Roblox Parental Controls
Recently mentioned often in our parent presentations, Roblox is worth a mention! It’s not just one game. It’s 40M with 100M users! Roblox has also been on NCOSE’s Dirty Dozen List two years in a row. But, it does have some good controls. Our App Review explains how to make Roblox a safer digital space. Step-by-step. Chat-by-chat. We’ll show you how!
Here are the Top Five Free Apps on Apple
We believe it’s important to keep track of the most popular apps, so we can best inform you, busy moms and dads, of what’s currently trending. This week in Apple’s Top Free Apps:
- Delta – Game emulator for Gameboy!
- Temu – China’s version of Amazon
- Threads – Meta’s version of Twitter, now with AI
- Shein – Chinese-based clothing and apparel app
- Google Search
- Honorable Mention goes to TikTok, which fell at #6 this week.
So, 3 of the top 6 apps in the USA Apple App Store are based in China and would be impacted by the proposed legislation.
Meta AI is here to Stay
Meta’s new AI chatbot is now available to everyone across Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and WhatsApp. Another AI means more misinformation and another fake person to converse with.
Similar to Snapchat’s “My AI” – “Meta AI” cannot be disabled within the apps.
Facebook seems to prefer comments made by the chatbot by pinning them at the top of posts, which might cause people to believe what it says more often. Remember, just because it’s pinned doesn’t mean it’s true!
Users who aren’t on social media can still have access by visiting meta.ai, which puts you in a chatroom with the bot. And if you sign in with your Facebook or Instagram, you’ll get access to more features as an incentive to link your account.
Schools, Parents, & Phones
A school in Colorado tried to ban smartphones, and parents stood in the way. The school claimed that phones were the cause of more than half of the disciplinary issues in 2022.
Fear is often the driving factor in allowing kids to have their phones at school. The “what ifs” overpower the reality that kids are actually safer and learn more (academically, socially, and developmentally) when they aren’t constantly distracted.
More and more schools across the country have been enacting “away for the day” strategies, yielding positive results within months. As was the case for this school in Colorado, parents are often the biggest opposition to creating a phone-free school.
We get it, we know it sounds scary, but the data is here. Students and schools are better off without smartphones.
See our #phonefreeschools post to learn more about the issue and how to talk to your school district.
AI, End-to-End Encryption, and CSAM.
A Wall Street Journal article points to the triple-powered enemy in the fight against online child sexual abuse content. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has an antiquated, file folder sorting process, AI technology is causing CSAM to explode because people can create so much of it, and social media is becoming fully encrypted so law enforcement can’t see anything.
Michael Salter puts it this way, “End-to-end encryption does not create ‘privacy’. It creates ‘spaces that are beyond the reach of law’ where children can be abused with impunity.”
Only a minuscule fraction of CSAM makes it to NCMEC, and only a fraction of those cases ever contain enough support for law enforcement to take action. And yet, in 2023, NCMEC received over 36M reports.
The online exploitation of children is immeasurable. In the privacy vs. protection debate, privacy is winning and kids are losing (some are dying). We need to find balance.
Revised TikTok Ban Passes the House
The House just passed a revised version of the bill seeking to ban TikTok.
The changes are in an effort for the bill to have better odds in the Senate, where it’s heading next. Biden has said he will sign the bill if it reaches him.
The revision calls out foreign companies and specifically requests for ByteDance to sell TikTok within 9 months or it will be banned across the US. Even if the bill passes the Senate and is signed by Biden, we expect TikTok to challenge the bill in court.
We will keep you updated as the bill continues to make its way through.
Teen Girls Continue to Combat Deepfakes
A school in Colorado tried to ban smartphones, and parents stood in the way. The school claimed that phones were the cause of more than half of the disciplinary issues in 2022.
Fear is often the driving factor in allowing kids to have their phones at school. The “what ifs” overpower the reality that kids are actually safer and learn more (academically, socially, and developmentally) when they aren’t constantly distracted.
More and more schools across the country have been enacting “away for the day” strategies, yielding positive results within months. As was the case for this school in Colorado, parents are often the biggest opposition to creating a phone-free school.
See our #phonefreeschools post to learn more about the issue and how to talk to your school district.
Pornography Grooms Children to Accept Violence
Fight the New Drug’s latest blog post is written by Heidi Olson, a sexual assault nurse examiner. She explains how porn is grooming children to accept violence and abuse within relationships.
Most porn showcases violent actions against women, and when kids are exposed to this kind of graphic content, which is extremely easy to find, it changes the way they think and behave.
We process imagery so much faster than text, what we see matters and greatly affects us. This is especially true for younger children, as they’re brains are going through critical stages of development.
Fight the New Drug claims porn teaches these three major themes:
- Sex is not intimate or about mutuality. It is about whatever the male wants (no matter how painful or scary it might seem).
- Women might say “no,” but they still like what is happening to them.
- Violence is sexy and fun.
Olson supports these claims by sharing her experience, “I constantly see these themes play out with many teenagers that I encounter in the hospital. As I talk with kids who are victims of sexual assault, the way pornography has played a role in their trauma is undeniable.”
Young girls begin to think they should accept violence within sex, as porn normalizes it. Young boys fail to realize that violent acts during sex hurt their partner.
“It’s cultural grooming, and it’s creating huge vulnerabilities.” – Heidi Olson
“Chris, help! We have a tech emergency!”
That’s why we created The Table, our PYE membership where you can get immediate, emergency help, ask basic tech questions in our Tech Support space, become a specialist in YouTube setup, pornography education, or compulsive gaming, and interact with other, like-minded parents. Abby is there to take care of you! Join for 7 days free, try it out, and then stick around for $7/month or $70 for the year. I can’t wait to meet you at The Table!
