Create Tech Free Time in Your Home

A little over a year ago, my then 14 year old, son asked if he could have 7 friends over for a BBQ. Of course we said yes and didn’t give it much more thought from there. When the night came, we grilled some burgers and hotdogs and then left the kids alone on the patio. After 30 minutes or so, I looked out the door to see all 8 kids sitting around the patio table talking, laughing and generally having a great time with the exception of the constant texting, snapping, and instagramming of pictures. Quite honestly, it looked the same as most innocent teenagers hanging out. It was at that moment that I wished that I had taken all the phones when the kids arrived at the house. As I verbalized this thought to my 16 year old son, he replied ‘Mom, you’d never have the guts to do that.’ And that was all it took to propel me into action.

I went into the cabinet and found the cutest wicker basket I could, because every good phone roundup starts with a cute basket. To the shock of my older son, I headed for the patio. As I walked out, I wondered what the heck I was doing and was I committing social suicide for both myself and my son who has having the BBQ. But it was too late. I was committed. I walked up to the table, and with the nicest smile I could find, announced ‘Phone Roundup’ as I put the basket in the middle of the table. Shockingly, every single kid, without hesitation, put his or her phone in the basket. I said thanks and walked inside and smiled at my older son proving to him that I did have the guts.

What happened next, I never expected. I looked out the window 5 minutes later and saw all the kids playing Frisbee on the lawn. As darkness took over, they switched games to Ghost in the Graveyard. Games! Yes, they were playing games that I played at that age. After all his friends departed for the night, my son came in and thanked me for the BBQ and said ‘and thanks for taking the phones.’ There was still a part of me that wondered if he would be angry or embarrassed at my Phone Roundup. So I asked him why he was thanking me. His response was this:

Well, we were all hanging out together but after you took the phones, we were REALLY together. We stopped snapping and texting friends that weren’t here and we were just hanging out and talking, which was awesome. I forgot how fun Ghost in the Graveyard is!

Kids need tech free time. We all need tech free time. Just like having tech free space in the home, creating tech free time for your family can be part of your digital road map that you may have previously created. Tech free time for the family can be scheduled on a regular basis, like every Sunday evening from 7pm-9pm. Or it can also be less scheduled but on a regular basis, like once a month. Whatever works for your family. Similar to tech free space, the key to success is that EVERYONE in the family should go tech free during this time.

One thing to consider is how  TV fits into this plan. My daughter is quick to remind me that TV is technology and it should not be used during tech free time. So sometimes we will play some board games or play some game outside. Nobody is forced to play games. People can do what they want to do during this time. For us, the only requirement is that technology is put down for that window of time. What generally happens is that everyone ends up coming together at some point and interacting.

It sounds so simple. The reality is that the first few times we suggested tech free time in the house, it was met with resistance by my children. My daughter actually asked, with great dismay, ‘What will we do?’ as if there is nothing to do if technology is eliminated for a few hours. However, as all of us adjusted to putting phones down and not reacting to every buzz and beep of a snap or text, we all started to enjoy the freedom of being disconnected for a few hours.  My sons’ snaps and texts were still there 2 hours later and my daughter realized that there are many things to do that do not involve a screen!

Creating Tech Free Space in Your Home

Sometimes I feel like no matter where I go in my house, someone, or everyone, is lock into a screen of some sort. One child is in his room on social media on his iPad.  Another is in the family room playing XBOX. My husband is in the office working on his laptop. It can be maddening at times. But the one place I know that I can go and not find any phones, iPads, laptops or televisions is my kitchen island.  In our house, the kitchen island is known as a ‘tech free zone’.

In an effort to incorporate healthy tech in the home, try creating tech free zones in the house. It is simple to do and can also be a component of your ‘digital road map‘ that you may have previously created. To do this, all you need to do is answer one question: In what part of the house, do we want to NEVER have technology? It can be bedrooms. It can be the TV room or family room. For us, it is the island in the kitchen. Certainly we are watchful about technology in the bedrooms, but for my family and for a variety of reasons, bedrooms are not official ‘tech free zones’.  The island is the place where we truly gather as a family. We eat most family meals here. The kids eat breakfast here. We play games at the island. We have the debrief of the day here as my kids eat a snack or dessert. It is where conversation happens. There are very few distractions and it has become a part of our family culture.

Here is the catch to making a tech free zone a success in your home: EVERYONE has to follow the rules! This means that my husband and myself are tech free at the island. When we gather for dinner, my phone gets left in another room. When I am hanging out with my son, hearing about his cross country practice as he eats ice cream, if my phone vibrates with a call or text, I resist the urge to pick it up or pull it out of my back pocket. If I do, I am quickly reprimanded, and rightly so, by whomever I am sitting with at the island. My kids buy into this program for two reasons. First, I think they enjoy this small amount of the day being unplugged. Second, I think they very much enjoy having my or my husband’s undivided attention. Really, they should have that all the time. Sadly, given the times we live in, it doesn’t always happen.

There are some great upsides to creating a tech free zone in the home in addition to the obvious of quality time together. One of the greatest of these upsides is that it significantly reduces conflict around phones, ipads, etc. For my family, the kids just do not bring tech to the island. It is not something that needs to be reminded or argued about. Because we all abide by this rule all the time, it has become a way of life. It is so nice not to begin dinner with comments like ‘please stop texting’ or ‘put your phone away’. It is so nice not to hear the beeping and pinging of the various alerts from my kids phones. It is so nice to have conversation where my kids not only participate but where I actually get to see their beautiful faces vs. the tops of their heads as they look down at a phone.

Another upside is that kids start to get conditioned to the idea of tech free zones and associate it with the activity that happens in that space. For my kids, they associate meals, in general, as a time for conversation, not tech and it starts to move beyond the home. When we are at family parties, I sometimes hear the comment that a cousin was texting all through dinner. It is expressed with a sense of disappointment at the lost opportunity to hang out.

In the interest of full disclosure, my children are very normal teenagers with their phones. There are many times I find myself looking at the tops of their heads or feeling like I am in battle for their intention and the little rectangular box they are holding in their hands is winning the war. However, for 30 minutes a day, there is a cease fire in the war because the kitchen island is a neutral, or tech free zone.

Creating a Digital Road Map for Your Child’s Technology Road Trip

How is it that kids know the exact worst time to ask parents for things like downloading the newest, greatest, and most popular social media app?

One of the most common woes I hear from parents is that they allowed their child to download an app that they did not know much about and now they wish they had not given their approval. I’ll ask them why they agreed to it. the is usually something like:

She caught me at a bad time. I was in the middle of 5 different things and very distracted. I said no but she told me it was ok, safe, and that she was the ONLY one of her friends who didn’t have it. So I just gave in. Now that I know more about it, I really wish I hadn’t, but it is so hard to backtrack on this.

When to allow kids various privileges with technology is a big decisions. It requires education, thought and discussion. These cannot and should not be made in the heat of the moment. They should not be influenced by factors like ‘everyone else is doing it’. These are decisions that are difficult on which to back track. It is not impossible to reverse the decision and pull back on technology privileges but it usually comes with a high price of conflict with your child.

Long before we had GPS and Google maps, we would never embark on a long road trip without a map or plan of how we were going to get there. Similarly, regardless of where your child is with technology, it is never too late to think through what the plan is for rolling out the various aspects of technology for your child. Create a digital road map for the technology road trip you are about to take with your child.

Here are some things to consider when creating this plan:

  • What age will you allow your child to interact on the Internet unsupervised?
  • What age will you allow your child a device that can access the Internet, like an iTouch or iPad?
  • What age will you allow your child a smartphone?
  • What are the rules around the smartphone? Time limits? Data limits? Access to the web?
  • Is the smartphone allowed in the bedroom?
  • Where will the smartphone be at bedtime?
  • What age will you allow your child to use social media, like Instagram, Facebook, Musical.ly, Snapchat, etc?
  • How will social media activity be monitored? Will you follow them on the site? Will usernames and passwords be shared with you?
  • Will monitoring software be used? i.e. My Mobile Watchdog, Teensafe, Circle by Disney, etc.
  • How will inappropriate online behavior be handled?

Like all parenting decisions, these are highly personal with many variables to be considered within the family. Thinking through some of these questions will help you make solid decisions in a calm frame of mind and help you avoid the pressure packed poor decisions that many parents later regret. The other great advantage to creating a digital road map is that it sets your child’s expectations. Once the expectations are set, kids tend to reduce the amount of badgering they will do to get what they want. It will also provide them with a clear idea of when they will be given certain technology privileges. While it might seem like a lot of work up front, people who have taken this approach have told me over and over again, how much easier it was on everyone in the family in the long run!

Cyber Bullying: Ways to Start Conversation with Kids

When school let out in June, kids’ uniforms were tired looking and too small. Some friendships needed the break that summer provides. My teenagers were tired of the teachers, assignments, and tests. Frankly, I was tired of making lunches! Everyone was ready for summer break.

Summer flew by! Here we are at the brink of a new school year. There are lots of things about the start of the school year that don’t excite me: tight time schedules, making lunches, carpools, the stress of school, and the impending cold weather that will arrive before we know it.

On the bright side of things, I love the sense of new beginnings as kids start a new school year. There is a positive energy in the air. The school uniforms are crisp and new. Folders are organized. The kids are excited to see old friends, teachers, and in some ways, get back to a routine.

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a surge in articles around bullying and cyber bullying and two of the stories have resonated with me. The first is the story of Gabby Douglas and the amount of cyber bullying she is facing as an Olympic athlete. She is being criticized for everything from her hair to not putting her hand on her heart during the National Anthem to being ‘salty’ when her teammates won individual medals.

Four years ago, Gabby won a gold medal for the 2012 Olympic All Around competition. We loved her. The late night shows loved her. She is a beautiful woman and an amazing athlete. Fast-forward four years. She had the guts to go for it again as a (gasp) 20-year-old. Gabby made the Olympic team, which, by the way, is the most competitive team in history. She went out there and competed at the highest level and did well. However, in her mind, probably not as well as she wanted or hoped. Of course she wanted to defend her all-around championship!

I’m sure she is experiencing a certain amount of disappointment. She has dedicated her life to being the best. And now there are a couple of other women who are better. Does this give anyone the right to go online, call her a hater, create the hashtag #crabbygabby, and criticize her hair and looks? At one point, Gabby was found in a corner of an Olympic venue in tears over the online negativity that she was experiencing. Is this what it means to be living the Olympic dream?

The second story is about a 13-year-old boy named Danny Fitzgerald, from Staten Island, NY. Earlier this month, his sister found him, dead, after he hung himself with a belt. In his two-page suicide note, he said that he just “gave up” after being bullied mercilessly at school. Even teachers, it seemed to him, would not help or protect him. Obviously all deaths of children are tragic and beyond sad. But when a 13-year-old little boy takes his own life, it seems particularly tragic. It is hard to imagine the pain that Danny had endured that would lead to him giving up.

While both of these stories sadden me, I see opportunity within them. With the start of school, I see an opportunity to talk to my kids about these stories. Kids are excited right now. They are in a mindset of new beginnings, of starting fresh. Maybe they are starting a new school or entering a class without some of their close friends. The timing is right to reengage on the topic of cyber bullying. Last June, like the school uniforms, the kids were tired of the messages. Hopefully, there has been a bit of a recharge and we can restart the dialog on this topic. This time of year, they are open to doing things differently.

One of the best ways to kick off these conversations is with real life stories that kids can relate to and have an interest. Many kids have followed the Olympics and know who Gabby Douglas is. This is a chance to take a relatable story and share it with them. Ask them how they would feel if they were in Gabby’s shoes. Talk to them about how easy it is to go along with a crowd that’s being mean, and how they can choose to be a better person.

Or, show them this sweet picture of Danny Fitzgerald. Ask them what they might have done if they saw mean comments online, or heard people mistreating Danny. Could they have said something nice to Danny? Could they be an ‘upstander’ or a friend to Danny?

I had a conversation about the start of school with my daughter. Her birthday falls on the third day of school, and it is a tradition for friends to decorate lockers to celebrate one another’s birthdays. She is excited because the calendar works in her favor this year and she will be in school. Last year, her birthday fell on the very first day and the locker decorating didn’t happen.

I asked my daughter who decorates the locker, and she named a few of her close friends. I then asked her if there were any girls who have not had their locker decorated. She named one girl and said that she really didn’t have too many friends.

We talked about the possibility of decorating her locker and how that might make her feel. My daughter is thinking it might be a nice thing to do. It was a successful conversation that I believe was based on the timing. There is excitement in the air. There is a sense of openness and a willingness to try some new things socially. Seize this time of the year to talk about kindness both online and face to face. Summer is coming to a close and it is time to start those conversations going again!

Keeping Kids Safe: In Case of Emergency (ICE) and Apple Health App

I know I might sound a little crazy, but I sometimes wonder what would happen if one of my kids got hurt while on a bike or out running. Who would know who they are? How would I be contacted? As much as we, as parents, get frustrated with kids who always seem glued to their screens, there’s some advantages of having kids carrying a phone with them at all times.

One, of course, is that parents can contact their kids easily. And kids can contact parents if they need them. In fact, many teens have ICE (In Case of Emergency) contacts in their phone. So if they are hurt or unable to call, it’s easy to see who their emergency contact is. Many teens have ‘ICE’ next to their parents name in the contacts of the phone. Which makes sense, right? It seems like a great idea, a way to keep kids safe and enable anyone (whether it’s their friend, a paramedic, or another adult) to call a parent if their child is in trouble? Not so much.

A friend of mine has a nephew in college. One night, this young man got up at 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom. He walked out of his room and took a left turn, thinking he was heading for the bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom was on the right. He tumbled down the concrete basement stairs of the college campus house that he and his buddies were renting for the year.

When the friends asked the doctors and nurses, they said that they had no emergency contact information. The friends then realized that they did not have this young man’s parents’ phone numbers. Someone mentioned that he probably had ICE in his phone. The hospital personnel told them that they could not access the information because it was beyond the lock screen!

This story made me think of my own situation. I often ride a road bike for miles. I always have my phone tucked away on my bike, providing me piece of mind. However, if I were injured seriously, and unable to communicate, the phone would be utterly useless to any First Responder because of the lock screen.

As I spoke to parents about this, most responded quickly by telling me, “Oh, my child has me as his ICE contact.” However, as I questioned them on the conundrum of the lock screen, they would look at me, first with puzzlement, and then, with growing panic as it dawned on them how worthless ICE in contacts really is. What bothered me most is how overlooked this is. So I asked the question:

How can someone access emergency contact info on the phone of a person who’s unconscious or unable to unlock their phone?

The first and simplest answer is in the iPhone iOS 8.0 device. Every device comes with the Apple Health app preinstalled. Here is the icon displayed on the device:

Health-app-1

The Apple Health app does everything from track your steps and exercise to track your nutrition, sleep and more. Here is an article with a information on the app itself .

While it has tons of functionality that I’m not interested in, it does contain what could possibly be life saving functionality for both me and my children. I can input an emergency contact (along with key medical data such as allergies, blood type, etc.) and that information can all be accessed without unlocking your phone. This feature is called Medical ID.

How to Set Up Medical ID

  • Open the Health app and click “Medical ID” tab at the bottom of the screen. Input emergency contact (and any other relevant medical information) into the form.
  • Edit the info to “show when locked” so that the ID can be seen when the screen is locked.
  • To find this info on any phone, slide to open. You’ll see the keypad for a password, but on the lower left is the word “Emergency.” Tap that, and it gives you the option to speed-dial 911, or access Medical ID. Tap that, and you’re in.

Med ID

While the information is available, someone has to know how to access it. The more people use this app and talk about it, the more awareness and use of this powerful tool will grow. Please do two things:

  1. Set this up on your child’s phone, and show them how it works. It’s a simple way to be sure your teens have you listed as their emergency contact, and that the information is accessible to anyone.
  2. Second, please pass this post along to a friend, or share it on your social media page. The more people know about and use this app, the safer our children will be.

For those Android users, there are similar apps in Google Play. While they are not factory installed as it is on the iOS device, there are downloadable apps in the Play store.  Some are free, while others that offer greater functionality, have a small price.

Back to my friend’s nephew….his roommates, fortunately, heard the noise from him falling, and rushed out to find him at the bottom of the stairs. Sadly, he fractured his skull and had bleeding on the brain. His friends quickly called 911 and got him to the hospital, but his condition was dire. It was hours before his friends, sitting in the ER waiting room, realized that his parents had not been notified.  Nobody wants to be that parent.

Is Pokemon Go Safe for Kids?

It is an understatement to say that Pokemon Go is popular. It is off the charts crazy! My children are regularly exiting the house saying “Going to find some Pokemon. Be back soon.” Additionally, I have received numerous texts and emails asking things like “What is Pokemon Go?” “Is Pokemon Go safe for my kids?” and “What should I be concerned about with Pokemon Go?” All great questions. So here is a quick tutorial for you.

What is Pokemon Go?

Pokemon Go is a free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic. It was released worldwide on July 6, 2016 for both iOS and Android devices. Augmented reality means a view of reality is modified by the computer. When someone is looking for a character in Pokemon Go, he views his surroundings via the device’s camera, the reality, and imposes a digital image of a Pokemon character into the reality. The user can then capture the character by launching the Pokeball at the character. According to Survey Monkey, this is the ‘biggest mobile game in US history’.

What are the upsides of Pokemon Go?

Like most apps, there are some great benefits to this widely popular game.

  1. It gets kids outside and moving. Before I realized what was happening, my 17 year old son kept leaving the house in 15 minute increments. I asked him what he was doing, and he would tell me that he was going for a walk. The child has never voluntarily gone for a walk! I was immediately suspicious. My mind wandered to places that I did not want it to go. That same day, I noticed 2 boys outside my house on bikes, stopped on the sidewalk for about 2 minutes, staring at their phones. I asked my son what he thought about these two boys. He smiled and said that they were probably hunting for Pokemon! I laughed and he fessed up to his ‘walks’.
  2. It gives kids another way to socialize. My sons have spent time with their friends hunting Pokemon. Clearly, there is trouble galore that 15 and 17 year olds can easily find on a boring summer night. Pokemon has given kids a purpose to hanging out together. Additionally, I see kids of different ages playing together. We have a 4 year old neighbor who comes to our door multiple times a day looking to play with my oldest son. The other day, my son took the neighbor out to find Pokemon! They were gone for over an hour in the neighborhood. It was a thing of beauty to see these two boys, who are 13 years apart, sharing an activity that brought them both an hour of entertainment and fun.
  3. It’s free! During the summer, I feel like a human ATM machine. There is a lot of time to fill and so many things that kids want to do cost money. This is not only a free app to download from both the App Store and Google Play, but it is free for the kids to go out and explore. Depending on the age of the child, the child may hop on a bike, a scooter or simply walk the neighborhood to play.
  4. Poke Stops can be educational. Poke Stops are places where players can collect valuable rewards. Poke Stops are placed in important areas connecting them to historic places or land marks. Take the opportunity to go with your Pokemon Trainer and teach them about the location.

What are the downsides of Pokemon Go?

  1. It’s still a screen! Have we taken a few steps back in the battle to have conversation when doing simple things like riding in the car? I find myself asking my children to put the phone down and talk to me. The common response is “But Mom, I can catch some more Pokemon as we drive.” I know I am not alone in this increased addiction to technology and social media. A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook, when speaking of his son: “His nose is in the phone continuously with Pokemon Go!” The question remains, do we wave the screen limits because the game is getting them out of the house, moving, and being social or do we recognize that kids have found another addictive online game?
  2. Predators go where kids are hanging out. There are a lot of kids roaming neighborhoods looking for Pokemon. Most are completely absorbed in the game and aren’t paying attention to their surroundings. As they congregate in common areas, they may feel a false sense of camaraderie with strangers they meet who are also ‘hunting Pokemon’.  Additionally, people can place a lure in a real-life location. The lure will attract Pokemon to a specific location and will be in effect at that location for 30 minutes. Predators use lures to make a specific more attractive to kids hunting for Pokemon. Talk to your kids about strangers, the people they meet while playing, and then take the time to go with them on the hunt.
  3. Like most online games, there are In-App purchases available. As described by pokemongo.com, players can ‘enhance their Pokemon GO experience’ by purchasing certain items and features. Make sure that you have In-App purchases disabled on your child’s device.
  4. Be aware of data usage and battery drain when playing. Depending on what part of the game is being used, data usage can range from 2MB to 8MB of use per hour. This usage can be reduced if your Pokemon Trainer, i.e. your child, plays in areas that have Wi-Fi. Also, make sure that the apps and updates to the app are only downloaded when the device is on Wi-Fi. Similarly, the game can quickly drain the device’s battery. There is a battery saver mode that can be enabled. Open up the Pokemon Go app, and then tap on the “Setting” button on the top-right corner of the screen. Scroll down the menu until you see ‘Battery Saver’. Tap it to select it (a tick will appear), and then you can turn your phone upside down, which will dim the screen. This will save precious battery life. Turning off sound effects, music and vibration will also help keep the battery from draining too fast.

Most importantly, take time to talk to your children about both the fun things they can do with Pokemon Go as well as the things that they should be aware of as they enjoy the app. I went on one of my son’s ‘walks’ with him and asked him to show me how the app works. He was happy to have me go with him and loved showing me how it works. The obsession with it is enough to drive me crazy at times, but I also look at it as an opportunity to get involved with my kids and spend some time with them doing something they are enjoying.

 

 

Snapchat Memories: A New Privacy Concern

Snapchat just got a little more permanent!

If you are wondering if your tween or teen is a snapchatter, chances are the answer is yes. A recent survey from the research firm Piper Jaffray indicates that Snapchat has overtaken the #1 spot for preferred social networking site for teens. One of the reasons for the surge in popularity is the premise that there is a lack of permanency to Snapchat. Teens are starting to grasp the concept that Instagram posts and Twitter tweets can affect their future, and therefore are turning more frequently to Snapchat which allows them to operate under the assumption that things shouldn’t, and won’t, live forever in the online world.

As the current #1, Snapchat must continually work to add features that appeal to their audience. It appears that the leader, who has cashed in on the ‘lack of permanency’ philosophy, is moving towards the storage of these images. They are in the process of adding a new feature that allows the user to save snaps (images) and Snapchat Stories (series of images) within Snapchat. This new feature, called ‘Memories’,will allow the snaps, or memories, to be reused in a later Snapchat story or sent to a friend at a future date.

What is interesting about this new feature is how these images will be saved and backed up by Snapchat. Here is how Snapchat explains it in their announcement of Memories feature:

Memories is backed up by Snapchat. We won’t backup any photos or videos from your Camera Roll, unless you use one to make a  new Story or add it to My Eyes Only. In that case, we’ll back up only the photo or video that you used.

Our teens’ images that are stored as Memories will live on forever in a more permanent way than previously thought. This new feature can be an opportunity to communicate how all images are public once they are shared on a social media site. Privacy does not exist in the online world and certainly not in the Snapchat community. When I asked my teen, who is a heavy user of Snapchat, why he likes it so much, his response was simply ‘because it is fun’. Sure. It is fun. But let’s just ensure that they understand the appropriate behavior, responsibility, and risks that come along with all social media.

Internet Safety Hands on Workshop

“I don’t know how to use Instagram or Snapchat.”

When parents watch, teens take notice. One out of three teens would change their online behavior if they knew a parent was watching. So the question is…Do you know how and what to watch? Are you staying ahead or even just keeping up with your child when it comes to technology and social media?

The first step to being involved in your child’s online life is to learn how to navigate the apps they are using. Please join me on Thursday, May 12th for a hands-on workshop on Internet and smartphone safety with a focus on privacy settings and social media networks. Forward the invite to a friend! Or better yet, bring the parent of your child’s friend! Get on the same page. 

Come with Snapchat and Intagram loaded on your device and an account set up. We will walk through how to navigate these popular apps. You will send your first snap! You will post your first Instagram pic!

Specifically, we will cover:

– Instagram and Snapchat hand- on demo, including how to set privacy settings

– Restrictions and privacy settings for smartphones

– iPhones, iPads, and iTouch restrictions

– What social media sites are OK and which ones are not

– Smartphone monitoring programs including Teensafe for iPhones

I hope you can join me!  Space is limited!

Details:

Date: May 12th

Time: 10:00 am

Location:  Glen Oak Country Club, Glen Ellyn, IL

Cost: $35

Please RSVP @ Liz@box5184.temp.domains by Friday, May 6th.

***Space is limited.  Please sign up as soon as possible!

Video: Can We Auto-Correct Humanity

This is a very well done video that addresses the lack and need for balance with social media. Parents are often looking for progressive ways to connect with their teens on such topics. This video is done in a style that appeals to teens and will give them some different things to consider and talk about.

How to Set Google Safe Search Settings

Google has become a regular word in children’s vocabulary. They “Google” things constantly. As a child, I sought my answers in the World Book Encyclopedia, but my children find their answers through Google searches.  Obviously this is an extremely popular and useful site for children of all ages, whether doing school work or surfing the internet for fun. It is a great way to quickly and efficiently gather information, but it can also allow them to Google things they should not have access to whether by accident or because they are looking for it. Google Safe Search is a great first step in ensuring the safety of children online. In Cyber Safety Consulting’s presentations with parents, we demonstrate how to set Google Safe Search settings. We are frequently asked to send out the step by step process of how to set this on laptops and desktops. But let’s first start with the basics.

What is Google Safe Search?

Google defines the feature in this way:

When Safe Search is on, sexually explicit video and images will be filtered from Google Search result pages, along with results that might link to explicit content.

When Safe Search is off, we’ll provide the most relevant results for your search and may include explicit content when you search for it.

What are the keys to Google Safe Search?

  • You must have a Google account in order to set and lock Safe Search.
  • If multiple browsers are used on a computer, Google Safe Search needs to be set for each browser individually.
  • If the computer has more than one user profile, Google Safe Search needs to be set for each profile.
  • Cookies need to be enabled.
  • Google Safe Search can be set on mobile devices.

What are the steps to set Google Safe Search settings?

  1. Navigate to google.com.
  2. Sign in with user name and password.
  3. Enter something in the Search box.
  4. Visit the Search Preferences page – To the far right side of the screen, you will see the settings image. Click the this.
  5. On the pull down menu, select Search settings.
  6. Check the Filter explicit results.
  7. Click on Lock SafeSearch.
  8. Enter your password.
  9. Click Lock SafeSearch – You should see a screen that ‘SafeSearch is locked across all Google domains’.
  10. Click Back to Search Settings.
  11. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the blue Save box.
  12. It will return you to the Google Search page. There should be multicolored balls in the top right hand corner of the screen. This will allow you to see that Google Safe Search is on even if you are across the room from your child.

Please remember that settings can never replace parenting. Even though you may use this feature on your devices in your home and on your children’s devices, we still need to continue to educate our children by engaging in ongoing conversation on appropriate and safe online behavior.