How do you like to use the internet? To watch videos of puppies and kittens? Or posting pictures of your family and friends? Maybe to satisfy your shopping addiction on Amazon? Maybe your internet use has not been so innocent. Many use the internet to get a thrill or get their anger out. Online harassment is not uncommon, so much so that there are websites built to support it. Kiwi Farms, for example, is a forum website where users are encouraged to harass online personalities and communities. Today’s GKIS article details the targeted harassment done by Kiwi Farms users and how the website facilitates this behavior. If you’re concerned your kids may be victimized by harassment or overstep and do the harassing themselves, check out our Screen Safety Toolkit. With this online course and resource guide, you can learn how to protect your family online.
The Start of Kiwi Farms
Joshua Conner Moon, a former administrator of the 8chan message board, started Kiwi Farms in 2013. It was first established as a forum website to troll and harass a webcomic creator. Before the term “Kiwi Farms” was coined in 2014, Kiwi Farms was known as “CWCki Forums.”
Organized Harassment
The Kiwi Farms website targets a wide range of victims, including Internet celebrities, minorities, women, neurodivergent individuals, LGBTQ people, members of the far right, and people who Kiwi Farms users believe to be “mentally ill” or “sexually deviant.” Both Moon and the Kiwi Farms user base have been labeled as anti-Semitic.[1]
swatting (reporting crimes at their addresses to have police dispatched to their homes)
real-life attacks
People Who Have Fallen Victim
U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed in an interview with NewsMax on August 24, 2022 that she had been swatted twice by someone posing as a Kiwi Farms moderator “AltisticRight.” She urged for the website to be taken down. In reaction, Cloudflare shut off a feature on the website that lets users modify error messages.
Clara Sorrenti, a transgender advocate and Twitch broadcaster who goes by the handle “Keffals,” was doxxed on Kiwi Farms as well. Users of the website shared both her personal information and those of her friends and relatives, including addresses and phone numbers. Users also threatened her life and leaked sexually explicit images of her. In August 2022, after someone hijacked her identity and sent false emails to local lawmakers threatening widespread violence, she was later swatted, imprisoned for more than ten hours, and arrested. She was ultimately exonerated of all charges, and authorities determined that the incident was a swatting effort.
Users also shared the address of a stranger who lives in the same city and has the same last name as Sorrenti. Police were subsequently dispatched to his home. Sorrenti claimed that she left her house and checked into a hotel for her protection following the swatting event. After she uploaded a picture of her cat lying on a hotel bed, Kiwi Farms members recognized the establishment from the bedsheets and sent several pizza orders to it using her dead name.
Later, Sorrenti left the country after her whereabouts were discovered, allegedly by someone who had hacked her Uber account. Sorrenti says that she intends to file a lawsuit and that the occurrences were being investigated as criminal harassment.
Suicide
A hate campaign against transgender game creator Chloe Sagal was started in 2013 by Kiwi Farm users. Sagal is well-known for creating the well-liked, independent horror game Homesick. After Sagal started raising funds for gender reassignment surgery, they began to attack her. Users hounded and harassed Sagal for years after they started a post specifically to target her. Sagal lit herself on fire in 2018 in a park in Portland and died at 31 years old.[3]
According to images of chat boards and videos published by DropKiwiFarms.net, an initiative was passed to shut down the website after Moon posted a live YouTube video celebrating Sagal’s passing while other Kiwi Farms users laughed and made fun of the game developer.
The Short End of Kiwi Farms
After the harassment effort by users of Kiwi Farms against Sorrenti, a movement to persuade Cloudflare to stop hosting the site was launched in August 2022. Cloudflare is a company that provides hosting and online security services. This, according to NBC News, was done to allow Kiwi Farms to be the target of “debilitating virtual attacks.”[2]
Although Cloudflare first defended its choice to continue working with Kiwi Farms, the company formally banned the website from utilizing its services on September 3, 2022. However, on September 6, VanwaTech supplied content delivery network services to the website, returning it online according to The Daily Dot.[4]
How to Protect Your Child
Unfortunately, many parts of the internet are unregulated. And when children have easy access to it, they can fall victim to being harassed online or fall down a dark path of harassing people themselves. Luckily, Dr. Bennett can help you protect yourself and your family from online harassment.
One helpful tip for parents is to make it a habit to hold GKIS Family Meetings with a teaching agenda that covers important online issues that your children will face. This provides opportunities for mutual education and skill building, and it also builds a close family alliance. Get ideas for your discussion with our GKIS Blog and learn parenting strategies with Dr. Bennett’s Screen Time in the Mean Time Parenting Guide.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Liliana Esquivel, for detailing the targeted harassment done by Kiwi Farms users and how the website facilitates this behavior.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
With the Covid-19 pandemic creating an unexpected need for online school, tech has been forever integrated into our children’s everyday curriculum. Teachers recognize that kids benefit from tech tools, and schools now offer individual devices for kids as young as elementary age. We’ve become reliant on screen devices at home too. Smart assistants, like devices that support Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, get us fast answers to questions in seconds. But is it helpful to outsource the brainwork we should be doing ourselves? What if you’re a kid who hasn’t yet mastered independent reasoning? Does relying on a screen device impair learning rather than help us develop it? Are teachers aware of how much kids are outsourcing learning to their devices? If you worry that your child is using tech too much, our Screen Safety Toolkit offers a resource guide so you can tighten up screen time supervision and management.
What are smart assistants?
Smart assistants are tech devices, like phones, portable screens, watches, and speakers that use software to perform verbally requested tasks.[1] Among the most popular are Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri.
As of 2021, about 47% of smartphone users in the United States are Siri-equipped iPhone users.[2] In 2020, close to 70% of smart speaker users in the United States used Alexa-equipped Amazon Echos.[3] The prevalence of these two smart assistants has created an encyclopedia of knowledge accessible just at the sound of our voices. In fact, Amazon promotes using Alexa for that very purpose.
Last year, Amazon ran an ad that showed a father asking Alexa what year Pompeii was destroyed. Once he receives his answer from Alexa, he shares it with his daughter who is clearly doing homework at the dining table. She then turns to ask him for the name of the volcano. He responds by turning back to the Alexa device. Although this ad intends to demonstrate a fun interaction between father and daughter, it also demonstrates how smart devices are being used to cheat on assignments and get easy answers.
Are kids using smart devices to cheat?
The modern generation of students is smart, and they know how to use the technological resources they are given. But they also know how to use them to cheat and get away with it.
A college student I interviewed recalls a run-in with a fellow classmate who had Siri turned on during a test in high school. “We were in the middle of a test in my AP European history class, and suddenly the iPhone of the girl sitting next to me begins speaking. You can hear Siri say, ‘The War of 1812 was…’ before she abruptly turned it off. The teacher immediately turned to her and said, ‘Make sure all phones are turned off please.’ The student turned bright red, so I think she definitely learned her lesson.”
This instance of cheating occurred in 2017. Since then, opportunities for cheating with smart devices are more common than ever. A recent high school graduate recalls taking tests during Covid-19. “The teachers would make us all have our cameras on, but they wouldn’t require us to be unmuted since it would be a distraction. Since they couldn’t hear us, anytime I would get stuck I would just ask the Alexa sitting in my room. Sometimes my friends and I would even Facetime each other and use my Alexa together whenever we felt confused. I honestly would never study for tests because I didn’t see a point when I could just get the information from Google so easily.”
For a student who is struggling, smart devices provide the perfect assistance for quick and easy answers to questions while simultaneously being practically untraceable. Other forms of cheating leave behind indicators or evidence, but smart assistants don’t.
It is a given that cheating is bad, but you may not know of the many downsides to cheating that go beyond academia. A recent study by a Harvard-Duke research team found that cheaters tended to engage in “self-deception,” meaning they would view their high performance as a sign of high intelligence, which may not actually be true. They see a high score, and even though they cheated, they believed that they are smart enough to have earned that score.[4] Another study found that when our kids cheat, they deprive themselves of the happiness that comes from independent accomplishment.[5] Smart devices are helpful tools, but when their assistance turns into dependence, kids begin to create a world where there actually at a disadvantage.
Take away or manage smart devices during class or homework time using resources from our Screen Safety Toolkit.
Advocate for your kids and communicate your preferences about tech integration with teachers and school administrators.
Offer valuable information and support for your learning community by suggesting a screen safety webinar from Dr. Bennett, our Screen Safety Expert, at your school and church.
Set up tech-free learning challenges for the whole family like a family game or trivia night.
Encourage creativity, curiosity, confidence, and a love of learning by offering a variety of fun educational materials and outings.
Optimize health tech integration for the whole family with the parents-only and family coaching videos from our Screen Safety Essentials Course.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Katherine Carroll for researching kids cheating using smart assistant devices and co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Tiktok is a massively popular app that has been downloaded over three billion times with 60% of those users between the ages of 16-24.[1] Because teens make up the majority of users, they are susceptible to exposure to harmful trends on the platform. Reality shifting is one of these trends. The hashtag #shifting on TikTok has received 9.1 billion views. This trend may seem harmless at first glance. But if you take a second look, it turns out to be a double-edged sword. Today’s GKIS article explains reality shifting and breaks down how popular internet trends can affect your child’s mental health. You can help educate your teen on how to use social media in a safe and positive way with our Social Media Readiness Course. With a steeply discounted price, it’s worth every penny.
What is reality shifting?
Reality shifting, or shifting, is a process of allowing your consciousness to move from one reality to another. Many allege that the realities they are shifting to are real. But the majority of people in the shifting community admit that it’s similar to lucid dreaming but more vivid and realistic.
There are several ways people claim to shift, but they all essentially include meditation and the need for the individual to be in a peaceful environment where they can focus.
One well-known technique is called the raven method. This method has you lie down in a starfish position and count to 100 while picturing your desired reality. A second common way to shift is named the Alice in Wonderland method where you imagine yourself chasing after someone from your desired reality and jumping down a rabbit hole with them.
The authoring or scripting of a dream or desired reality, often referred to as DRs on TikTok, is a crucial component of shifting. Shifters write their lives within DRs. Hogwarts is an example of a very common DR in the shifting community. Scripting includes how the individual looks, who they interact with, and how they behave.
From Coping Strategy to Unhealthy Obsession
Many shifters say they are seeking a way to escape a world that is getting more hectic, suggesting that building the perfect world and living there helps one avoid real-life and mental health problems.
In an interview with Insider Mallory Grimste, an adolescent therapist, stated, “The idea of imagining or visualizing yourself in a different reality can be a very healthy coping strategy for many.” and that “many therapists will often help their clients create their own ‘calm, safe space’ to visualize when they need to re-regulate difficult emotional responses and experiences.”
However, some teens have made numerous Tiktok videos detailing how they shift for 15 hours at a time and wish they could exist only in their desired reality. They have also admitted that shifting had a negative impact on their mental health. One teen stated that she stopped shifting because it became an obsession. She claimed that, because she was continually focused on her dream reality, she “stopped liking things” in day-to-day existence.
In an interview with Insider, Professor of psychology Phillip Reid of Cardiff University in Wales claims that reality shifting can cause people to become disconnected from reality. He said that this could be a “predictor of psychosis.” He also explains how younger people without a strong sense of self may be in danger of adopting numerous new identities because they can become estranged from reality.
How You Can Help
As long as teens are on the internet, they will be subject to popular online trends that may be harmful to their health and well-being. But with Dr. B’s Screen Safety Essentials Course, you can strengthen family bonds and create healthy screen time. This course offers beneficial parenting information in the form of short videos and colorful downloads. Learn how to connect closer as a family so you can be well-prepared to prevent and handle the risks that come with being online!
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Liliana Esquivel, for explaining the popular Tiktok trend, “reality shifting” and discussing how viral internet trends can affect your teen’s mental health.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
No matter how much we want to keep our children from experiencing the terrible things in life, it is impossible to shelter them completely. They will fail. They will get stressed. And they will experience loss. A challenge is figuring out when to step in for prevention or help them cope and when to arrange for expert treatment. Since the pandemic, the need for mental health treatment has skyrocketed. There aren’t enough mental health providers to meet the need of children and teens. Today’s article covers how to best help your kids through challenging times. In response to recent events, Dr. Bennett has created a FREE FAMILY GUIDE FOR COPING WITH TRAGEDY. Please download and share it on your social media with friends and family. If you’d like to help your family develop better communication and more awareness and accountability, check out our Screen Safety Essentials Course. It offers everything you need to close screen-risk gaps and improve overall mental health.
Being Proactive
Being a parent is the most rewarding challenge we face. At the same time, it is often difficult and goes largely underappreciated. As the world continues to unleash tragedy after tragedy, it’s our job to guide our kids safely through to the other side. That requires support on our end for certain but also skill-building on theirs. Having the right tools to deal with these threats to family happiness and cohesiveness can make the difference between being a good parent and a great parent.
Staying Vigilant
Without knowing what to look for, it may be impossible to identify early warning signs that your child is in trouble. While hindsight is 20/20, it can be difficult to notice the small indications that your guidance is needed. No one knows your kid better than you. You’re the most capable person for noticing changes in their behavior. If your parental instincts are signaling that something is wrong, increase monitoring and follow up.
Active Listening
While it is important to actively communicate with your child, it can be difficult to steer the conversation in a way that puts them in a position to tell you what they need. Listening is a critical parenting skill.
To encourage your child to open up, ask a non-leading general question that will not influence their answer, such as “Is there anything bothering you?” or, “Have you heard or seen anything that is upsetting recently?” By asking general questions that allow them to direct the conversation, you can effectively gauge how your kid is doing and choose a proper strategy to guide them.
Treading Gently and Honestly
Honesty is important when dealing with kids. After all, trust lies the foundation for ongoing and open communication. Because kids can “sense” when there is something going on, creating an environment of openness and receptivity is key.
Although there is no clear “right” or “wrong” way to teach kids about tragedy, offering reassurance that they are safe and letting them know you will cope as a family is of great importance. Being honest about your feelings offers an excellent model of vulnerability and courage, while reframing challenges offer hope and opportunities for closeness and growth.
Spending Quality Time with Them
Being present and spending time together as a family is of huge comfort to kids. Research has shown that spending quality time with children helps them to develop mental and emotional fortitude.[1] By spending quality time with your child, they feel more protected and are less likely to develop behavioral problems, and are more likely to develop better emotional regulation skills. Thus, children of parents who spend quality time with them become better equipped to deal with stressful situations.
Validating Their Feelings
Emotional validation is the expression of acceptance of another person’s emotional experience through learning and understanding.[2] When a parent is accepting and understanding of a child’s feelings, the child is more likely to feel loved and respected. When a child’s emotional experience is not validated, it can lead to feelings of rejection and psychological distress.
Keen emotional intelligence is needed to effectively recognize one’s own emotions and manage them in a healthy way. Yet, children often do not have the emotional intelligence and the emotion regulation skills necessary to deal with stressful stimuli. That develops with patient coaching and modeling from caring and engaged parents.
Distress tolerance is a person’s ability to prevent oneself from becoming emotionally overwhelmed when confronted with stressful situations.[2] When confronted with stressful situations out of one’s control, it can be more difficult to regulate one’s emotions and effectively communicate one’s feelings. [3] Validation is a powerful tool to help children learn to regulate their emotions. When children feel that their emotions are validated, they become more willing to share how they feel, which leads to more honest dialogue and mutual respect.[2] First conversations offer the scaffolding for positive growth, and later conversations polish those skill sets and offer deeper, more complex abilities.
When to Get Help from a Professional
Not every child will need therapy in their life. However, if you feel your child is demonstrating severely impairing symptoms, are not making improvement over time, or are demonstrating self-harm or suicidal ideation, it may be time to seek expert help. Dr. Bennett has been offering psychotherapy for children, teens, and adults for over 25 years. Although she does integrate play therapy into sessions, she feels the most powerful change happens when she works as a team for the family to set measurable goals, offers behavioral incentives and rewards, and offers cognitive-behavioral and dialectical behavior toolkits like those offered in the GetKidsInternetSafe Essentials Course for the family and our Social Media Readiness Course for tweens and teens.
Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches distress tolerance and emotional regulation skills to process emotions and problem-solve without becoming overwhelmed.[1]
DBT can teach a child these skills:
recognizing when a situation is out of their control and accepting the fact that they cannot change it
learning to self-soothe – using adaptive coping skills to relieve stress and anxiety
learning to recognize and stop impulsive behavior in favor of thinking rationally
learning to assess the pros and cons of one’s actions before reacting
learning to utilize TIPP skills – skills to quickly calm the limbic system and reset one’s emotional arousal levels
If you are looking for other useful tips about how to make the internet a safer place for your family, you can get parenting and family coaching information, support, and other valuable information from the GKIS Essentials Course. Also, check out the GKIS blog for other entertaining and informative articles.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Michael Watson for researching coping skills for children in dealing with tragedy.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] Jones, C. (2017). What are the benefit of spending quality time with your kids. 10 Minutes of Quality Time. https://10minutesofqualitytime.com/what-are-the-benefits-spending-quality-time-kids/
[2] Linehan, M. M. (2014). DBT skills training handouts and worksheets. Guilford Publications.
[3] Chapman, A., Gratz, K., & Tull, M. (2011). The dialectical behavior therapy skills workbook for anxiety: Breaking free from worry, panic, PTSD, and other anxiety symptoms. New Harbinger Publications.
Scams can cause extreme financial and emotional distress to victims and their families. With technology, scammers have become more creative in accessing their victims by offering quick clicks and false credibility. Even young teens that navigate effortlessly online have a hard time distinguishing legitimate situations from scams. To help you and your family avoid becoming the victims of a scammer, I interviewed “William”* who shared his mother’s story. She was an educated professional that fell victim to multiple scams over five years. You won’t want to miss the true story about what happened to her. If your family hasn’t taken steps for increased awareness and cybersecurity, you’ll want to check out our Cybersecurity & Red Flags supplement. The perfect compliment to our free Connected Family Agreement, you can take the extra steps you need to protect your loved ones right now. Our guide offers tips to avoid hacking, scamming, malware, and phishing and is a must-have for today’s modern family. Today’s GKIS article shares the story of an elderly woman victimized by scammers, the types of scams to look out for, and tips on how to avoid becoming a victim yourself.[1]
*Names were changed to protect the privacy of the victims.
What are scams?
A scam is a dishonest scheme to cheat someone or steal money. With the help of technology, scammers have been able to target their victims in more creative, easier, and faster ways than ever before. According to an FBI report, 2020 scams resulted in a loss of over 4.2 billion dollars. With more baby boomers retiring and the pandemic resulting in more at-hone isolation, I suspect those losses rose in the last few years.[1,2]
Who Scammers Target
Although anyone can become a scam victim, research has shown that scammers tend to target kids, teens, and the elderly. A study conducted by the University of Iowa confirmed that a certain area of the prefrontal cortex of the brain is responsible for processing information and solving problems – tasks that help people consider whether information is true or not. Young people tend to be vulnerable to scams because this part of the brain is still developing, and older individuals are vulnerable when they demonstrate poor technological fluency, are isolated, or suffer from a decline in problem solving ability.[3]
The Story of William and His Mom
William is a middle-aged man who generously shared his story with us about his elderly mother, Mrs. Thorn, who was scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars over a five-year period. Despite his best efforts to protect and rescue her from the scammers, he struggled to keep her safe. Once one scammer got ahold of her and convinced her to send money, many other scammers started approaching her too. William suspects that the scams were somehow linked as if they shared her information with others. Below are some of the scams she fell victim to.
Different Types of Scams
Charity Scams
William described his mother as a generous individual. She was a nurse in Japan during the 1950s, and, after she retired, she continued helping others by volunteering at church and other organizations. As she got older, she would receive postcards in the mail from different charities, a common scam targeted at elders. Although her income from social security and savings was not a lot, she began “donating” money to those she perceived as less fortunate than herself.
Piecing together what happened with his mom’s checking and bank documents, William found that she initially sent small amounts of money ranging from $5-10. Once the scammers had her on the hook, however, they would groom her for larger and larger “charitable” donations.[4]
Lottery/Sweepstakes Scams
Another scam that William’s mother fell victim to was the lottery/sweepstakes scam, which also commonly targets elders. These types of scams claim that the victim has won a large amount of money or other prizes such as a new car. Once the victim is excited and eager to collect their prize, scammers require that they pay a fee or taxes. As the scammer reaches out with details, the victim often adopts an illusion of intimacy, meaning they feel they have a personal, caring relationship with the scammer. This false intimacy pulls the victim in deeper, often eliciting more and more personal information from the victim.
William confirmed that Mrs. Thorn spoke to the scammers about his efforts to block their access and protect her safety. Mrs. Thorn’s scammers not only instructed her not to tell anyone because it could be a nice surprise for her family, but they also offered specific suggestions on how to work around the safeguards her son put in place. They seemed to play on her wishes for independence and worked to create and escalate conflict between her and her son.
Our GKIS Connected Family Course can help you close screen risk gaps and improve family cooperation and closeness. If you have school-age children at home or love somebody who does, check it out. Not only does the course offer amazing safety home setup tips, but it helps parents create fun dialogues for better, healthier parent-child relationships.[4]
Government Impersonation Scams
William noticed that some of the scams his mom was involved with may be linked with others. For instance, to pay the taxes of her “prize,” the scammer would set Mrs. Thorn up to talk to an “IRS agent.” These types of scams are known as government impersonation scams which are types of very popular imposter scams. According to the FBI, government impersonation scams typically involve the scammer impersonating a government official who threatens to arrest or prosecute victims unless they pay a fee. William shared that they even tried to trick him with false threats of prosecution and arrest unless he agreed to cooperate.
Dr. Bennett shared that immigrants can easily be targeted with this type of scam as well. She shared a story of a colleague who was a Chinese immigrant who worked as a software engineer. This victim’s scammer posed as a member of the Chinese government and threatened the safety of her family if she didn’t pay overdue fines. The scammer demanded that she not tell her friends and family and immediately pay. She lost over $150,000 that was never recovered before she realized she’d been scammed.[4]
Phone Scams
William explains that although his mother’s scams initially started by mail, they soon turned into phone calls. He allowed me access to his mother’s journal which included notes on the people she spoke to and what they had asked her to do. Her notes reveal that she would talk to the same people over and over and eventually trusted them more than her own family and friends. The scammers were very persuasive and would instruct her how to wire funds to unfamiliar places and people, even going so far as giving her directions to wiring locations that her son had not blocked yet. William spent countless hours visiting banks, local wiring locations, and friends begging them to not help his mom transfer money or provide transportation. Although he spoke to his mom many times, he found that the scammers would get to her anyway with relentless pressure and creative arguments.
Scammers have no limits.
It was not until William caught his mom almost wire transferring $200,000 that he finally got the information he needed to gain conservatorship over Mrs. Thorn. By then, the scammers had even instructed her to how to send money from q reverse mortgage loan on her home to complete the transaction!
William said the scammers had no shame and would even help her find ways to continue participating in the scams even after he took steps to stop them. He shared that they would pressure her with false deadlines and threats, making her so anxious that she would rush into performing workaround instructions. Her journal reflects moments of intense anxiety as she tried to complete the complex transactions.
To emphasize how far scammers would go, he shared that, after he lowered his mom’s allowance to $25 a week and there was not much to get from her anymore, they still tried one last thing – the 976 phone scam. According to William, this is a scam where you call back a number with an area code of 976 and get charged a huge per-minute fee. The longer the scammer keeps the victim on the phone confused and anxious, the more money the scammer gets.
Avoid Being Next
William shared that his mom was scammed out of about $70,000 before it stopped. If it was not for her son’s compassionate and tireless commitment to protect her, it could have been far more. Other popular scams include shopping scams and job opportunity scams. If you are worried that bad actors can access your family members, check out our Screen Safety Toolkit. Our resource guide is perfect for those that need smart tech tools for filtering, monitoring, and management.
Tips to Outsmart the Scammers
Contact your phone carrier and internet service provider to research helpful tools for blocking unwanted and unknown calls, texts, and emails.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Don’t act immediately, take a moment to research the situation and talk to someone who you trust.
Don’t give out personal information like your name, date of birth, social security number, address, or usernames or passwords. Legitimate organizations will not text, call, or email you to obtain private information.
Don’t complete forms from an email link. Instead, go directly to the website of the company you are dealing with and complete the business from there.
Call the company directly to confirm the request was legitimate before you offer information or complete forms. The IRS communicates through US mail, not by telephone or email. Call 800-366-4484 to report IRS-related phishing attempts and fraud.
Be sure to keep up with device updates for security patches, delete unused and unwanted apps, and change your passwords frequently.
Review your credit card statements regularly to catch unauthorized charges and periodically review your credit report.
Consider freezing your social security number for new financial transactions with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to escape identity theft.
Lastly, Google “scams” or a quote from any communication that may be a scam to learn more about the common scams that may target you.
Scams are no joke. Once you become a victim, serious damage can occur that can take years and years to repair. Check out our other GKIS article Child Identity Theft is on the Rise. Protect Your Family Against Cybercrime, to learn more about how fraudulent purchases made with your private information can change your life
Here are some other related articles offered on our GKIS website for more information on hacking, scamming, malware, and phishing. Learn more about the dangers of online to be prepared for anything that comes your way.
Surveys show that 72% of children under the age of 8 have a tablet or smartphone device.[1] Not only are young kids fluent with screen technology, but many are also learning computer programming and other high-level skills. Imagine if you could get your child started on coding at the age of 5 and set them on their way to a successful future. To avoid your child working around parental controls and outsmarting you, check out our GKIS Screen Safety Toolkit.Our Screen Safety Toolkit is a resource guide for tried-and-true parental control options and monitoring and safety apps plus so much more.
What exactly is coding?
Coding is essentially computer language or using commands to create software that makes images and words online.[2] There are many different coding languages used by programmers and big tech. The language of coding is what makes your computer function, it tells the computer what to do. We need coding to create websites and apps and to run software programs. To put it simply, coding is a list that the computer reads to know what to do.
How can a child learn to code?
With so many children using tablets, the number of apps made for children has skyrocketed. Kids can download and use a variety of art, educational, and STEM games.
Coding games fall under the STEM category. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. STEM can be hard for some people to grasp and starting early is incredibly beneficial.[3] Schools in Europe and the United States have already added coding to their curriculum. Educators are finding that teaching children coding is setting them up with good life skills and a potential career in technology![4] A key factor to coding apps and games is that coding not only teaches children problem-solving skills but they are also mixed with creativity. The combination has proven to help children to de-stress and relax.[5]
Subscription-Based Children’s Apps for Coding
Kodable
Ages 5 & Up
Kodable is proudly rated 4 out of 4 stars and is parent-and teacher-approved. Some schools use Kodable’s online platform. Kodable has fun and quirky elements that children love. For example, with Kodable the “fuzzFamily” takes children on an adventure through their universe with different games that they can play and create. Some are similar to the old-school Mario games parents used to play.
Parent reviews state that their children are learning sequencing, critical thinking, memorization, and other skills, and the parentsare having just as much fun playing as the children![6] To help get your family tech-friendly, check out our GKIS Connected Family Course. Dr. Bennett created GKIS courses for fun family connections and to help children avoid digital injury.
codeSpark
Ages 5 and Up Free Trial Option Available
codeSpark was rated the number one coding app for kids in 2021. codeSpark does not use words, only colorful creatures so that kids as young as 5 can play. The characters are called “The Foos.” Foos are a mixture of animals, ninjas, and people that take children onto their coding journey. Each character has a backstory and special goal to teach. For example, Gracie is a green character that is part of the “Fooville Police.” Grace’s bio states that her job is to “catch glitches and viruses” and to find the missing pets. Each level has a different “glitch” that needs to be solved. Once players master the games’ coding terms and concepts, they’re ready to make their own games. This helps ensure that they are retaining the necessary information before they move on.[7]
Free Coding Apps for Children
Code Karts
Ages Preschool and Up 10 Levels Free
Code Karts is a coding app for preschoolers. To win the kart race, players must avoid obstacles. Obstacles become harder and more frequent as the child progresses through the levels. The game is self-explanatory with easy-to-understand icons. This helps children develop critical logical thinking techniques without having to be instructed on their every move. This app also supports 24 languages so kids all over the world can play.[8]
Scratch Jr.
Ages 5-7 Free
Scratch Jr. is a free app that has a unique approach allowing for a lot of creativity. Children choose a character (the side panel shows the images/animals they need to select) and a background. Once the animal has been selected, they can decorate them or add their voices. Puzzle pieces are aligned on the bottom that can be connected to animate the animals. The animating is part of the code learning process. Children can make their backgrounds and create their scenes to watch over and over again. The options are endless and can keep children busy and learning for hours.[9]
Try it!
These games are just a few of many options. There is nothing to lose when it comes to furthering your child’s education. Play along with your kids! Learning to code can be beneficial for everyone.
If you’re feeling guilty about your children using their screen devices too much, Dr. Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Timedetails how to manage screen time so it can be beneficial for learning and a fun way to connect as a family.
Thanks to CSUCI intern Tara Meizel for researching coding apps for children and for co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] Rayman, N. (2013, October 28). More than 33 percent of kids under two use tablets so prepare for an army of robot babies. Time. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/28/more-than-33-percent-of-kids-under-two-are-using-tablets-so-prepare-for-an-army-of-robot-babies/.
[2] What is coding? Code Conquest. (2014, December 7). Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.codeconquest.com/what-is-coding/.
[3] Midrack, R. L. (2019, November 17). Is a STEM education right for your child? Lifewire. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-stem-4150175.
[4] Tevfik Kaplancali, U. (2017). Teaching coding to children: A methodology for kids 5+. International Journal of Elementary Education, 6(4), 32. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijeedu.20170604.11
[5] Columbia Engineering Boot Camps. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://bootcamp.cvn.columbia.edu/.
[6] Programming for Kids. Kodable. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.kodable.com/.
[7] Coding game for kids – try it free! codeSpark Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://codespark.com/how-it-works.
[8] Patel, G. (2017, May 31). Code karts: Precoding for preschoolers. Teachers With Apps. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.teacherswithapps.com/code-karts/.
[9] Home. ScratchJr. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.scratchjr.org/.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Katherine Carroll for researching kids cheating using smart assistant devices and co-authoring this article.
