Safe Children in the Digital Age

Policy matters and engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina family policy Council hi this is John Ralston, presidency, family, and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that you also better equipped to be a voice of persuasion, family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our house to family policy matters. Tracy Devitt Griggs thanks for joining us this week for family policy matters as parents and grandparents.

We hope you are increasingly aware of the risks technology poses to the health, welfare and safety of your children and their friends. Even with the best of intentions. Inappropriate content is bound to find them. So what can and should parents do to protect their children from the risks posed by life in a digital age when there's a new resource entitled raising a family in the digital age technology guide for parents available to you from the ethics and Public policy Center and were joined today by one of the report's authors Claire morale to dig into that morale serves as policy analyst at the ethics and Public policy Center where she works on their big tech project clear morale. Welcome to family policy matters. Okay, so we understand that technology can be a huge time suck robbing hours from more wholesome relationships and better activities. So first of all let's talk about how can parents limit screen time and put boundaries on that you know you're really cracks that be and device and are very dead children brain didn't go without putting time-limited and plain thinking to get away on to needs and fellow parents have tools available to Dan both went and filed an application to set time limit.

Now a lot of bill (control in our guide how you can on your device and an opulent application that you want your children have limited time on really is the first step. Should put in quite a different parental control percent time limit your kids and put boundaries around the use of technology in your home. Their Internet making sure that I time-limited and supervise that they're doing it in a public place where you can monitor what they are doing online so sure if we look at your guide we will we will get the answer to this but give some examples of the kinds of things that parents can put on these devices to monitor or limit the time their software you can purchase that really did parents comprehend parental control sample circle one software that allows rental control as well as another one called Bart and Bart even allows you to do that on your text messages as well other software that can block and filter in appropriate content that is not time limit software but there is a time is one thing that we should be concerned about, but I think we can all agree that the greater risk is the content that young people can access on these devices. So what do you consider the greatest content risks posed by this technology that it seems like almost all of our young people are into the greatest danger, and the content is really pornography. So be website that you would think are just where kids are interacting with their peers like weather or Instagram or tick-tock are increasingly filled with sexual content and so it honestly becoming the place upon the first encounter is on regular social media not being kids have to go looking for it now finding them on social media, though pornography probably the greatest type of harmful content, though country I think increasingly by LGBT content that is being actively promoted to kid ID quote unquote training and influence. The content is widely circulating on the kind of preying on the vulnerability of children to recruit then to their lifestyle. Should be aware well filter that you might put on your devices for pornography block the content which is the event that increasingly promoting the trans movement trying to recruit children to transition their gender and to join their community. So let's talk a little more about pornography because you always talking about these young people that might be looking at pornography but you're talking about potential predators right above people post pornographic material videos photos to the social media and that then tend to get circulated behind the content appeal to the fleshly nature of people and so then it can get very promoted by the unit website algorithm that people are watching and clicking on the your child might lacrosse that is circulating on the frat credit. Like human traffic. Who are trying to sexually exploit children and so they go to where the children are and try to reach out to them via messages on a lot of the popcorn appearing like a independent grooming them over time to try to recruit them into you on my topic for a change in work or sex trafficking into that risk is out there as well. So we said at the beginning and I think we can all agree that the best that we do some of the stuff is still going to get through you mentioned talking your kids what kind of conversations are we having about the time spent on technology and other kinds of influences. What should parents and grandparents be saying to their kids that most effective thing you really can do is talk early and often about the tools that you can put in place really aren't a silver bullet solution you want your children to become wise and discerning and willing to come to you. If they do stumble across something on the you want to be that person a turntable and fell.

We recommend that you start talking. A lot earlier than you would like you, I think that young ethics are set in unit don't know what they might come across.

Even if you're not allowing them to use the device within your home.

They have friend friend can show them things and felt trying to talk to your children early about the appropriate use of the technology well warning them about inappropriate things that they could come across and you did have the kind of country patients frequently so it's not like the wind. Big sitdown concrete thinking about that but you know how you're going to school after driving in the car after talking in the kitchen reiterating odor. Another if you come across something that makes you uncomfortable online are your friends tell you something that bothers you or disturb you or you see an image of naked people or anything like that. Don't freak out. Come talk to me about what you thought because of you as the parent really want to be the one they're turning to you don't want them turning to their friend through the Internet and the question about using accommodation to talk about the boundary. You all are putting in place at the family and why you're doing here kid unit different threats out there why you care about them. You're trying to protect them by putting boundaries in place and another important wanted to tell your kid if someone offered to show you something on a phone or computer. You can just tell them you know we don't look at you know we don't look at other friend computers in my family right training your kid because you won't always be with him to protect them, giving them tools and kind of rule to go back to your family that they can use even when they're on conversations. Should you be having with your kids about privacy how do you talk to them about that.

I got a really important point I would say that just being completely honest, I really don't think children, particularly hundred 16 or 18 need to be on social media pilot can delay social media long as possible ideal to really push that off as close to adulthood because of some of the privacy risks the quality of harmful content on but if you do permit them to be on the really important that you talk to them about not posting things that they wouldn't want other people to speaker efforts to those on the Internet there forever and so training your kids to be very about personal information about themselves, about their family and that you really do want to train Randy cried for better or for worse. The Internet is kind of a forever world. In the event that goes online and someone else even if you go back and delete it out there and how info also. Should be aware certain and design things are better at protecting privacy than others, and so I would get a particular tick-tock been shown to be very bleak with user data and also has admitted that Chinese employees are allowed to act you at user data into and get into the round of national security threats that no other country could be gathering data on our kids, and on and so I do to try to warn people to be wary, particularly at tick-tock on the den were generally in a social media website in the terms of service and have the right to collect on.

We really don't own our data, we agreed to use their service means they get to collect our data and lobby services might be free.

We are paying with our time or attention. I data which they use that money. Thinking people are always aware that you don't really own your data you can and can't take it back from the company or move it if you want to use a different app or platform. It and so on. You need to warn their children about being very careful about the things that they post online on being cautious about certain keep them off entirely. Less question what do we scare our kids away from technology right because there's lots of good stuff on the Internet is a great resource is great thing to learn how to do so. How do that. What are the kind of conversations were having with our kids word try to explain how to get to the good stuff without really being ensnared. You can you actually model for your kids. And so I think our children are walking and they learn. I think a lot more things that we do daily. What we know. Modeling a healthy relationship with technology you in your home in ways that bring the family together praying an online trivia game together or were watching a movie in Perry using technology to create real-life relationship you build and that ended using them in a way that really separating and isolating people by everyone being on their own screen and not interacting with each other info watch our own use the technology, how often run our phones or computers around our kid weather were getting more attention to our children and I think a very big thing that we can get panda to really water on relationship and then putting in boundaries that we talked about like not having found that the table and enjoying meals together or having a phone box where everyone put their phones at the end of the day when they come home to create the kind of thing for everyone to really be together and there's ways you can show children how to use technology. Well, maybe for educational purposes like you want to a family research into the country and failure to collect the Internet together and work out what you and you activities that are helping kids away from the Internet and that involving the whole family is not just kids going off on their own. Playing a game or chatting with friends on and I think modeling and then just showing kids how do you think will help you learn and to engage with technology in a healthy way. They began kind of just allowing them to go do whatever they want on their allotted intentionality from.

Great will were just about out of time before we go where our listeners go to follow your work and find a copy of your report raising a family in the digital age of technology guide for parents. You can go to the website. PPP got away name for our organization EPP fee.org. You can click on my folly. Claire morale where you can be all the articles I've written on the subject and you can offer them.

Click on the big project page where you'll find a link to the new parents guide has a nice downloadable PDF. You can use to read in detail more about you can do as a parent to protect your kid Claire morale with the ethics and Public policy Center.

Thank you so much for being with us today on family policy matters. Also, we hope you enjoyed the program employment to begin next week to listen to the show on one or more about into families work to inform, encourage and inspire families across both a lot of our website and see family.work that's into family.org books again for listening and may God bless you and your family