78% of teens now have a cell phone, with 47% of those smartphones, translating to 37% of all teens own smartphones. According to previous research, 56% of parents haven’t talked to their kids about protecting their privacy on their smartphones, with the vast majority not using any parental controls to oversee their privacy. Issues such as exposure to inappropriate material, hackers, scams, sexting, bullies, predators and thieves put our children at risk every day.
Taking charge of your child or teen’s use of mobile phones is important to protecting their safety and security, both online and offline. Whether it’s keeping an eye out for cyberbullying or teaching them how to prevent mobile theft, here are some tips for how to monitor smartphone use and how to talk with your kids about their safety.
Mobile Safety for Kids & Teens – What You Can Do
- Regularly update devices for the latest security updates
- Install and regularly update mobile security software
- Limit or otherwise protect the personal information stored on the device
- Use a strong passcode
- Only install applications with clear privacy policies (read more about the issues of kids apps and privacy)
- Set up parental controls, which are supported by most smartphone types. Parental controls allow you to restrict access to certain apps or features, restrict location services, restrict game features, control content access such as in-app purchases
- There are many different software options that parents can install on their child’s phone to disable certain options, limit time spent online, monitor behaviour or even limit the installation of apps.
- For younger kids and teens, regularly review the apps they want to install (require permission from you) or have installed, looking to privacy settings, age appropriateness, hidden costs, location sharing, etc
- Go over privacy settings on apps, websites being used to turn on maximum privacy settings and turn off location sharing features
- Install LoJack for Mobile Devices to track, locate, secure and return lost or stolen devices
- Review their browsing history to get a feel for what they are looking at
- Review their texts
Mobile Safety for Kids & Teens – What to Talk About
- Higher risk apps / activities such as social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat)
- The dangers of sharing location (both in content as well as with app features / check-ins)
- What kind of information should be kept private (particularly phone numbers,
- Being respectful of others in what is said or photos / videos uploaded. This includes respect for their safety (location information) as well as not posting hurtful messages
- How to deal with unsolicited calls or texts
- What to do if something goes wrong with the device
- Who to be ‘friends’ with online (safest bet is only people you know in real life)
- How to avoid having the smartphone stolen (particularly a risk for kids, seen as more vulnerable)
There is no replacement for open communication in keeping our kids safe. Having an open and ongoing dialogue about these issues can ensure that your child is aware of the potential risks in using their device and can encourage them to come to you when they face problems online.
While it may seem “invasive” to monitor activity and location on a device, children still deserve our protection. Educating our kids about online safety and device safety is the first step to protecting their privacy and their security.