While many teens can be found texting, surfing the internet, texting and talking, screens also aren’t uncommon amongst the younger set. Parents are often seen passing their phone or tablet over to younger kids for easy entertainment. And sometimes even babies are screen proficient. Screens have flashed their way into everyday life. For better or worse. However, screen time parental control functions are part of many monitoring apps (like WebWatcher) that allow parents to take […]
Cell Phone Monitoring
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There is plenty of debate around children and smartphones. Parents, teachers, and experts disagree about how old is old enough to give a child a smartphone and how much time children should spend using their smartphones. But while there are good reasons to worry about how and when kids should use smartphones, there’s no denying that they can be beneficial. And one important benefit that they can provide is peace of mind for parents. Not […]
Picking the Safest Smartphone: iPhone vs. Android Parental Control Apps Almost every teen has a smartphone; the devices are so commonplace in youth culture that their presence is pretty much a given. Parents, though, are often concerned about the access to content that smartphones grant to those under the age of 18. Smartphones are so much more than just an easy way to access the internet. Many popular smartphone apps let users send pictures, messages, […]
Technology has changed the way that teens communicate – texting and instant messaging are now preferred over passing notes in class or even just talking on the phone – but it’s also changed the ways that parents must parent their teens. While previously a parent might have been limited to calling friends’ houses or driving around looking for a teen that missed curfew, today’s parents can turn to their computers to get the exact location […]
According to statistics from Pew Research Center, more than half of teens have been the victim of cyberbullying. But why has this dangerous behavior become so prevalent? Pew also reports that nearly all of American teens (a whopping 95 percent!) have a smartphone. Access to the internet, to social media and to constant connection to friends exists non-stop. It’s nearly impossible to know everything a teen does via that smartphone, and many parents wonder how […]
Over the years, the iPhone has added more and more features that are appealing to adults and children alike. However, amid a growing perception that too many teens have become addicted to their phones, apps, and unfettered internet access, Apple has received backlash for enabling teens’ excessive smartphone use. Apple has responded with new parental monitoring features and options, but are these features really the best choice for parents? Do they go far enough in […]
If you’re the parent of a teenager, you already know that there are plenty of reasons to worry about who your teen is meeting online. People aren’t always who they seem to be, and the internet provides plenty of opportunities for people to take on identities that aren’t their own. One thing that you may not have thought to worry about is the possibility of your child being catfished by someone pretending to be an […]
How long has your teen’s longest Snapstreak lasted, and who is it with? Could somebody be following your teen using Snap Maps? If you don’t know what these questions mean, you’re not alone – even if you’ve heard of Snapchat, you probably aren’t familiar with all of its features and how those features are being used by teens. But as a parent, the answers to these questions matter when it comes to your teen’s internet […]
If you’ve spent any time in parenting groups on social media lately, you may have seen some dire warnings about something called “Momo”. And even if you haven’t spent time in these places, you may have received warnings about Momo from your child’s school or even the local news. But what is Momo? Is it really dangerous to kids? How can you keep them safe? Take a look at what you need to know about […]
In September 2018 a hacker was able to easily access millions of customer records that mSpy carelessly left unsecured. Personal information such as iCloud usernames & passwords and recorded data such as call log activity, SMS text messages, contacts & location were stolen. This was the 2nd such breach by the company in three years. Identity theft is a frightening thought in every sense of the word. Almost every week we hear stories of large […]
There are many different apps out there that are marketed towards children. One of these apps is the TikTok app. This social network app comes from the developers of Music.ly. Music.ly officially disappeared from the internet in 2018, with TikTok taking its place. This was a consequence of a rebranding strategy of the chinese company ByteDance that had acquired the app back in 2017. In TikTok, your children can watch musical clips made by other […]
Teensafe is letting parents know that they are shutting down their services soon, leaving users to question how they will continue to track their children’s phone activity going forward. To all those parents, we have the ideal solution for you, WebWatcher! WebWatcher has proven time and time again to be the best alternative to TeenSafe. WebWatcher is an award-winning parental monitoring app, that allows parents to monitor a device discretely from a secure online account. […]
These talks are never easy, but they’re important. It’s never been easy for parents to have an honest talk about sex with their children. And the proliferation of smartphones among teenagers has led to the rise of both “sexting,” sending and receiving text messages and images with a sexual bent, and laws against it. These laws are far more important to understand than you might think, for the health and safety of your kids. What […]
Teens can make positive use of their phones, but they’ll always need guidance. Nothing about teens is “set it and forget it,” and that’s especially true of teens and their smartphones. Even if your future adult is well-behaved and never breaks the rules, and even with parental control apps keeping an eye on the big picture stuff, the developers behind the apps they love may have different ideas about what “the rules” are. Here’s how to […]
For most middle school and high school students, owning a smartphone is simply a part of the teen experience. According to Pew Research nearly all teens have a smartphone. In fact, mobile technology is so commonplace that only 5 percent of teens lack access to these popular devices. But what makes the smart phone so popular? The allure rests in the device’s capabilities. Obviously, the phone opens up communication channels between teens and parents; if […]