Help! I'm not tech savvy.
Let’s face it. The world is moving quickly and most times it can feel really difficult to keep up with technology or
even just the basics to help guide and guard our students. In this resource you’ll be informed and gain tools to help your student and even yourself. First off, let’s break down a few common responses we get when discussing safe guards on your students phone.
1 - I don’t want to take away my students privacy or put restrictions, they need to learn to navigate these things without protection.
+ This has to be one of the most common statements we hear from parents and we get it. Our job is not to keep these things away from our students but to help them navigate through. In todays world there is NO way to fully protect your student but we do believe you can do all that you can to make it more difficult to access. Putting safeguards in place is not a breach of your students privacy it’s also not guaranteeing anything, it’s our role as parents to do all we can to guide our children and protect them. Have purposeful conversations with your student, show them the WHY. Below is an article to help provide great discussions with your student as you navigate those conversations.
2 - My student doesn’t struggle with pornography.
+ Research done last year through the Barna Group showed that out of every 3 students, 1 actively views pornography on a regular basis. 95% of all porn usage is through smartphones and internet sources. Here’s the craziest stat, according to Barna the porn industry stated that last year over 63% of their online traffic was students 8-11 years of age.
3 - No but really, they don’t struggle with porn.
+Remember, porn is not the only thing we are focused on when protecting our students. There are countless conversations we have had with students who continually say they turned to research major topics like: LGBTQ and even other things they hear in school online first before every discussing these things with parents/family. In fact, research shows that in today culture… 3 of 4 students admitted that they turn to their phone for answers FIRST before discussing with a parent or family member. Here’s the big one… out of those 3 students… 2 of the 3 admitted that they never went to their parent/family member to discuss that topic after getting information online. Meaning… students are only turning to the internet in most cases to find their answers.
+ This has to be one of the most common statements we hear from parents and we get it. Our job is not to keep these things away from our students but to help them navigate through. In todays world there is NO way to fully protect your student but we do believe you can do all that you can to make it more difficult to access. Putting safeguards in place is not a breach of your students privacy it’s also not guaranteeing anything, it’s our role as parents to do all we can to guide our children and protect them. Have purposeful conversations with your student, show them the WHY. Below is an article to help provide great discussions with your student as you navigate those conversations.
2 - My student doesn’t struggle with pornography.
+ Research done last year through the Barna Group showed that out of every 3 students, 1 actively views pornography on a regular basis. 95% of all porn usage is through smartphones and internet sources. Here’s the craziest stat, according to Barna the porn industry stated that last year over 63% of their online traffic was students 8-11 years of age.
3 - No but really, they don’t struggle with porn.
+Remember, porn is not the only thing we are focused on when protecting our students. There are countless conversations we have had with students who continually say they turned to research major topics like: LGBTQ and even other things they hear in school online first before every discussing these things with parents/family. In fact, research shows that in today culture… 3 of 4 students admitted that they turn to their phone for answers FIRST before discussing with a parent or family member. Here’s the big one… out of those 3 students… 2 of the 3 admitted that they never went to their parent/family member to discuss that topic after getting information online. Meaning… students are only turning to the internet in most cases to find their answers.
CULTURE TRANSLATOR RESOURCE
You need this resource. While I know there are lots of places you can get information about culture, this one stop shop helps bring it all to one spot and also from christian perspective. Follow the link below to subscribe to the culture translator.
PHONE SAFEGUARDS
Below you'll find a video walking you step by step through the process of putting restrictions on your students phone. Here is the great thing, you can put as many or as little restrictions as you would like. You can allow them to have full access to the internet, or you can tell it to allow certain sites only. You can allow your student to download and delete any app, or you can tell it to only allow certain age limited apps. The wonderful thing about all of this, you can adjust it as you go to tighten or loosen where you see fit. Follow the link below for a quick 6 minute set up video.
SOCIAL MEDIA TRANSLATOR
Lets start with the ones you may be familiar with.
+ You won’t find many GenZ-ers on Facebook. They view Facebook as the social media for parents. Let’s face it, they may be right about that since studies show that less than 3% of users on Facebook are GenZ. Facebook states that the majority of their users are between the ages of 30-45. Facebook is primarily used for advertising, marketing and community.
+Instagram (IG) has hit the social scene changing things up. The whole focus is photo driven and then later IG came out with stories that have appealed to the younger crowds. Stories are short clips of moments, short videos that tell a story quickly. The average grade students attention is 8.25 seconds - which means, they absorb content quickly and don't waste time on things that don't matter to them. For this reason, Instagram really became popular with the younger generations appealing to their attention span. The primary audience for IG is between the ages of 18 - 34 years old.
Something you should know: Your student can have private conversations by turning on what Instagram calls "Vanish Mode". Within each direct message on IG, someone can swipe their finger up holding it there till IG goes into "Vanish Mode". Any conversations had within vanish mode, any photos shared are only viewable for 24 hours and then disappear never to be seen again.
SNAPCHAT
+This one is where students are at. Snapchat is somewhat new to the scene having started in 2011 but really, this generation didn't get caught up with Snapchat till 2015. Snapchat allows its users to send photos back and forth to their friends - you only see photos for 24 hours, then everything is deleted automatically by snapchat. Students can rest assured that anything shared on snapchat is only viewable to the individual it was sent to for that time period.
Something you should know: It is extremely difficult to trace Snapchat conversations both as a parent and also for the authorities. With that being said predators often use snapchat to communicate with minors, as it can feel much safer. You as a parent can reach out to snapchat for logs of conversations but beware, it is no easy task. Snapchat requires reason and can/will deny if reason is not within their scope.
YOUTUBE
+This one may surprise you but Youtube has managed to once again take a turn and step up their game introducing YOUTUBE SHORTS to the scene in 2020. Although its been out for a few years, we have high engagement happening with GenZ when it comes to Youtube Shorts. Again - fitting into the stat of 8.25 seconds of engagement. Youtube Shorts provides viewers with shorter content than full videos appealing to their attention span.
Something you should know: Although your student may not be watching anything inappropriate. Where Youtube presses the limits is through ads. There is no one vetting these ads, in fact, anyone can pay for an ad. So even if your student is innocently watching something on YouTube, chances our the ads they are being exposed to are not parent approved. Depending on your accounts age and gender, YouTube pushes ads to appeal to that audience based on culture.
TIKTOK
You can imagine that this one would land close to the other social media platforms... but yet again, TikTok showed up and created a social media platform surrounding short clips that is much different from the others. Although you can add a friend and keep up with what they share, generally speaking students use this app to follow trends, public figures and keep up with culture. There is a lot of good and more bad on this platform. You can easily be exposed to nudity and even if you are not looking for it, the content is always introducing "new things" culturally to their audience.
Something you should know: A statement you may hear floating around - TikTok Theology. Many have used this platform to take scripture and share their views of the meaning or what they believe to be the true meaning of that scripture. Many have used it to twist the bible and push different views onto their audience that are not theologically accurate. Students more and more have turned to TikTok to search out what people have to say regarding religion and biblical view points. In turn, it has caused more confusion and unsound beliefs.
BEREAL
Lastly, BeReal is new to the social media scene, having only come out in 2020 but gained its momentum with the younger generation in 2022. This app allows you to add your friends and throughout the day alerts all of you at the same time to post ONE REAL photo of where you are and what you are doing. No pre-stocked/pre-taken photos can be used, it is a one shot and done post. Of course you can do a few retakes but beware, your friends call you out for it. The main idea is to show yourself in a REAL way wherever you are. This app does not have private messaging although users can leave comments under their friends BeReal photo.
Below you will find continued helpful tools to help you navigate technology with your student