Fast, entertaining content seems to be the only way to hold the attention span of today’s children and teens. This becomes an issue when virality becomes more important than the content being put out or the audience who will receive it. TikTok users have realized that they can quickly create a viral video by taking Reddit stories and resharing them over clips from popular video games like Minecraft, Roblox, and Subway Surfers. Today’s article covers why this content is dangerous and how you can keep your child safe from digital injury with ourScreen Safety Toolkit.
The Popularity of Minecraft, Roblox, and Subway Surfers
Minecraft
Between 2016 and 2021, Minecraft users have risen from 40 million to 93 million with a peak of 131 million users in 2020.[1] Surveys have found that up to 54% of boys and 46% of girls aged 3 to 12 play Minecraft.[2] The popularity of Minecraft is undeniable. Take a look down any aisle of children’s clothing and you will find item after item filled with popular references from the game. Covid-19 only increased the popularity of the online game accessible on most gaming consoles, with users increasing by 14 million from 2020 to 2021.[2]
Roblox
Roblox is another popular children’s game that has bankrolled off the pandemic and increased in users over the past few years. Between 2021 and 2020, the platform added more than 146 million users to its servers. In 2016, Roblox had 30+ million users. Today they have more than 202 million monthly active users.[3]
While the average user of Minecraft is 24 years old, only 14% of Roblox users are over 25 years old. 67% of Roblox users are under 16 years old, and 54.86% of users are under 13 years old.[3] The popularity of Roblox is reflected on TikTok through a large number of Roblox fan accounts owned by young users. In fact, there have been many audio trends on the platform that are accredited to edits by Roblox users.
Subway Surfers
While less popular than Minecraft and Roblox, Subway Surfers is still the most downloaded and most-played mobile game in the app store. Between 2021 and 2022, Subway Surfers saw more than 2 times the number of downloads with 5.43 million daily users.[4] These numbers are impressive, as, unlike Minecraft and Roblox, Subway Surfers is only available for download on mobile smartphones. It is not available on any other gaming platform. While there is no available data for the average age of Subway Surfer players, the game is recommended for ages 9 and up.
All three of these games are different in their gameplay but similar in their popularity and appeal to younger audiences. Videos made with clips from these games are sure to catch the attention of a younger audience who is trying to view content related to their interests.
Harmful Reddit Content and How They Use Kids’ Games
Reddit claims on its website to be “a network of communities where people can dive into their interests, hobbies, and passions.”[5] Users post on so-called “subreddits” dedicated to topics from the general to much more specific niches.
Today there are over 2.8 million subreddits and Reddit has 52 million users daily.[6] Of their monthly users, 79% are between the ages of 18 to 34 and almost 64% of those users are men.[7] When children encounter posts from Reddit, they are viewing material often made for and by adult men, leading to some very inappropriate content.
A simple search for “Reddit stories” on TikTok will show you video after video of Reddit threads overlaid with a video of someone playing a kid’s game and read by a voiceover. The threads contain content from various subreddits like “/AmITheAsshole” but most contain inappropriate “NSFW” (Not Safe for Work) content. A scroll down the search shows video after video of content with titles like, “My mom keeps having sex with my boyfriend…” or “What do you tell your partner when you’re horny?” or “What did you not know about sex until you lost your virginity?” The last question is from a Subway Surfers video with 1.6 million likes and 13.5 million views from a user with similar content and over 55.4 thousand followers.
The creators of these videos use the popularity of these kids’ games to bring more viewers to their content and help their virality. In doing so, they are promoting sex, adult situations, and overall unsafe content. Each of these videos is followed up by hundreds or thousands of comments from young kids and teens adding their own answers to the question proposed. A quick look at commenters’ profiles revealed that half were between the ages of 13 to 17, and each was commenting on their own sexual experiences to millions of viewers.
Set up content preferences and block out video keywords or put the account on restricted mode in the settings and privacy section of TikTok.
View an account’s watch and comment history and see what content your child is consuming and interacting with.
For younger children, consider waiting before allowing them to have their own TikTok account.
When they do adopt a TikTok account, scroll together to choose what content they view and influence the algorithm that will offer content automatically.
As your child gets older, work with them to establish what they are doing and looking at on social media. Preparing them for the possibility of adult content can help them in discovering it on their own and possibly suffering a digital injury.
If you fear your child may be watching inappropriate Reddit content without your knowledge and permission, check out our GKISScreen Safety Toolkit. This toolkit helps to empower parents and provides them with smart tech tools to filter, monitor, and manage online behavior.
To protect your child, prevent digital injury, and prepare them for social media use check out our GKIS Social Media Readiness Course.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Katherine Carroll for researching how TikTok users use Reddit content and kids’ games for views.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Beauty and fashion trends have always changed with the season. But with social media, the pressures to conform have increased among adults and impact younger and younger kids. At what point do we intervene to minimize the dangerous effects that arbitrary beauty standards have on kids and teens? How do we discourage the consumption of damaging content surrounding body image? If you are concerned about the damaging content your family could be exposed to, check out our Screen Safety Essentials Course. This course provides you with the tools necessary to navigate the Internet more safely and avoid digital injury. Even better, it will bring you closer to your kids! Today’s GKIS article covers the controversies of trending body types, the damage they can do to young people, and creative ideas to keep your family safe.
Heroin chic is back!
Popularized in the early 1990s, heroin chic refers to the ideal female body type with defining features that include a very thin frame and an emaciated appearance.
In November 2022, the New York Post published an article titled ‘Bye-bye booty: Heroin chic is back,’ and it immediately sparked controversy online. The article claimed that the much thinner physique was “trendy” and celebrities like Bella Hadid and Kim Kardashian who have publicized radical weight loss sparked the recent shift in body trends.
The Shortened Lifespan of Online Trends
Media has a major impact on how we perceive ourselves and the world around us.[3] With the increasing use of social media, the lifespan of trends has drastically shortened. Instead of trends lasting for a couple of years, they now last for a couple of months. That means many women whiplash between fashion fads, radical diets, and costly beauty regimens. Just when it seems that we are making progress with body positivity, the return of heroin chic only proves that within industrialized countries such as the U.S., slender women tend to be seen as more attractive.[2]
Trends have fluctuated throughout the years, coming and going and coming back again. Before the most recent return of heroin chic was the ‘slim thick’ trend from the late 2010s. Slim thick means very curvy. It’s often only achieved through plastic surgery like breast and buttock enhancement surgery. Recently social media sites have also promoted filters that make one’s face fit the trending beauty standard. A small, upturned nose, full lips, and “fox eye” eye makeup are what are considered most attractive recently on apps such as TikTok and Instagram. Another GKIS article, Influencers Hurt Child Self-Esteem by Overusing Filters, touches on how filters that dramatically alter your face can have similar effects. Check it out to learn more.
What is the damage?
Body dissatisfaction is a major source of suffering among women of all ages.[1] The intense fluctuation of beauty standards and trends can lead to self-esteem issues, lack of motivation, depression, body dysmorphia and other eating disorders, and thoughts of suicide. All genders are at risk of becoming insecure about their physical appearance. However, the risk is higher for young girls because of rapid pubertal body change and because society has deemed a woman’s attractiveness to be integral to her self-worth and value.[1]
To avoid the potential development of body image insecurities, check out our Social Media Readiness Course. This course can help prepare your tween or teen to more safely navigate the Internet and avoid damaging content.
How can we protect our teens?
Talking with your children is one way to protect them against internalizing unrealistic trends and developing insecurities. Creating a safe space to hold conversations surrounding confidence and self-esteem can help. To help guide you through these sometimes difficult conversations, we’ve developed our free Connected Family Screen Agreement. Offered in short, easy chunks, our agreement will help you become your child’s ally when it comes to screen media and family safety.
Setting smart and justifiable parameters is also key for protection. If you are lost as to how to set up the rules and maintain cooperation, our Screen Safety Essentials Course has everything you need to be your family’s go-to expert.
Social media requires a whole new set of tools for child safety. For smart management, our Screen Safety Toolkit can help.
And for tweens and teens, our Social Media Readiness Course offers the red flags of digital injury and the psychological wellness tools that Dr. Bennett teaches in her practice. With a mastery quiz at the end of each module, you can be sure that the GKIS certification your teen earns at the end really means sometimes.
[1] Stapleton, P., Crighton, G. J., Carter, B., & Pidgeon, A. (2017). Self-esteem and body image in females: The mediating role of self-compassion and appearance contingent self-worth. The Humanistic Psychologist, 45(3), 238–257. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1037/hum0000059
[3] Monks, H., Costello, L., Dare, J., & Reid Boyd, E. (2021). ‘We’re continually comparing ourselves to something’: Navigating body image, media, and social media ideals at the nexus of appearance, health, and wellness. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 84(3–4), 221–237. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1007/s11199-020-01162-w
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.
So many of us follow our favorite celebrities on social media hoping to get small glimpses of their private lives. But have you ever wondered, where’s the line between fandom and obsession? Tweens and teens are especially vulnerable to developing parasocial relationships with celebrities they love online. Because of their fame, celebs can influence followers in some of the worst ways. To prevent your child from being negatively influenced by others online and to create a strong digital foundation, check out our Screen Safety Essentials Course. Today’s GKIS article covers what online parasocial relationships are and how to prevent their negative influence on kids and teens.
What is a ‘Parasocial’ Relationship?
A parasocial relationship is a one-way relationship with a person of higher status who you know intimately but who hardly knows you at all.[1] Social media is the perfect vehicle to develop parasocial relationships. Younger tweens and teens are especially susceptible due to a powerful social drive fed by adolescent identity formation. Not only are teens looking for mentorship, but they also easily form an attachment to idealized versions of their favorite celebs.[2]
Social media features that readily fuel parasocial relationships include the attraction of stylized and beautifully edited posts, branding relationships between celebrities, produced dramas between celebrities designed to bring in more followers, fan comments and forums, and even the ability to send private messages. Studies show that adolescents that have a weaker sense of self-identity often participate in celebrity worship as they are more easily influenced by others.[2]
‘Stan Culture’
Fans aim to achieve closer relations with their favorite celebs through various consumption activities.[1] Twitter is the social media site with the largest number of users who participate in celebrity worship, which is also known as a stan. A Stan is an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity. Primarily a term used to define a fan of a particular musical artist, there are Stans for just about any popular current artist you can think of. Stan culture on Twitter consists of individuals sharing fanmade videos and pictures and consuming as much of the artist’s content as possible.
There is also a dark side to Twitter’s Stan culture. Arguments between Stans of different celebrities frequently appear in comment sections, which eventually turn into cases of cyberbullying. Studies have found that intense celebrity worship can be linked to tendencies toward addiction and stalking behaviors.[3] What seems like innocent fan engagement could potentially lead to something more negative and even illegal.
Defending Harmful Messages
Well-known celebs have the freedom to post whatever they want on the Internet, just like the rest of us. Although they aren’t obligated to maintain a certain image, sometimes they promote harmful ideologies that influence fans who’ve developed parasocial relationships with them.
The most recent example is rapper Kanye West, who has been at the forefront of recent celeb controversy. In October 2022, Kanye made some anti-Semitic remarks based on conspiracy theories and harmful stereotypes in interviews and Instagram posts. This resulted in groups of people in Los Angeles standing with signs over freeways saying harmful anti-Semitic things shortly after the comments circulated on the Internet. One of the signs said that Kanye was “right” about what he said about Jewish individuals. Amongst the backlash that he received, there were die-hard fans that stood their ground and continued to defend his actions. This led some fans to adopt his conspiracy theories and ideals at worst and turn a blind eye to such ignorance at best.
Impressionable Teens and Tweens
Other celebrities have also promoted problematic ideas with the support of fans who adore them. This is a problem primarily for young tweens and teens due to their lack of real-world experiences and their evolving views of the world around them. Being negatively influenced by celebrities online can have serious risks.
How to Discourage Parasocial Relationships
There is a difference between being a fan of someone’s work and developing an obsessive parasocial relationship with them online. Having conversations with your kids about the importance of navigating the Internet safely is a good place to start. Our Connected Family Course can help with that. It includes the tools necessary to monitor and promote healthy screen engagement while still maintaining a positive environment at home.
Young teens and tweens who are still learning about the world could be exposed to ignorant comments from their favorite celebrities and could potentially become influenced by them. In the worst case, teens become radicalized in their thinking without their parents even knowing. To prevent your tweens and teens from engaging in ignorant and harmful content online, check out our Social Media Readiness Course. Our course provides you and your child with the knowledge necessary to safely browse the Internet and avoid ignorant and harmful content, as well as how to make healthy digital decisions.
Learning the ways of the Internet doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Dr. Bennett’s book Screen Time in the Mean Timeis another great tool for parents to use to become more knowledgeable about the unpredictable online realm. This book can further prepare you for establishing a safe environment for your tweens and teens to express their love for their favorite celebrities/artists online.
Thanks to CSUCI intern Tracy Pizano for researching the risks of forming parasocial relationships and for co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] Derbaix, M., & Korchia, M. (2019). Individual celebration of pop music icons: A study of music fans’ relationships with their object of fandom and associated practices. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 18(2), 109–119. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1002/cb.1751
[2] Ang, C.-S., & Chan, N.-N. (2018). Adolescents’ views on celebrity worship: A qualitative study. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues, 37(1), 139–148. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1007/s12144-016-9497-0
[3] Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2014). ‘I’m your number one fan’—A clinical look at celebrity worship. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, 11(1–2), 39–43.
True crime is a popular trend that plays off our fascination with the morbid. As popular streaming services produce documentaries and dramatizations to meet the demand for true crime content, these crimes become less of a horrific event and more of a meme or something to live tweet. These exposés also tend to be led by actors who are well known for their looks, like Evan Peters, Zac Efron, and Ross Lynch, adding more to the romanticization of serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy. Today’s article covers why this romanticization is dangerous and how you can keep your child safe from digital injury with our GKIS Screen Safety Toolkit.
Why has true crime skyrocketed in popularity?
Netflix’s recent limited-run Dahmer series has been viewed by 56 million households for a total of 701.37 million hours, putting it as their second most-viewed English Netflix series of all time.[1] In fact, true crime documentaries have covered the Netflix top 10 trending list for a combined total of 232 days, meaning that if your child is logging into Netflix, chances are they will be suggested one of these exposés.[2] There is no denying that true crime is hot content, and it does not seem to be declining in popularity anytime soon. This begs the question of why our society and humans, in general, are so obsessed with the morbid acts of our fellow human beings.
Evolutionary scientists have attributed this obsession to the fact that murder, rape, and theft have been part of our society for as long as humanity has existed. We are fascinated with learning about the facts of true crime as a form of human preservation and how we can protect ourselves and our families from the same fate.[3]
Psychologists agree and add that we also feel a sort of elation at these stories, glad that we are not the victims of such a crime. They also believe that we feel elated that we are not the perpetrator of the crime either.[4] This suggests on some level that we can relate to the perpetrator, a feeling that adds to the romanticization of criminals.
Psychology and Social Effects of Romanticizing Criminals
Movie violence as shown in true crime documentaries and dramatizations has been shown to have real lasting effects on viewers, including overall desensitization to real-life violence. A study found that youth with medium levels of exposure to TV/movie violence had much lower blood pressure when viewing violent media compared to those with low exposure.[5] These results show that sustained exposure to violent media leads to emotional numbing when presented with violence.
Following the release of the 2019 film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, in which Ted Bundy is played by Zac Efron, a concerning TikTok trend began of young girls dressing up as Bundy’s victims using makeup to create blood, bruising, and bite marks on their skin.[6]
These exposés create an impression on children and teens that they are not real events, but rather just make-believe, a trend, or a meme. The use of conventionally attractive actors to play these criminals leads to the romanticization of their crimes. This delusion creates hardships for the families of these crimes who watch as the atrocities their family faced are reduced to trends and memes online.
Mother of Dahmer victim Tony Hughes, Shirley Hughes, shared that learning about the series and its content brought her to tears. She told The Guardian, “I shed tears. They’re not tears of sorrow, and it’s not disbelief in the Lord. The tears [are] tears of hurt because it hurts. It hurts real bad.”[7] Not only do these exposés hurt our children, but they hurt the families of these violent crimes and cause them to relieve their trauma publicly over and over.
What Parents Can Do
If your child is interested in true crime, it is important to express to them that is okay and understandable. Notable psychologists believe that interest in crime is healthy and something that is natural, so long as that interest is confined to health habits.[8] Express to your child that these true crime stories are more than just a “limited-run show” but something that has real-life effects on people. Perhaps even share with them the thoughts and feelings of the families of these crimes as an empathy-building exercise.
Another important action you can take is to look at parental guides online for the media your child is consuming so that you can understand exactly what is in it. Also, sit and watch the show together so that you can fast forward through anything inappropriate and have a conversation about it.
To help guide you in these healthy conversations, check out our GKIS Connected Families Screen Agreement to work with your child to create a collaborative, living document.
If you fear your child may be watching these true crime exposés without your knowledge and permission, check out our GKIS Screen Safety Toolkit. This toolkit helps to empower parents and provides them with smart tech tools to filter, monitor, and manage online behavior.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Katherine Carroll for researching true crime exposés and the romanticization of serial killers. To learn more about true crime and its consequences check out our article, “Is Your Child Following True Crime?”.
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.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Katherine Carroll for researching how TikTok users use Reddit content and kids’ games for views.
