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Is Instagram Safe For Kids?

is instagram safe for kids

We get a lot of questions about Instagram. “Is Instagram safe for kids?” “How old should my kid be before they use Instagram?” “How do I make sure my kids are safe on Instagram?” There’s a lot to think about with Instagram, but MamaBear has advice and information to help parents sort it all out.

Like many social media platforms, Instagram offers kids both opportunities and hazards. Due to fairly lax login policies and few restrictions, it is fairly easy for children on Instagram to be exposed to age inappropriate content. Racy photos are fairly common. Nude photos aren’t allowed but are often posted anyway and with a quick search on the explore tab, kids can let their imagination run wild. While the app requires users to be at least 13 years old (compliance with COPPA) to create and account, it is not difficult to fudge to access the app.

Like all social media platforms, Instagram can easily mean too much exposure. Anyone can view photos a child posts, and anyone can comment unless settings are appropriately changed. Geotagging presents another danger. Instagram settings make it easy for a child to broadcast their location and information to millions of strangers.

With the basic settings, any user can comment on an Instagram photo, which makes the app prime for bullying. Parents know all too well that kids can be cruel, and Instagram can become a venue for this behavior. In current trends, children of all ages are being ranked in “Instagram Beauty Pageants.” This disturbing trend has teen girls of all ages attempting to gather millions of votes compared to classmates and peers.

Rest assured, Instagram isn’t all bad. Many parents have discovered ways to mitigate and monitor risks for their kids that like to stay up-to-date with popular technologies. Instagram does allow kids to share and view amazing photography and creativity around the world. That’s a pretty exciting prospect for parents and kids.

We have a few tips for parents who want to allow their kids to participate on Instagram.

1. “Stranger Danger” Rule Applies.

Parents can prevent most problems by talking to their kids know about the risks of the app and what to do should they face an uncomfortable situation. Making sure kids understand that exposure isn’t always a good thing can prevent many unfortunate situations. If your child doesn’t know someone, they shouldn’t follow or allow a stranger to follow your child.

2. Check the Privacy Settings.

Protect from outsider looking in on your child’s Instagram profile by adjusting the built in privacy settings. Setting the “Photos are Private” option in the profile menu prevents unwanted strangers from accessing the child’s photos.

3. Use a Social Media Monitoring App Like MamaBear.

Many parents need a little help when it comes to ensuring social media is safe for their kids. MamaBear can make it easy to track a child’s Instagram account. Parents can receive email alerts or push based alerts when a child follows someone, a restricted word is used or a restricted follower mentions the child. It also gives parents a nudge when the children upload photos. It’s a time-saver.

Is Instagram safe for kids?

Like all family matters, it’s up to the parent and the kid. Parents have options to help. MamaBear is here to help parents navigate the tricky world of social media with our groundbreaking social media monitoring app for Android and iPhones.

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MamaBear Family Safety App Featured on CFN13 News – Demo

The following video is a MamaBear app demo from CFN13 news in Orlando, Florida.

Many parents wonder if they should adopt a family safety GPS tracker app or service. There are many benefits to using a Family Safety GPS Tracker like MamaBear, but we know parents can always use a little more justification.

Visit our blog to discover the top five reasons why our customers use a family GPS tracker like MamaBear, in addition to a few tips on what separates the better family GPS tracker apps here.

The MamaBear Family GPS Tracker app is available for download on Android devices here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geowaggle.mamabear

and on Apple devices including iPhones here:
http://itunes.apple.com/ke/app/mamabear/id542203931?mt=8

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Should You Use a Parental Control App on your Child’s Iphone?

parental control iphone

Do you really need a parental control app?

We all do our best as parents and I believe we all try to encourage trust with our children among the people in our community and direct networks. The good news is, most of us probably can. Even though we trust our children to make the right choices, and in much fewer cases do we trust the people around our children, the use of technology can help ensure our children’s safety. A little extra knowledge can be useful!
Parental control apps on the IPhone offer parents a chance to gain insights and offer a road to more communication. Monitoring apps also give children a new, and sometimes easier, way to communicate with us than existing methods. Parenting apps like MamaBear can offer options and reassurances.

The biggest hurdle most parents overcome when installing a parental control or monitoring app on their child’s phone is acceptance. Parenting apps offer much more than just monitoring and control options, and with a little explaining about the safety features, our kids understand this. GPS tracking for emergencies is becoming more and more common, and several parenting apps offer families an emergency call button. Apps like MamaBear with variable alert settings and options allow parents as much or as little monitoring as they want. When the kids are in an emergency, need to quickly check in or discreetly ask for you to pick them up, they’ll begin to understand why you installed the MamaBear app.

When children first join social media networks like Facebook and Instagram, a parental control app with social media monitoring features like MamaBear can be invaluable. Social media, combined with a smartphone, gives children connectivity to the world that most of us parents never imaged. A tool like the MamaBear app gives you an eye into their behaviors as they take their first steps on social media.

Parental control apps and monitoring apps can also be helpful when a child learns to drive. We all know we have to trust our kids with the keys at some point, but sometimes we need a little extra reassurance. With such a big, new responsibility like driving, most children understand that parents simply want to know they’re safe and the use of apps like MamaBear can do just that! Monitoring a child’s driving speed and where they’re traveling in the car is a standard use of parental control apps.

There are plenty of reasons to monitor and install parental control apps. Major changes and additions to the life of a child, (like giving them a new phone, joining a social site or driving) can be a great time to introduce MamaBear, both to give parents some insight and reassurance. When a child first joins Facebook or Instagram, or learns how to drive, extra monitoring is only natural and should be easily acceptable by the child given the stories we read. Using the latest technology, like MamaBear, for monitoring just makes sense.

The MamaBear child tracker app is available free during beta-stage on Iphone and Android.

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The Best Apps for Parents in 2013

apps for parents

The start of 2013 offers a wealth of apps for parents to help with day to day life. There are so many apps available for Android and iOS devices that just searching for the best in each category can be very time consuming for a busy parent. Here are a few apps that our MamaBear team have found can make parenting just a little bit easier. These should help with managing life around the kids, as well as monitoring and managing the kids themselves.

Best Note App for Parents

Parents on the go need a good note app just to keep track of day-to-day life. A note app needs to be fast and flexible, especially for parents with multiple children. Evernote works across multiple devices and allows parents to save audio, visual and text based notes and is extremely easy to use.

Best Grocery and List App for Parents

Specific lists may call for more than just a note app. Grocery list apps like OurGroceries can help parents save time from checking grocery stocks. It can synchronize multiple phones to let a family share a list.

For the lists that children hate the most, the ones with their chores, iRewardChart gives parents an easy way to offer incentives.

Best Activities App for Parents

In the same vein as chore apps, apps that make it easy for parents to promote schools and safe extracurricular activities are often very helpful. Overdrive lets kids tap into the local public and educational libraries.  TeamSnap helps parents schedule team and group events easily while making contact with the team and team parents easier.

Best Parental Restrictions App

Setting up parental restrictions for particular device features and age appropriate content is important. For restricting phone access for children using Android phones, we recommend Kids Place.  Kids Place allows the parent to choose what apps and features the child can access on the phone while disabling the rest of the phone’s functionality. This gives parents the flexibility to allow children to try different apps and options and ensures that other apps stay put. Kids place also works on a parents’ phone to allow smaller children to play games, but not accidentally dial or text out.

On an iPhone, go to settings, general and enable parental restrictions for the device features you prefer.

Best All-in-One Parenting App

We don’t mean to toot our own horn, but when it comes to child monitoring apps for parents, MamaBear is your best option. MamaBear offers child location tracking via GPS and alerts, driving alerts, and social media monitoring in one easy to understand interface. In 2013, we’re working on adding even more functionality and looking forward to GPS upgrades in many new Android phones and iPhones.

There are lots of apps to make parenting easier, some of them easier than others. These apps are all available on Android or iOS, just like MamaBear parenting app. Many of them work across multiple platforms and devices, making multi phone households more manageable.

Using these apps for parents should make 2013 a little easier with our biggest reward being happy, safe children.

 

The start of 2013 offers a wealth of apps for parents to help with day to day life. We review the top apps available for Android and iOS devices
Mobile Apps
Date Published: 01/24/2013
4 / 5 stars