Parents: Racing Against Technology
Technology, specifically mobile, continues to advance at an amazing rate. Can parents really keep up with all of these latest technological advances? The latest apps?
As a software developer by trade, I am fully immersed in technology daily. For parents who are not, keeping up is an overwhelming task. Countless times I have witnessed parents handing a phone to a child for help. Shortly afterwards an expression of awe and frustration appears on the parent's face--as they realize they have just been schooled by a 10-year old!
I have no doubt parents are falling behind kids in the realm of mobile technology and social media. However, parents shouldn't let the feeling of, “I'll never understand how these things work” keep them from their parental duty of teaching the proper use of technology. Will parents be aware of every app on the market causing risk to kids? Probably not. Not without help that is. With the rise in cyber-bullying, sexting, teen suicides and predator lurings, PocketGuardian is developing tools that will help parents that aren't tech savvy have a chance at keeping up. We talk to a lot of parents at PocketGuardian. The tools we are developing address the top concerns parents are voicing in regards to kids and social media today. They are:
Are they being harassed online and by whom?
Where are they?
Are they viewing inappropriate content?
What websites are they browsing to?
Which apps are my child using?
What do I do now?
PocketGuardian™ Alert - Provides parents with automated alerting to Sexting, Cyberbullying and nude imagery located in text messages and social media. Alert provides parents with message time, type (Sexting or Bullying), whether the message was sent or received, the app involved and participant phone numbers. By providing this automated feature, parents wont have to read 100's of daily messages or keep up with latest slang to gain insight. Alert also provides resources, such as from our friends at CyberWise, on how to handle communicating to your child once an alert is received. PocketGuardian™ Locate – The dangers of the cyber world have spilled over into the real world. With an increase in online predators luring children away & apps like Pokémon GO, parents need a way to locate children now more than ever. Locate provides parents a map view of the location of a child’s device at the push of a button. PocketGuardian™ Insight – Parents have a difficult time keeping up to date with the latest apps that are causing concern for parents. The first hurdle all parents need to overcome is, what app is my child using? Insight gives parents an up to date view of apps their child has installed. This way, parents can be more focused on which apps they need to read up on. Insight also provides parents with a listing of the most recent website visits from a child's mobile device browser history.
Visit https://gopocketguardian.com to sign up for a free trial.
James Ryan is a co-founder of PocketGuardian™, the first parental monitoring service to keep parent's actively aware of their child's digital footprint. James is a father and software developer with over a decades worth of experience. James created PocketGuardian™ along with co-founder Jason France, to help parents monitor children's online activity. While being respectful of their privacy. Parents receive notification when Cyberbullying or Sexting are detected, plus resources to start a conversation with their child. Parents can also view websites that children are visiting from their mobile device. Locate their child's device and view all installed apps. PocketGuardian™ presently monitors 13 social media apps on iOS & Android devices as well as social media platforms Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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