them and the shame cycle begins.

    I know this cycle well. That’s the second reason I told him the whole truth. I was 10 when my friend’s older brother brought in a VHS tape and said: “You guys HAVE to check this out.” From then on it was years of seeking out scrambled HBO or Cinemax. Sneaking up to the living room late at night to try and find something online to meet the insatiable appetite. Years of shame, of hiding, of never being satisfied. I was getting more broken with every video and every image. My mind was fracturing and I was losing who I was.

    When I was 18 I got busted. A super high phone bill (because that’s how the internet used to work) caused my mom to ask questions and I told her the truth. I told her I couldn’t sleep at night until I had “fed the beast.” That’s what it was like for me. I couldn’t function until that urge was given a release. She took away the computer and I started digging into scripture. I would read a verse and then write eight to ten pages about how it could apply to my life. I would dig into word meanings and unpack the context so I could fully understand what The Word said about who I am. That new habit changed me.

    Fast forward four or so years and now I am married. This is the third reason I am not shy to talk to my kids about sexuality and pornography. I married the most pure and righteous woman I’ve ever met. She had been taught to be pure and guard her heart while I was watching adult videos in secret. We are an incredible match but our intimacy wasn’t a match made in heaven. Imagine the confusion that comes from the two different ideas we had about sex. My mind was still wrecked from the fictional, abusive things I had seen. I had no clue how to respect and honor my wife in our intimacy. It has taken ten years to work all of it out and issues still surprise us every now and then.

    Our society isn’t afraid of sex. The culture your kids live in isn’t waiting for them to “come of age” before teaching them their truth about sexuality. The church isn’t helping. They’re too scared to speak up because people get uncomfortable. I fielded many frustrated parents when we, as a youth ministry, would try and teach healthy attitudes about relationships and sexuality. Moms and Dads HAVE to educate their kids and let them know how to understand purity, not as the absence of desire or sex, not as a discomfort with their body and what it needs, but as a healthy knowledge of why God created sex and in what context it can contribute to the overall wholeness of who you are and the relationship you have with your spouse.

    Share this to spread the word and if you feel the need to discuss this more, feel free to comment or send me an email. Let’s get this thing right. Let’s raise children who are less broken than we were.

  • Taking Too Many Selfies is Officially the Latest Mental Disorder

    Taking Too Many Selfies is Officially the Latest Mental Disorder

    “Selfitis” is the new term for obsessively taking selfies and it’s being called a symptom of other, more serious, mental disorders. The study by Nottingham Trent University was held in India because of their high population and social media user numbers. Also, because of the high number of deaths caused by taking selfies in a dangerous situation. Researchers studied a focus group of 200 people and asked them questions about their selfie-taking behavior. The results had some surprises and some expected outcomes. The most likely candidates to have selfitis were men, which was unexpected, but as you may have guessed, the youngest group also scored the highest probability to suffer from the disorder.

    The idea for this study came from news stories in 2014 about selfitis becoming a recognized mental disorder. At the time these stories were false but now the term is beginning to get scientific research to back it up. The researchers’ findings are, probably, only the beginning of the information we will get about what our increasingly online lives are doing to our habits and mental condition.

    “Typically, those with the condition suffer from a lack of self-confidence and are seeking to ‘fit in’ with those around them and may display symptoms similar to other potentially addictive behaviors,” – Dr. Janarthanan Balakrishnan

    What Parents Should Know

    It’s obvious how the appeal of Instagram likes and Twitter followers can lead to obsessive behavior. This condition falls under the same category as internet, video game, and media addictions and its actual diagnosability is debatable in some psychological circles. My unprofessional but educated opinion is that anything that becomes obsessive and compulsive should be considered dangerous by parents. It can take conscious effort for many of us to avoid taking a photo or selfie to share during an event. I have often made the distinct decision to not take a photo and just enjoy a moment for myself. The study of selfitis shows that there are increasingly more people out there who cannot make that decision for themselves. The first thing they think about is what a good social media post this moment would make and then they can’t deny themselves the opportunity to share it online and see how many likes it gets.

    Selfitis and other social media related conditions will always be ridiculed because it seems like just making a decision to stop something would solve the problem. Serious professionals, however, are giving these behaviors real attention and I think we, especially parents, should too. Find out what your child’s attitude is about social media. Why do they post? How important is it to them to get likes and followers? Do they take down photos if they don’t get the amount of attention they want them to? Knowing your child’s online and social media habits can go a long way to help them have a healthy attitude towards how they represent themselves online. Mom and dad are the first line of defense and diagnosis. You should be having conversations with your kids.

    You can see the entire study HERE. Including the questions asked to those tested in the study. Maybe you can use these questions (also listed below) to see what your kids think about their selfie habits…or your own.

    Selfitis Behavior Scale

    1. Taking selfies gives me a good feeling to better enjoy my environment
    2. Sharing my selfies creates healthy competition with my friends and colleagues
    3. I gain enormous attention by sharing my selfies on social media
    4. I am able to reduce my stress level by taking selfies
    5. I feel confident when I take a selfie
    6. I gain more acceptance among my peer group when I take selfie and share it on social media
    7. I am able to express myself more in my environment through selfies
    8. Taking different selfie poses helps increase my social status
    9. I feel more popular when I post my selfies on social media
    10. Taking more selfies improves my mood and makes me feel happy
    11. I become more positive about myself when I take selfies
    12. I become a strong member of my peer group through selfie postings
    13. Taking selfies provides better memories about the occasion and the experience
    14. I post frequent selfies to get more ‘likes’ and comments on social media
    15. By posting selfies, I expect my friends to appraise me
    16. Taking selfies instantly modifies my mood
    17. I take more selfies and look at them privately to increase my confidence
    18. When I don’t take selfies, I feel detached from my peer group
    19. I take selfies as trophies for future memories
    20. I use photo editing tools to enhance my selfie to look better than others

    Scoring: Responses are rated on a 5-point Likert scale: (5 = strongly agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = Neither Agree or Disagree; 2 = Disagree; 1 = Strongly Disagree). Scores are summed. The higher the score, the greater the likelihood of selfitis

    Items 1, 7, 13, and 19 relate to environmental enhancement – Items 2, 8, 14 and 20 relate to social competition – Items 3, 9, and 15 relate to attention seeking – Items 4, 10, and 16 relate to mood modification – Items 5, 11, and 17 relate to self-confidence Items 6, 12, and 18 relate to subjective conformity

     

  • Why the Repeal of Net Neutrality Matters to Every Parent

    Why the Repeal of Net Neutrality Matters to Every Parent

    Today, the FCC voted to repeal the net-neutrality rules that made access to the internet a Title 2 utility for consumers. This categorization, among other things, allowed the government to keep companies from denying, slowing, or charging extra for access to the internet and the content on the internet because it was considered a public right. The repeal removes those regulations and may allow companies to prioritize the content you can access based on their profit margin. The fears outlined by many non-profits, senators, online content creators, and companies that have taken action against this repeal include speed throttling, site blocking, loss of innovation, and a general prioritization of access by internet service providers.

    Supporters of the repeal have said that government oversight isn’t necessary to maintain a free and open internet and that the free market will keep companies from resorting to these feared measures in order to increase profits and popularity. They state that the internet was free and open before the 2015 Net Neutrality measures were passed and that it will continue to stay open after it’s repealed. 

     

    Screenshot from the 2015 FCC Net Neutrality Press Release

    What does (could) it mean?

    It may not mean a lot right away but it could eventually mean higher prices for internet use and a sort of “cable tv style” bundling of internet access. It could also mean a more difficult (or maybe even impossible) road to success for creative internet and software startups.

    Imagine, for example, that Spotify is getting started and it’s catching on with music fans. Then, imagine that Comast (everyone’s favorite ISP to hate) starts their own music streaming service because they see the opportunity to increase revenue. Since Comcast wants to be more successful they will have to come up with anything they can to attract more customers than Spotify. This may include slowing down data access to you while you’re streaming music through Spotify. Eventually, you may get annoyed enough to switch to Comcast’s own music streaming service simply because there are fewer interruptions in streaming. Spotify eventually fails because their users can’t get the access necessary to help the company succeed. Next Comcast makes their music service only available if you are a Comcast customer. What do you do then? Switch ISPs because the services you feel are most important to you are only available if you use them to provide you with your internet service? Finally, their prices can rise and rise because more people are using Comcast based on the fact that their favorite internet content has now become inaccessible on any other ISP. There is no more competition.

    I’ll give you that this is a worse case, distant future scenario, but if you look at Cable and Sattelite TV it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Under Net Neutrality, Comcast, Time Warner, or anyone else for that matter aren’t allowed to throttle down internet speeds to certain sites and services. They definitely can’t block access to the sites you want to visit. They aren’t allowed to bundle websites into different cost packages either. This means you can use whatever streaming service and websites you like best and not have to worry about access being slowed or blocked. You can imagine why a small, non-profit, tech safety website startup might be a little concerned about ISPs getting full control of an audiences internet access. Net Neutrality puts access to the internet in a category similar to electricity and water. Access to these necessities is considered a basic right and the companies that profit from these resources are only allowed to operate in a way that allows equal and fair access to all users. 

    Why does it matter to parents?

    It matters to you as a parent because you want more people innovation online. You want services like Mobicip, Accountable2You, and Unglue to be able to create their products to help your family be smarter and safer online. If the only way to be successful online is to become affiliated with a major corporation or to pay that corporation to be included in their access package, many of the newest most helpful resources for parents wouldn’t exist. Again, I’m against fear tactics and panicking but I encourage you, as a parent who is concerned for their child’s safety online, to speak out. Contact your congresspeople and tell them you support Net Neutrality. The vote is over but the battle is not. Lawsuits and petitions are already beginning to be filed and you’ll be hearing about this issue for a while.

    I don’t like to spend much time talking about political issues but this could, eventually, affect this blog and our work for families in a serious way so I had to say something. Thank you, now back to your regularly scheduled internet safety blog posts.

  • Now ANYONE Can Make a Facebook Camera Filter!

    Now ANYONE Can Make a Facebook Camera Filter!

    Augmented Reality (AR) and Location Filters have become a mainstay of the social media camera. Snapchat started and Instagram, Facebook quickly followed suit, and before you know it, we’re all posting images and videos of ourselves with animated beards, mustaches, and hats. Your favorite fancy additions to your photos have always been created by select developers or advertisers so that those who run our favorite social media outlets can keep tabs on what’s being allowed on their platform. That has now, officially, changed. Facebook has opened up their public Filter and AR creator tools.

    “Starting today, we’re expanding availability of the platform and the AR Studio creative tool to everyone.” – https://www.facebook.com/FacebookforDevelopers/

    It’s truly as simple as going to the facebook developers site and downloading the AR software. Making non-AR overlays is even easier. The tool is built into the website. You simply upload your images and move them around wherever you’d like on the screen. You can use the tools to resize and edit your image as well as to remove the background so you get a transparent effect. While making a 3D mask takes some coding and design experience, making an overlay is a pretty simple process that just about anyone should be able to do.

    What Parents Should Know

    Obviously, there is no stopping the “AR train.” We all love taking photos with those crazy filters and it’s so neat to put some strange creature on your countertop and film it playing the guitar. Until now, we could trust that content being posted as filters on the Facebook camera had been created by legitimate developers and didn’t contain anything that wasn’t allowed by Facebook’s guidelines. Allowing public access to these tools basically makes filters and AR User Generated Content. I made one for FamilyTechBlog in about six minutes. There was no approval process (as far as I could tell) which leads me to believe that inappropriate content will only be identified by a “user flag and review” system. This could lead to who knows what kind of violent or adult-oriented filters showing up on our Facebook (and most likely eventually Instagram) camera.

    My advice for parents is to continue to talk to your kids about what content they use and see on their social media accounts. User Generated Content means that most of what has been posted hasn’t been edited or reviewed by anyone who can pull down non-approved posts. Algorithms and a flag system can only get so far in protecting our families from dangerous content. Parents should always be seeing what is posted by their kids and what their kids are seeing in the apps they use.

     

  • Instagram Update Could Open the Door for Porn and Predators

    Instagram Update Could Open the Door for Porn and Predators

    Instagram has just released an update that adds the ability to follow hashtags. This feature allows you to keep tabs on interests or events that you’re interested in without having to search for the tag every few minutes. It’s easy to follow a hashtag. Just search for the tag and then a follow button appears with the results. Or you can click on a hashtag in a post or story and then click follow when that result appears. From then on the hashtag will show up in your instagram timeline just like the people you follow. When you are done seeing everything posted under that tag appear in your Instagram feed, you can just go back to the hashtag search result and tap “Unfollow.”

    What Parents Should Know

    Being able to follow hashtags has been a “thing” for a while now on Twitter. It has long been a way for events or products to feature themselves and allow attendees or fans to keep up with what’s going on. The problem with our kids blindly following hashtags is the potential for other users to abuse the tag and use it to get attention on their content. Some of that content may not be very wholesome. Pornography is fairly easy to access on Instagram if your kids know where to look. The potential for these adult-oriented posts to add a non-related hashtag so that followers will see their content is cause for concern.

    Imagine your teen follows #pokemon on Instagram. All someone would have to do is put the #pokemon tag on their innapropriate photo and it would, likely, show up on your his Instagram feed.

    Also, sharing the hashtag for an event you’re currently attending is, in essence, the same as sharing your location information. If you kids are sharing a Prom Night hashtag, then whoever wants to can follow that hashtag and see all the activity and who knows what plans could come from that. Unfortunately, with every great new feature, there seems to be a new danger that accompanies it. My advice is to encourage your kids to post with hashtags after an event has ended. Kind of like posting the memories of the event instead of live-photo-blogging every little thing they’re currently doing. Including where they’re headed next. You don’t have to have too big of an imagination to think of some ways that could be dangerous.

  • PODCAST: 2017 in Review and What’s to Come in 2018

    PODCAST: 2017 in Review and What’s to Come in 2018

    Podcast: Play in new window

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    Exciting new things coming in 2018 for BecauseFamily. This episode rounds out the rest of 2017 and gives you a heads up as to what to look out for in the coming year.

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  • This Week So Far: Social Media News

    This Week So Far: Social Media News

    Youtube want’s 10,000 people making sure their videos are safe.

    YouTube has been blasted recently for allowing inappropriate videos onto their kids app and allowing abusive comments on videos featuring children. They responded by shutting down some abusive channels and working harder to fix their algorithms that identify videos as safe for kids. Their latest change is going to increase the manpower involved in curating kid-safe content.

    YouTube claims that they are aiming at 10,000 new employees whose job it will be to strengthen their algorithms, enforce reviewing policies, watch and remove flagged videos, and respond to concerned users about content. This increase in manpower should be a step towards a safer YouTube but is it too late?

    Several companies have already pulled their advertising from YouTube stating that the platform needs to fix their content policies. YouTube responded fast once their bottom line was affected. This is good for parents since more people responding to problems should keep some of the worst video content off of YouTube.

    You can save your Instagram Stories posts.

    Instagram Stories is in the news again and this time they’re making it permanent. Until now your Story videos and photos lasted 24 hours and then disappeared. Instagram’s latest update now gives you the option to turn on archiving for Stories. Once turned on the archiving feature will save your Story videos and photos alongside the ones you’ve archived from your main Instagram posts.

    Archiving Stories can be a good tool for parents to use to keep their eyes on what their kids have been uploading to Instagram. Have your kid turn on this feature. If you are logged into their account on your phone you can turn the feature on yourself and see what they have shared even if you don’t check every day.

    What Parents Should Know

    With the release of the Facebook Messenger Kids app, YouTube trying to make videos safer, and Instagram making videos and photos more permanent, we are seeing some movement towards a safer social media experience. Still, the dangers exist and we have to be vigilant as parents to know was happening and what our kids are doing on social media. Hopefully, these updates keep you in the loop and help you make quality decisions for your family.