TikTok Safety: What You Need to Know

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As fall rolls in and the school year is in full swing, the same question is being posed repeatedly from parents: What is TikTok? And the natural follow-up question: Why are kids crazy over this?

Let’s start with the first question. The simple answer is TikTok is an app for creating short videos and sharing them, just like any other social media platform.  However, unlike other social media platforms, the short, 15-second videos replay in a continuous loop and demonstrate entertaining lip-sync, dance, and comedy.  Accounts can be public (sharing with any other user on the platform) or private (sharing only with approved friends on the platform).

Where did TikTok come from?

Does this app sound oddly familiar? It might, as it was originally known as Musical.ly which also became very popular with kids anywhere from 8-18 years old. TikTok was originally created by a Chinese company, ByteDance, and was not available in the United States. In November 2017, ByteDance purchased Musical.ly, and in August 2018, they shut down Musical.ly and merged it into TikTok. Essentially, TikTok is a more robust version of Musical.ly with a far larger, worldwide audience.

How popular is TikTok?

It is widely popular! Here are a few statistics for you:

  • TikTok has 500 million active users worldwide. As a point of comparison, Snapchat has 190 million active users.
  • In September 2019, TikTok became the #1 free non-gaming iOS app in the US.
  • TikTok is the topmost downloaded app in the App Store.
  • More than 1 billion videos are viewed every day.
  • 56% of TikTok users are male compared to 44% female.
  • The average time spent on the site is 52 minutes per day creating, viewing and sharing videos.

What do I need to know about TikTok to keep my child safe?

Quite honestly, the concerns around TikTok are like other social media apps: privacy, content, and connection to other users on the app. Here are some things to consider:

  • Accounts automatically default to public when they are created. Make sure that your child’s account is set to private and periodically double check that your child has not switched back to public. Many kids want to connect to as many people as possible and will change the setting back to public.
  • The app has an age restriction of 13 years. This essentially means that the app is not safe nor appropriate for younger users. While many children just want to create the videos, remember that they can search and view any public videos. There is content on the site that is highly inappropriate for younger kids. If your child is using this, consider using it with them so you can see the content that is being viewed.
  • Direct messaging is available on TikTok. This allows users to communicate with each other within the app itself. Many parents, as a safety measure, periodically check their children’s text messages in an effort to know who they are communicating with and fail to realize that most social media apps have direct messaging features that performs the same function as texting. The main difference is that no phone number is needed. So, any user on TikTok can communicate with friends or strangers on the platform, through the direct messaging feature. Again, privacy settings are important to consider with direct messaging

Kids are finding TikTok to be wildly entertaining, and it provides an excellent space for creativity and connection with others when used safely and appropriately. If you are still wondering what the attraction is and how to interact with your child, you are not alone. Take 2 minutes to view this lovely video created by Reese Witherspoon who asks these same questions to her 15-year-old son.

Adjusting Back to School Routines, Sleep, and Technology

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Here it is…. the traditional Labor Day weekend, the proverbial “end of summer”. For kids, the “end of summer” is marked by the first day of school. Some kids’ summer ended weeks ago, and Labor Day is just another day off school, but for others, summer will end this week as the east coast schools start their school year.

Regardless of when the school year started, we need to transition back into the routine of school. Summer affords all of us, students and parents alike, an opportunity to relax the routine a bit and recharge the batteries. But reentry into the school year can be an adjustment for everyone.

Two concerns with the return to school are sleep and time with technology. Here are 4 things to consider balancing technology, schoolwork, sleep routines, etc:

Reset the rules.

Whenever there is a change in routine, it is a good opportunity for both parents and kids to revisit the discussion around technology use, time limits, and rules. Often, the boundaries and rules slip during the relaxed nature of summer. Now is the time to open the conversation. If your child has an Apple device, consider using the Screen Time functionality native to the device to build awareness and assist in establishing boundaries and limits.

Balance homework and use of technology.

This is a great question to ask at your Back to School night: How will my child be using technology for homework? If the school has a school issued device program, the expectations might be high with most homework utilizing the device. As you work to establish screen time limits, this can often be a challenging issue. It is difficult to discern the difference in use between homework and recreation. Additionally, many kids struggle to avoid the distraction of YouTube, ESPN, social media, and online gaming when using devices for homework. It is helpful to ask the question and have a clear expectation of technology and homework. If your child is using technology for homework, consider having a central homework location to ensure the devices are being used appropriately during this time and distractions are being avoided. Here are some other questions to ask regarding technology in the classroom.

Consider the balance of technology in your child’s life.

With more and more schools moving to dedicated 1:1 technology programs, we have to consider the balance of time looking at screens not only recreationally but educationally as well. For example, my daughter who is a sophomore in high school, told me one day last week that she had been looking at her iPad for over 10 hours that day when she summed up the time in class and homework. That struck me as excessive, out of balance, and unhealthy. With the emphasis on technology as learning tools in the schools on the rise, it is more important than ever for us to stress that balance to our children. Create tech free places that require you and your child to put the devices away for 10, 15 or even 60 minutes. The two easiest places to do this are the dinner table and the car. These are the places where it is easy to enforce and have face to face conversation. They are quick and easy ways to unplug and hear about the day. Everyone will benefit.

Turn off devices an hour before your child’s bedtime.

There is no question that kids are not getting enough sleep. If you work in a school, it is obvious that kids are tired. It can be challenging to get the recommended 10 hours of sleep for 7-12 year old, with afterschool activities, working parents, homework, etc. But I strongly recommend collecting devices an hour before bedtime so your child can unwind from technology. Play a game, read a book, listen to music…. but ensure the device is out of the bedroom and that stimulating blue light is out of your child’s vision. This will improve the overall quality of sleep. It is also critical to shut down the constant group messaging that is happening by taking the phone as bedtime approaches. The number is messages kids are receiving after 9pm via group chats is staggering. Last week, one class of 6th graders said there are over 200 group messages sent between 9am and 6am on their group chat!

The end of summer can be a tough time for everyone, especially kids transitioning into new schools, new classrooms, new teachers, and new friends. I hope that these suggestions make things smoother. Good luck to all and hoping for a wonderful 2019-2020 school year!

5 Non Tech Things To Do During Winter Break

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Winter break is right around the corner! December 21st. How exciting! There are so many fun things to do with the kids during the break. We can all sleep in a little longer, no lunches need to be packed, and no homework battles for 2 weeks! I have wonderful memories of all the fun we have that first week of winter break in anticipation of Christmas. We bake cookies, wrap presents, shop, and build gingerbread houses, all with heart pumping Christmas music playing in the background. Everyone is in a good mood as we spend time together without the stress of school and work and the injection of holiday cheer.

That is the first week….then Christmas comes and goes.  The decorations start to look a little tired after New Year’s. Nobody seems very eager to turn on the holiday lights at night. I start to grow weary of kids sleeping at all hours and eating meals continuously throughout the day. I find myself beginning to count the days until school is back in session. I am tired of Christmas sweets and I crave the routine to return to my life.

To make matters worse, it feels like we just detoxed our kids from the technology addiction that developed over the summer months. Whether Fortnite, Netflix, or your 13 year old daughter’s constant checks of her social media accounts, we are right back where we were at the end of August during that second week of winter break. With the tough Midwestern January weather setting in, we find ourselves a bit more house bound and sedentary.

Here are 5 things to try with your kids over winter break as a way to reduce the amount of time spent with technology.

  1. Do a puzzle – This is one of my favorite ‘Break’ activities.  I’ll pull out a 500 piece puzzle and open it up on the dining room table (pick a table that can be out of use for a week). I’ll start doing the puzzle and the kids will come and go across the break and work on it. Sometimes I find Ian quietly working on it alone for hours, which he says he really enjoys. Other times, Maeve and Cam will be working side by side with easy conversation between them. It is a no pressure activity that evolves as the week goes on.
  2. See a movie – Usually around Thanksgiving, I start up the conversation about what movies we should see over break. I work to build anticipation. Depending on the movie, it can be a family outing or more of a one on one, parent/child event. Yes, it may initially feel like just a more expensive Netflix substitution, but there is something special about going to the movies and it gets people up and out of the house. If cost is a concern, as movies have gotten really pricey, try one of these:
    1. Go to the first showing of the day for a reduced ticket price.
    2. Look for a Groupon for a $5 ticket.
    3. Check out some of the discount theaters and see a slightly older release movie.
  3. Put together a scavenger hunt – For years, this was one of our family’s New Year’s Eve traditions. I would buy a small prize for each child for the end of the hunt. The older kids would plan out the younger kids hunt with easier clues and then my husband would create the hunt for the older boys with much more challenging clues and puzzles. Between the planning and executing, this consumed hours of a day.
  4. Go for a hike at the Arboretum – I forget what a gift the Arboretum is here in our backyard. Depending if there is snow on the ground, you can spend hours walking the trails and if there is no snow on the ground, the beauty is spectacular. You get out of the house, everyone gets some much needed fresh air and exercise, and you can end it with hot chocolate in the restaurant. It makes a lovely afternoon without fighting the crowds and the cost of a city museum.
  5. Let the kids plan the day (sans technology) – This was another New Year’s Eve tradition with my family. The kids planned the day from start to finish! This included meals, games, movies to be watched and a few outdoor activities, weather permitting. We actually created committees for each child with a parent. One child planned all the meals, helped with the shopping, and cooked with a parent. Another child selected the movies and the outdoor activities and the third child planned the games that would be played. It is amazing to see what they want to do and eat when given the independence and freedom. They also learned how to consider what the other people would enjoy as they wanted their area of responsibility to be a success.

Let’s be honest, most kids will have an uptick in their tech use the second week of break. They want to unwind and do what they enjoy. The key is to find some ways to limit the tech and remind them how to enjoy other activities with their family over the holiday season.

True Thompson Instragram account – The scoop on baby Instagram accounts

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Earlier this week, it came out that Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson’s baby girl, True Thompson, has an Instagram account.  Less than a week old, she already has close to 200,000 followers!  Cyber Safety’s Liz Repking sits down with Yahoo Lifestyle to give her thoughts on the implications of social media accounts for celebrity babies and children in general.

Read more about True Thompson’s Instagram and Cyber Safety Consulting’s reaction

News Alert: Harvard Rescinds Offers for Obscene Memes

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40,000 high school students from the class of 2017 applied to Harvard this year. 2,056 of those applicants were offered admittance to the most prestigious university in the US. Approximately 1,725 applicants accepted Harvard’s offer. That is an acceptance rate of 4.3%! Those are pretty slim chances of getting into a dream college.

Privacy and permanency are two of the most difficult concepts for teens to comprehend when it comes to their activities online. Privacy does not exist in any form when talking about social media posts, texts, pictures, videos, etc. Permanency exists beyond the comprehension of middle school and high school students. The challenge we face as parents and educators is to find ways to take these two abstract concepts that teens struggle to understand and make them concrete and relatable. I have had the greatest success in communicating these ideas through the use of real life stories and examples that kids can understand and relate to. Here is the most recent story of teens making some extremely poor decisions online and the resulting consequences.

There are at least 10 students out there who just recently experienced the greatest accomplishments of their young lives. They achieved something that the vast majority of society can only dream about. They were accepted to Harvard University! I cannot imagine the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that went into 4 years of high school to achieve acceptance to Harvard. Yet, with a few poor decisions, a swipe of the finger, and some ignorance about the privacy and permanency of their social media activities, that acceptance has been revoked. I can almost guarantee you that every, single, one of these students have been instructed that their social media actions can have permanent and very severe consequences to their futures. These 2017 graduates have forever changed the course of their college future. If only they had thought before they posted…

Take a moment to share this story with your children or students. It is a great, yet sad, example of the permanency of social media. I will ask my children to read this story and see what their reactions are and where the conversation goes. There may be no comments or questions. There may be a simple shrug of the shoulders or a roll of the eyes. However, there may be a great conversation that results. Regardless, I can be certain that they will understand the impact of these 10+ formerly Harvard bound students’ online actions. This is a very relatable story that will help communicate the message of permanency.

Using Social Media as a College Application Tool

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If you have sent a child off to high school, you understand that bittersweet feeling of being proud of this child nearing young adult independence while realizing that same child will be flying the nest in 4 incredibly short years. And boy, do those 4 years go quickly!

There are so many things that we as parents are warning our kids about throughout their high school years, especially around the topic of technology and social media. We tell them over and over that one inappropriate comment or picture could greatly alter their future hopes and dreams. We tell them stories of pictures that went viral or comments that pushed another child past the brink. We share the fact that college admissions offices are looking at applicants online accounts and college coaches, like Renee Sloan of the University of Illinois, are requesting to follow or friend recruits’ social media accounts. Everyone wants a peak at the ‘real you’ and not just the test scores. They are asking ‘are you who you said you are?’ and the answer can be found through a student’s social media presence. While they need to hear these messages repeatedly, we all get tired of being the Debbie Downer about their social media activity.

But are colleges, coaches and even employers only looking for that reason to eliminate a student from the process? Not necessarily. The positive message and conversation that we can have with our children is that social media can and should be used in a positive way to differentiate from the masses. College admissions offices, coaches, and employers are looking to social media to find reasons to select one student over another and not as a way to eliminate. Tools such as LinkedIn, are platforms where high school students can differentiate themselves from the thousands of other highly talented and qualified applicants.

Alan Katzman of Social Assurity, is focused on helping high school students create an advantage over the competition through social media. In this 2 minute video segment from an ABC news affiliate, Katzman describes how and why students should use social media, thus improving the quality of applicant they are. Take a minute to watch this and if you have a high school student, watch it together! The best news is that this a great way to talk about the positive ways to utilize social media.

News Article: Gaming Addiction and Kids

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It started with Pong, Atari, Nintendo….today there is Xbox, Play Station 4, Wii. The games used to be simple like Pac Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong…today they are more complicated, with graphics that make it near impossible to distinguish the game from reality. And today, the games are proving to be far more addictive than they were 35 years ago.

One of the greatest concerns of parents today is video game addiction. The addiction can be with games as innocuous as Mindcraft or as violent as Call of Duty. Regardless of the game or the gaming platform, gaming addiction is a real issue. As we move into the holiday season with not only gifts of technology and new games filling our homes, but also with the abundance of free time on kids’ hands with school vacation, now is a good time to consider the issues surrounding online gaming. Take a few minutes to read this excellent Washington Post article: The Next Level which provides wonderful insight into the world of gaming addiction.

5 Steps for a Safe Cyber Monday

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Like it or not, the holiday season has arrived! If you are anything like me, you not only welcome Cyber Monday, but make the most of the day. Obviously, the deals can be great, but the real benefit is the ease and convenience of shopping from home. The list of advantages is long…no parking headaches, no frustrating searches through over stocked stores to find the right size, no wasted time waiting in long check out lines, and best of all, no need to deal with the Chicago cold, rain, and snow.

Before you get your credit card handy and start paging through the many Cyber Monday emails you likely have accumulated, take a few minutes to ensure your cyber safety. The entire world knows that Monday, November 28, 2016 is the biggest online shopping day of the year. Take a few minutes to ready your computer for the day and ensure your online safety.

  1. Ensure your browser is updated. Browser programs are updated to address problems. If you have an outdated version on your computer, the website you are accessing may not display properly and there can also be security issues allowing someone to hack into your computer. To check what version you currently have on your computer, open the browser program, go to the toolbar up top, click on “Help,” and then click on “About [the name of the program.]”
  2. Ensure you have the latest operating system updates. Both Microsoft and Apple update their systems regularly to ensure the safety and reliability of your computer. Don’t procrastinate. These updates offer the latest protection against malicious online activities.
  3. Ensure you have updated your anti-virus software. Cyber Monday is a favorite day for hackers, thieves and cyber-terrorists. Reduce your vulnerability by downloading the latest update. Remember, antivirus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove computer viruses, worms, and trojan horses. Don’t take chances with an out of date program. Also, limit the number of unknown sites you visit.
  4. Scan your computer for Spyware. Spyware tracks your movements on the Web and often times interferes with your computer’s performance. If you have time, run a full system scan of the hard drive before you start shopping to make sure that you do not have any unwanted intrusions.
  5. Prepare for computer freezes. If your computer freezes, simply reboot the computer. Click on the “Ctrl-Alt-Delete” keys. The task manager will open and click the “Start Task Manager” tab. A window will open and you will see the site that is not responding. Click the “End Task” tab and the web page will close. For Apple computers, hold the “power” button down until the computer turns off or select the “Opt- Cmd-Esc” keys.

Best of luck with the online deals and happy shopping! And remember Cyber Monday is a great reminder to be aware of your online security.

Dr. Michelle Drouin Talks Protective Parenting in the Digital Age

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Dr. Michelle Drouin, developmental psychologist and associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, recently was a featured speaker at TedxNaperville.  In this WFFT interview, she talks to the issues of parenting in this highly digital age. She echoes the philosophy of Cyber Safety in many ways. Like us, she believes ‘it starts with a conversation with your child’. She also encourages parents to start the conversation early, setting limits and expectations before you give your child a device. This is a great reminder as the holidays approach. Cyber Safety could not agree more Dr. Drouin!

Snapchat Adds New In-App Purchases with Replay and Selfie Filters

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Beware that Snapchat has added some new features to its app that will entice children to make in-app purchases. This could lead to some careless purchases and high credit card bills.  Remember, you can disable in-app purchases on both iOS (iPad, iTouch, and iPhone) and Android devices. Read this article to learn more about the new features in Snapchat.