instagram Archives - MamaBear App

August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

Is Instagram Safe for Kids: A Guide for Concerned Parents

Very popular among teens, Instagram is a favorite photo sharing app for young people. But Is Instagram Safe for Kids? Find out in this guide for parents.

On average, 70 million photos are shared on Instagram per day.

With that level of sharing power and an active user base of more than 300 million, parents shouldn’t be surprised that their children and teens want in on the action.

Parents should expect that sooner or later their child will want to create a profile on the extremely popular photo-sharing app — if they aren’t on it already.

To help parents prepare, we have compiled a list of everything parents need to know before their child joins Instagram.

Is Instagram Safe for Kids?

Not exactly. And not without parental supervision and a good dose of discussion with your children.

As with most social media sites, Instagram includes hazards that come with a community primarily created by its users.

Users can have a negative, harmful, or dangerous experience as they may:

see racy photos
see nude photos (while not allowed, they frequently slip through and can be found via search)
receive too much exposure after sharing a photo
be easy to locate when they post photos with geo tagging (tags that show your location)
witness or experience bullying from other users
receive unwanted solicitations from strangers

Instagram can be a safe and fun app for teens if they know the best practices for keeping themselves out of harm’s way.

At What Age Can Kids Join Instagram?

According to policy, a person must be at least 13 years of age to join Instagram.

While there are many users under 13 who create accounts, Instagram is doing what it can to shut this down.

The app, owned by Facebook, has been known to shut down accounts by users they believe are not 13. One mom explained how she allowed her 11-year-old son to set up an account before realizing that it was in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which restricts websites to collect information from children under the age of 13.

Instagram notified him that his account was disabled until he could upload a picture of a government-issued ID to prove his age.

Are Profiles Public?

Yes and no.

By default, Instagram profiles are public. Many teens like their profiles to be public because they want to get a high number of followers. Users can set their profiles to private which allows only users that accept or “follow” to see their photos.

How Can I Protect My Child?

Understand the site yourself. Instagram provides an excellent resource of tips for parents.

Tell your teen set their profile to private. Teach your child how to responsibly control their visibility.

Teach your teen how to unfollow, block, and report users. Unfollowing a user means that you will no longer view posts from that user in your feed. Blocking a user means that the user can no longer search for or see your account. People aren’t notified when they are blocked. Reporting a user notifies Instagram that a user is violating their policies.

Explain when they should unfollow, block, or report a user. Review appropriate and inappropriate uses of Instagram with your teen so they know when they should unfollow or block another user and even notify an adult or report an account.

Review your teen’s postings. The only way to really know what your teen is doing on Instagram is to see it for yourself. While Instagram doesn’t offer a way for parents to review their child’s account, MamaBear does.

The Hurtful Side of Social Media: Horrific Threats Via Instagram for One Teen

The students of Lone Hill Middle School are having to face the cruel, unsettling and for most, unexpected side of social media. Their classmate, an unidentified girl, received startling and horrific death threats via Instagram. While police and school officials are doing everything possible to find the person behind these anonymous threats, parents are left wondering how they can protect their own children from the ugly aspects of social media.

How Many Tweens/Teens Use Social Media?

An article on Edudemic gives these startling stats:

95% of teens ages 12-19 use the Internet
81% have social media accounts, 50% of those have public profile information that can be seen by anyone on the Internet
50% login to their social media accounts more than once per day, many 10 times a day or more
21% of kids under 13 use social media sites
23% of tween girls reported that Instagram was their favorite app

As a Parent, Here is What You Should Know

Ignorance of technology and social media is no longer an option for parents. According to Nicole Nishada, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, “When the conflicts expand to social media, parents are often unaware of the communication occurring silently on cell phones and computers.”

The sheriff’s office involved in this incident has been very clear that the authorities take this type of threat very seriously and there will be consequences when the person behind the threats is caught. Cyberbullying affects both the victim, who will carry emotional scars, and the bully, who if caught, can face severe legal action, or financial consequences.

With serious consequences associated on both sides of the cyberbullying epidemic, it is critical for parents to take an active role and speak with their children about this topic. Children should know that there are options when they are the victim of cyberbullying and they should also know the negative consequences of being a cyberbully.

As parents, we sometimes go by the old adage “no news is good news,” but our children, who may be afraid to speak up or who think they can handle the situation on their own, are struggling silently.

What Can You Do To Help Your Children

A lot. Social media is a privilege, not a necessity and parents have every right to closely monitor their child’s Internet usage, including social media accounts. Children have grown up with technology, are tech savvy and may know how to keep their parents from seeing their online activity. Insist on having the passwords to your child’s accounts and monitor them daily, asking questions if you see something suspicious or unsettling. Parents can also help their children avoid this type of harassment by keeping an open line of communication.

This Is What MamaBear Was Created For

MamaBear, The Ultimate Parenting App™ closely monitors your child’s popular social media accounts all in one convenient newsfeed, including what they are posting, tweets and pictures, and also what is being said back to them through comments, messages or any other means of communication.

The app, available on iPhone and Android devices, will alert you to any signs of bullying creating the opportunity for you to open up a line of communication and extract information from your kids. The MamaBear app also offers a private communication portal so you and your family can share messages and stay on top of any situation. Your kids do not have to be a victim to cyberbullying. Use MamaBear and be aware and informed before your child has a problem!

Table Talk Discussion: How To Talk to Your Kids About Their Digital Reputation

Please like MamaBear App on Facebook.

August 1, 2014

Social Media, Bullying and What You Can Do to Help

Statistics from DoSomething.org show that nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online and another 70% have seen bullying online. But with only one out of ten victims reporting this type of abuse to an adult, cyberbullying isn’t always an easy problem for parents to identify.

Parents must be proactive and prepared to protect their children from social media bullying.

Keep an Eye on What’s Going On

The best way to know what’s going on in your child’s social world is to see it for yourself.

Help your kids set up their accounts. Kids want to be independent and sooner or later, they are going to set up their own social media profiles. Instead of waiting for them to sign up, get involved early. Help them set up their accounts, and use that opportunity to tour the site together, set privacy settings and discuss the dangers as well as social etiquette. When you set up their profile, explain you need a copy of their password and username, not because you want to snoop, but because you want to keep them safe. It’s responsible parenting.
Make monitoring a habit. Being on the social site yourself and friending or following your children make your presence known as a form of monitoring but also providing a sense of security to your kids. Plus, it will keep you up-to-date on social sites so you are more educated on their trends and purposes. Using third party services like MamaBear App can help save time filtering need to know information with customized word list to monitor with timely mobile notifications.
Put limitations on phone and computer use. Setting boundaries is important in all relationships. Set limits on time and place for device use. Limit computer use to a central location where you can periodically pop in and see the screen. If your children have phones for games and emergencies, they don’t need their device with them 24/7. Here are some ideas for a cellphone contract that can guide you in creating these boundaries.

Related: Helping Your Teen be Safe on Social Media

Save the Evidence

If you happen to find an indication of bullying on your child’s social sites, make sure to save the evidence.

Many online sites make it easy to take down messages, so be sure to capture proof while you still can. This evidence might be vital in filing a complaint, so take a screenshot that includes the date and username of the bully.

Block and Report the Bully

Block and report any user that shows signs of bullying directly from your child’s account. You can also file a complaint separate from your child’s account. Many popular social sites also allow you to file a report even if you don’t have your own account.

Twitter: Report an Abusive User
Facebook: Report a Violation
Snapchat: Report Harassment (Need an Account to File a Report)
Instagram: Report Harassment or Bullying
Vine: Contact Support to Report Abuse

Talk About It

Talk to your child about what happened. Discuss that bullying isn’t acceptable and reassure them that you are there to listen and answer any of their questions about the situation.

By planning ahead and properly addressing the problem, you are teaching your child how to protect themselves in the future. But as a parent it’s up to you to be proactive and make sure they stick to the plan.

Download the MamaBear Family Safety app, available for iPhones and Androids, to connect with your child’s social media accounts and ensure that they are engaging in a safe and healthy social media environment.

June 17, 2014

Five Tips for Keeping Kids Safe on Instagram

If you have a preteen or teen with a smartphone, you’re probably aware of the app Instagram. Thankfully, parents have options when it comes to keeping their kids safe on Instagram. | MamaBear App

If you have a preteen or teen with a smartphone, you’re probably aware of the app Instagram. Instagram – a photo-sharing app that allows anyone with a camera smartphone to take and upload pictures and add comments, location markers, photo filters and more, remains wildly popular with more than 200 million users globally.

Much of what happens on Instagram is harmless sharing of ubiquitous “selfies” and silly photos with friends during outings to the mall or sleepovers. Many parents are even joining in the fun, sharing their own photos from their daily lives.

Still, others are concerned by the power Instagram has to influence and expose kids to strangers and inappropriate content. Sharing photos with the ability to be tagged for location can allow the youngest of preteens to even well-versed adults that can make them vulnerable to predators.

Related: Protecting Kids from Internet Stranger Danger

Instagram offers privacy settings that can keep your children’s content protected and they can opt out of sharing their location. In addition, though the minimum age for using the app is 13, children much younger are regular users who simply lie about their age to add the app to their devices.

Thankfully, parents have options when it comes to keeping their kids safe on Instagram:

1. Remind your kids about stranger danger. Insist that they set their profiles to private and only add people they know and trust in real life to their accounts;

2. Follow them if you are also an Instagram user and have an open discussion about additional Instagram accounts so you can follow all of their profiles;

3. Discuss the digital footprint they are creating for themselves cautioning and prohibiting sharing of provocative photos of themselves on Instagram

4. Reinforce your family’s consequences for engaging in bullying behavior on Instagram. Don’t let your kid be the social media bully, and give your children a plan of action should they feel they are the victim of bullying;

5. Install a family safety app like MamaBear on your own mobile devices as well as your kids. This will allow you to monitor your children’s activity on Instagram and other popular social apps. By using MamaBear, you can see previews of photos your child’s uploading, know who your child follows (or is followed by) and customize a keyword list to be aware of indicators of bullying, hate, sexual content or even complimentary language for positive reinforcement.

It’s so important l in this day and age to keep an open line of dialog with your kids about how they are using social media and be their voice of reason as they make choices and learn how to protect themselves. Our kids have greater risks and parents have bigger responsibilities. A parent in the know is the most helpful to healthy development. Happy digital parenting!