Keeping kids safe online is one of the greatest anxieties of modern parenting. Trying to
create limits, impose restrictions and constantly monitor your child roaming free across
the uncontrolled, and often dangerous digital landscape is fraught, time-consuming and
exhausting. Yet, it must be done in the name of responsible parenting. It’s not enough to
apply a parental control app and make a few rules about screen time limits.
Online or offline, parents have the same responsibility to keep their children safe. From
being groomed by sex predators and easily connecting with drug sellers to being
victimised through cyberbullying or coming across harmful content, kids are in some
ways, even more vulnerable in the digital world where parental oversight is more
challenging.
Research shows that consistent parental monitoring of children’s online and mobile
activity does reduce problematic internet behaviours and helps to raise responsible digital
citizens. In today’s world, parents have a clear responsibility to society to oversee their
children’s behaviour and activities in the digital environment, never mind the imperative of
keeping their child safe.
However, mandatory phone checks and web history scans are not just onerous for busy
parents, they also frequently create an atmosphere of mistrust and points of conflict in the
parent-child relationship. Tech-entrepreneur, Rachelle Best has drawn on her real-life
need as a mother of a teen, to create an app, FYI play it safe, to give parents a better
way to monitor their children’s online activity. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)
technologies, FYI play it safe scans every app, every online search and every chat across
your child’s devices but only alerts the parent or caregiver if there are potentially harmful
communications or activities. The app monitors for cyberbullying, online predator
contact, access to adult content and a range of mental health issues affecting teens,
including suicide ideation.
Best says, “As a parent of a maturing child, I know how important it is to balance keeping
them safe while supporting them in their natural development of autonomy and self-
control. Actively parenting in the digital environment is extremely challenging because
many parents don’t engage with their kids there. Parental oversight typically takes the
form of scrutinising their kids’ digital history, which means they can only be reactive,
when the best protection is knowing about the issue as it happens. Our driving value
at FYI play it safe is ‘Protect them, but respect them’. That’s why the app is not spyware
and it is not clandestine. It creates an opportunity for the parent and the child to mutually
agree on the way to best keep them from harm and to avoid potentially dangerous
situations.”
FYI play it safe, which has launched globally for children’s Android devices, takes on the
detailed monitoring of communications and activities across all the child’s apps and
screens. New apps or sites that the child uses and visits are included automatically
without the need for the account credentials. “This feature is essential,” Best points out.
“The range of digital spaces where your child is spending time is unlimited and ever-
changing. It’s extremely hard for a parent to keep up. When you consider that research
has shown that it can take less than one hour for online grooming to be successful,
parents need real-time monitoring of every new digital space your child enters, from the
moment they cross the threshold.”
The app processes language used as it scans for signals of online bullying and also
alerts parents if your child is engaging with content around depression, self-harm and
suicidal ideation. This early warning system empowers parents to take action, open up
conversations and get help, if necessary, long before situations develop into emergencies
or become intractable issues. Best says, “In essence, FYI play it safe helps parents
know what conversations they need to be having with their kids, which is especially
relevant when it comes to teens who can be inscrutable during their quest for
independence. It pinpoints potential issues and enables you to deal with them swiftly.
The app is therefore an enabler of more open and productive communications between
parents and children.”
FYI play it safe is not a substitute for parental control apps, and rather works in tandem
with widely used free apps such as Google Family Link. Best concludes, “It gives you an
extra, non-intrusive layer of protection covering all your child’s online and mobile activity.
It saves parents time, while giving you a consensual way to meet your responsibilities to
keep your child safer in the digital environment and ensure that they conduct themselves
acceptably. It strengthens your relationship with your child by giving you the right
information at the right time in the form of alerts, so that you know the moment when your
child needs your help. It finds the balance between failing to do enough to oversee your
child’s online activity and over-reaching.”
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