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When Young Athletes Look to Twitter to Showcase Talent and Track Sports News: An Inside Look

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Imagine being a teenager getting ready for the big game, whether it’s soccer, basketball, or football. Your anxiety is buzzing as you try to stay focused. Friends and family are in the stands and your coaches are lasered in on you. Now imagine that, in addition to your friends, family, and coaches watching, there are also the college scouts and your scholarship is on the line. The weight of the world is on your shoulders. One false move and the dream you have been working on for years may be dashed. Now let’s add one more layer and imagine that right before you head onto the field you check your phone one last time. You tweet about being pumped because your social media engagement impacts your future in BIG ways. Then, ping, a stranger tweets about how you suck and that you will never make it in college sports…

How to Play the Game on Twitter

Although athletics are highlighted on many social media platforms, Twitter leads the pack for athletes to showcase their talent. Unfortunately, it’s also a place for people to troll, vent, and attack an athlete’s performance. While the public discusses their opinions of statistics and abilities, those who may impact your future watch the fray silently.

Often college offers are announced and celebrated on Twitter, leaving those who were passed up feeling shocked and demoralized. To better understand what that is like to have your talent showcased on Twitter, I recently interviewed a college quarterback named John*.

John was a 3-star athlete, which translates into being in the top ten percent of high school quarterbacks in the nation.[1] In high school, many college coaches were competing to recruit him. Other quarterbacks were in the same boat, all on Twitter tracking stats and who was tweeting about whom. He told us that a range of emotions was at play, elaborating, “When you see the tweets on how good another quarterback is, how he is ranked higher than you, and how he got his scholarship, those tweets make you more hungry to win.”

How to Make Twitter Work for You

We asked John if, alongside motivation, he often felt despair, But John insisted that, in his case, he didn’t consider Twitter to be all that bad. “It was a great way for me to reach out to schools, to put up my stats, and to get positive feedback from prospective coaches in the off-season. If I had a good game, I made sure to send it to colleges the next day and post it for others to see.” He said that when he wants news, all he has to do is look to the internet.  When I asked about what would happen if he had a bad game, he chuckled and said, “When you have a bad game, people will post it for you. No need to worry about that.” Unfortunately, not every child can always take the negative and turn it into a positive. Our Screen Safety Essentials Course is a great way for your teen to learn to help them think before they tweet.

Everyone’s a Critic

When speaking with John about Twitter and college, he said that things change from high school to college. “ There isn’t too much negativity on a high school player when they have a bad game, but that all goes out the window when you get to college. Betters [people gambling on the game] will always have something to say when you don’t perform like they hoped you would.”

According to cbssports.com, in a single sports season up to eight billion dollars are wagered.[2] To give a perspective of what eight billion is, that is what Instacart was valued at in 2019.[3] The college football season is about four months long, with the regular season being 12 games per team.

John elaborated, “If I had a bad game, it wasn’t uncommon for me to delete the Twitter app because I was already beating myself up enough for the loss. I didn’t need to hear it from people that don’t play the game. Breaks off social media are great because you have to kinda get in check with your reality.” I asked about tweets in high school hurting him or anyone he knew at the time. He responded, “Most people are pretty forgiving to high school kids as long as it’s nothing really bad. Your coaches care about you and do help guide you. If you make a mistake and tweet something bad, your high school coach and any coach interested in you at the college level will usually talk to you. These things I have seen have usually been a learning experience. However, when you get to the college level, that all changes. They expect you to be an adult and act accordingly.” For example, in 2015, professional quarterback Josh Allen was projected to be the first draft pick of the NFL until an old Tweet of his from high school days resurfaced. His status dropped to seventh, translating into a lot of money lost. To help prepare your tween or teen on how to handle such situations, GKIS has a great Social Media Readiness Course.

Overall, the athlete we spoke to loved playing and everything about it. John said there were times that weren’t as much fun but he took what was given to him and made it work for him. He turned a mean tweet into motivation to work harder than the next guy. When asked what advice he’d give a young athlete, he said, “Don’t waste energy on something that is out of your control. It’s only going to bring you down.”

Other Tips for How to Avoid the Pitfalls

  • Before you allow your tween or teen to go on social media, require that they take our Social Media Ready Course. This information optimizes the chances that they’ll not fall victim to digital injuries and maintain the best psychological wellness practice.
  • Review with your teen how to promote themselves and build a positive brand and how to avoid negativity and online conflict. We offer these strategies in our Screen Safety Essentials Course.
  • Detox from social media on occasion to regroup and gain perspective.
  • Keep good company with coaches, friends, and family. Accept support from those who support you on and off the field
  • Reframe negativity online so it motivates you. Don’t let it take a negative hold on your attitude toward the same, your competitors, or yourself.

If you found this blog article interesting, please check out some of our other GKIS articles about Twitter.

The GKIS Sensible Parent’s Guide to Twitter

How to Spot an Internet Troll

Showcasing Child Talent Online Leads to Exploitation and Scams 

Thanks to CSUCI intern Keith Ferries for interviewing John, doing the research, and writing this article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

*John is a fictional name to allow the athlete interviewed to remain anonymously

Work Cited

[1] Nusser, J. (2018, December 15). Seeing stars: 247Sports, Rivals, and ESPN star-rating systems explained. Coug Center. https://www.cougcenter.com/wsu-football-recruiting/2013/2/5/3956800/rivals-scout-espn-247-star-rating-system-national-signing-day

[2] Dodd. D. (2022, November 17). College sports’ overlooked gambling issue: Improprieties being ignored as betting soars nationwide. Cbssports.com. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-sports-overlooked-gambling-issue-improprieties-being-ignored-as-betting-soars-nationwide/

[3] Gebel, M. (2022, November 17). 30 companies worth at least $1 billion that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Businessinsider.com. Retrieved December 3, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-unicorns-worth-1-billion-didnt-exist-10-years-ago-2019-11

Photo Credits

[1] Photographer unknown

https://www.pexels.com/photo/2-football-player-running-after-person-holding-football-during-daytime-in-shallow-focus-photography-159571/

[2]Photographer Unknown

https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-blue-and-yellow-textile-5417837/

[3] Photographer Unknown

https://www.stockvault.net/photo/119697/usd-bills-close-up#

Forum Website Used to Stalk and Harass People Online and In Real Life

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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]

Kiwi Farms members use tactics of harassment like

  • organized group trolling
  • stalking
  • doxxing (publishing someone’s private information)
  • harassing their family members and friends 
  • attempts to get them fired from their jobs 
  • 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.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

[1] (2022). Kiwi Farms. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwi_Farms 

[2] Collins, B., Tenbarge, K. (2022). Anti-trans stalkers at Kiwi Farms are chasing one victim around the world. Their list of targets is growing. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/cloudflare-kiwi-farms-keffals-anti-trans-rcna44834 

[3] Dress, B. (2022). Why anti-trans web forum Kiwi Farms was erased from the internet. The Hill.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3642685-why-anti-trans-web-forum-kiwi-farms-was-erased-from-the-internet/ 

[4]Goforth, C. (2022). Kiwi Farms gets back online thanks to the same service that’s kept 8kun alive. Daily Dot. https://www.dailydot.com/debug/kiwi-farms-back-online-vanwatech/

Photo Credits

Photo by Victoria Heath (https://unsplash.com/photos/MAGAXAYq_NE)

Photo by Hugo Delauney (https://unsplash.com/photos/YicAtc9n7pU)

Photo by Carolina Heza (https://unsplash.com/photos/0lD4hF1fBv0) 

How to Spot an Internet Troll 

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If you’re on social media, you’ve come across internet trolls. They’re on every social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. It’s almost impossible to avoid them. Read today’s GKIS article to find out why people troll and how you can minimize your child’s risk of being targeted.

What are internet trolls?

An internet troll is someone who makes intentionally inflammatory, rude, or upsetting statements online to elicit strong emotional responses in viewers or to steer the conversation off-topic. I Popular influencers, like Perez Hilton, have become famous for their trolling. Unfortunately, even your friends and family can act like trolls when they’re fired up about a certain topic. But if a “friend” online regularly shows troll-like behavior, it’s best to steer clear of them or, even better, block them altogether.

Why do people troll?

  • To feel empowered
  • There are few consequences
  • They are immature and think it’s funny
  • They feel so passionate about their topic they get emotionally triggered
  • They’re envious and want to take the poster down
  • They’re in a bad mood ii
  • They are feeling incited by other trolls ii
  • They are in a spiral of negativity ii

How to Spot an Internet Troll

Internet trolls are easy to spot once you are aware of certain online behavior patterns.

  • They don’t show their own face in their profile image. Instead, they typically use a seemingly “funny” photo of a cartoon character, a celebrity photo, or a random image.
  • Their username is a nickname rather than their real name.
  • Their education is listed “The School of Hard Knocks” or some other cliché.
  • They are typically following several accounts but have few to no followers themselves.
  • They usually have a lot of memes on their profile.
  • There often have several offensive and controversial posts or interactions with controversial comments.
  • They usually take extreme political or opinion positions on certain issues and repeatedly focus on them.
  • They are likely attacking more than one account.

Troll Tactics

Trolls get creative when it comes to targeting their victim. They have come up with several tactics to use when trolling their victims such as refusing to back down on known fallacies, troll telephone, aggressively poor reading comprehension, threats and doxxing, and it wasn’t me. All these tactics have their own ways in which trolling takes place. iv

Demeaning Nicknames

Used to insult and provoke their victim, like “libtard,” “heartbreaker,” and even more personalized attacks like “DanielleSucks.”

 Incredulous Questions

Used to insinuate that a person’s post can’t possibly be what they meant and to provoke shame and humiliation (e.g., “Did you really just say you agree with him?”)

 Isolating the Victim

Making the victim feel small for pretending to have or creating an “army” of allies.

 Theoretical laughter

Used to belittle the victim, for example responding “HAHAHA” or “Wow” or “You’re so dumb I can’t even understand you.” iii

 Refusing to Back Down with a Known Fallacy

 Also known as “lying about lying”, this strategy is common when trolls are trying to hurt you professionally

 Troll Telephone

 This means that the troll passes rumors from one troll to the next, so it becomes a repeating cycle.

Aggressively Poor Reading Comprehension

 This refers to web the troll claims you wrote/said something you did not and then using “your own words” against you.

Doxxing

Doxxing refers to posting peoples personal information online for the public to see and making their victim feel unsafe. Doxing frequently escalates to direct threatening and cyberstalking.

It Wasn’t Me

If a victim dares to publicize that they are getting trolled, the troll acts shocked and blames the victim for not being able to take a joke or that you asked for it by responding. This is a form of gas lighting.

Signs That Your Child Might Be Getting “Trolled”

If a child is frequently interacting with a troll, they may show signs they are being cyberbullies. Here are some signs from Dr. Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time: A Parenting Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe, to look out for:

  • mood changes
  • distancing themselves from you and their friends
  • changing appearance and/or ways they act
  • using new slang
  • deleting their browser history or switching windows when you walk in like they’re ashamed
  • frequently asking for reassurance
  • thoughts of self-harm

 

Steps to Defeating Internet Trolls

Understand who is harassing you.

According to write Ragen Chastain, there are three types of troll attackers: The Thinker who often fabricates stories, The Zombie Army whose main goal is to hurt the person they are attacking where it hurts, and the The Zealot who is obsessive about ruining your life by making fake profiles and websites about you just to express their hate for you. Iv

Find out why they are harassing you.

Often times this is not evident. It may be as simple as a teenager who has too much time. Trolls are made, not born into being a troll ii.

Question yourself if the engagement is adding anything positive to your life.

 Try these tactics to remove yourself from the fight.

  • Bore them into disengagement by ignoring them.
  • Simply type, “I don’t feed trolls.”
  • Mute/Block/or Blacklist them.
  • Put your account on private. V

Why is trolling potentially harmful to kids?

Kids are especially vulnerable to trolling due to lack of experience and immature social skills. One unexpected or shocking negative comment online can have a damaging impact and has been demonstrated to contribute to clinically impairments like depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Once when I was younger, peers posted cruel comments on my Facebook profile body shaming me and calling me fat and gross. That post changed the way I viewed myself in ways I still struggle with today at the age of 22.

What to do if Your Child is Being Trolled

  • Suggest a cooling-off period from the forum where the trolling is occurring.
  • Adopt our free Connected Family Screen Agreement to start important safety discussions where your kids learn from you and you learn from them. A strong parent-child alliance is your best defense against bad actors online.
  • Set parental controls and adopt smart tech tools, like those offered in our Screen Safety Tool Kit. With this tool kit you will gain the knowledge to set up screen monitoring so that way if your child is experiencing trolls and not telling you, you will be able to be notify yourself. Also setting up parental controls with the help of this tool kit will also be valuable because it will allow you to give your child a safer internet experience. You can get this valuable tool kit for $37 off the GKIS website.
  • Set up your home and adopt rules for smart and safe screen use using our family tested blueprint in our Connected Family Course. This 10-step course offers new and creative ways to get your household screen safe. It takes less than 2 hours!

We have all seen how trolls harm confidence and stop cooperative dialogue online. It’s tough enough for adults to cope with, but for kids it can be really painful. Check out our Screen Safety Toolkit to improve your family’s online safety. A special thank you to Danielle Rivera for researching and co-writing this article.

 

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

 

 

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe

Works Cited

[i]Vicente, Vann (2020). What Is an Internet Troll? Retrieved from https://www.howtogeek.com/465416/what-is-an-internet-troll-and-how-to-handle-trolls/

[ii]Kubota, Taylor (2017). Stanford research shows that anyone can become an Internet Troll. Retrieved from https://news.stanford.edu/2017/02/06/stanford-research-shows-anyone-can-become-internet-troll/

[iii]Brandau, Melvina (2016). Adolescent Victims’ Experiences with Cyberbullying: A Grounded Theory Study. Retrieved from https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2880&context=theses

[iv]A Medium Corporation (2018). The Complete Guide to Understanding and Dealing with Online Trolls. Retrieved from https://medium.com/better-humans/the-complete-guide-to-understanding-and-dealing-with-online-trolls-4a606ae25c2c

[v]Study Break (2018). 5 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Internet Trolls. Retrieved from https://studybreaks.com/culture/internet-trolls/

 

 

 

Photo Credit

Photos by Peggy_Marco on Pixabay

Photo by Open Clipart-Vectors on Pixabay

Photo by Geralt on Pixabay

[i]

[ii]

[iii]

[iv]

[v]

The Dangers of Online Multiplayer Video Games

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In my 25 years of psychology practice, I have treated many kids and teens victimized by online predators and cyberbullies. And in many of those cases, there were steps the parents could have made to prevent this type of digital injury. First, parents must block inappropriate games and content using the rating system and parental controls. Second, teach the red flags that kids must look for to spot dangerous inquiries. That’s why I created the Cybersecurity and Red Flags Supplement to add to our free Connected Family Screen Agreement (available on the home page of GetKidsInternetSafe.com). Finally, maintain a close parent-child relationship with ongoing topics for learning (offered in your GKIS weekly articles). To help, parents have to learn what’s out there and accept that kids will make mistakes. Today’s article will discuss the risks in the multiplayer gaming world, expertly written by a young female gamer.

What is a multiplayer game?

“Multiplayer games” refers to video games where an individual player can join a team in defeating a computerized enemy or can battle it out against other gamers. To play multiplayer games, Xbox and PlayStation require gamers to purchase memberships.

Battle Royale Style of Gaming

Battle royale is a relatively new genre of multiplayer gaming that can have over 100 people competing on a large map. These games embody a survival element as players are dropped onto a map with little armor or weapons. Players can either battle their way through the game with friends or fight solo. The ultimate goal is to be the last player standing.

Before the likes of Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, battle royale was a concept heavily influenced by the popular movie The Hunger Games. In the early days, the only way to play battle royale was by downloading modifies to a base game. This modification was extremely popular in Minecraft as it added an extra dose of flair and made the game more challenging and intriguing.

Brenden Greene made battle royale mods for the hit games DayZ and Arma III, which quickly became huge sensations. In 2017, he released PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which paved the way for other games like Fortnite and Apex Legends.[3]

Who plays multiplayer games?

In 2018, 28% of gamers were under 18 years old, 45% of gamers were female, and 55% were male.[5] Although multiplayer games are entertaining and fast-paced, there are dangers young gamers could be exposed to including chatting with random strangers, bullying, and child grooming by sexual predators.

Create a party for you and your friends.

One of the ways kids can gain access to voice chat over the PS4 console is to be invited via “party.” Party directly sets up friend invites using your friends list. People can also request to join a party, but the creator has the option to deny specific player access. On PlayStation, the creator must specify whether the party is private or open to the public. Opening to the public will allow anyone to join the voice chat, meaning child players could be exposed to bad actors.[4]

Xbox one has the same features, except if the person receiving the invite does not accept it within a five-minute window, Xbox Live will cancel the invitation, and the person who sent the request will have to resend it.[5]  Voice chat can be a great way for socially isolated or anxious kids to connect with others. However, there are dangers as well.

Meeting Strangers in the Lobby

A lobby is where players wait to join a team game in multiplayer games. This feature is also known as matchmaking because it randomly assigns players to teams.

While in the lobby, you can communicate with other joining players. In some instances, you can also check out what the other player characters look like and view their cache of weapons. You can also communicate with other players in the lobby if you have the microphone enabled.

When I play multiplayer games, I disable the microphone feature (mainly by not plugging my headset in), unless I am playing with friends because, even as an adult, I don’t feel comfortable chatting with strangers online.

Bullying, Abuse, and Harassment

People can be cruel over voice chat for no reason. Insulting gaming skills or using racial slurs and sexual comments are typical. I’ve been in lobbies where players threaten to find and kill you as a form of intimidation. Younger kids seem to get the brunt of it.

While scouring the Internet for answers as to why kids are harassed on gaming platforms, I came across blogs and forums dedicated to how annoying young children can be online. A majority of these posts were made by people in their late teens or older. One of the biggest complaints is the profanity and racist comments from younger gamers. While many gamers just hit the mute button, some will take it to the extreme and harass the younger kid until they leave.

As a female gamer, I’ve experienced an unbelievable amount of harassment and abuse, ranging from people calling me names to more extreme measures like asking for sexual favors or making inappropriate noises.

Predators

According to ABC News, predators are grooming kids by making friends with them online and then gaining their trust so that they can meet in person. Fox News has also reported that Fortnite has recently become a favorite place to target young kids because of the volume of people who are playing online all at once.

The interactions between the young child and the predators are not always sexual. For instance, Breck Bednar was 14 years old and loved to play video games with a tight-knit group of people. The only person that was unknown to the group was Lewis Daynes, an adult who developed a strong relationship with Bednar over time. This chilling and disturbing “friendship” came to an end when Daynes lured Bednar to his home and killed him.[6]

Parental Features on Gaming Consoles

There are many ways to keep child gamers safe while playing video games and many of these features are available on the gaming console itself.

PlayStation 4 Parental Features[7]

Xbox One Parental Features[8]

  • Restrict access to certain tv shows, movies, games, and apps
  • Web filtering
  • Parents can determine what type of apps can be downloaded

Tips to keep child gamers safe!

  • Use parental features.
  • Pay attention to the rating guide on video games. Avoid mature-rated games for kids and teens.
  • Use anonymous and masculine or gender neutral Gamertags.
  • Inform kids about the importance of not sharing personal information while online.
  • Don’t accept friend requests from strangers.
  • And connect better with your child and set up your home for screen safety using our Screen Safety Essentials Course.

Thank you to CSUCI intern, Kassidy Simpson for providing parents with the information they need to help keep their kids safe on multiplayer games.  If you learned something fun from this article, please “like” our GetKidsInternetSafe Facebook page so other parents can find us!

Want to learn more about the dangers of video games? Check out Sex and Violence in Video Games Change the Brain: What GKIS Parent Need to Know.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,
Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty

Works Cited

[1] PlayStation®Plus 12-Month Membership. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/IP9101-NPIA90005_01-1YEARPACKAGE0000

[3] Hornshaw, P., & Hornshaw, P. (2019, February 28). From PUBG to Apex Legends, this is how battle royale happened. Retrieved from https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/history-of-battle-royale-games/

[4] Joining a party. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps4/party/join.html

Katersky, A. (2012, April 5). Online Gaming Is Becoming Predator’s Playground. Retrieved February 12, 2019, fromhttps://abcnews.go.com/US/online-gaming-predators-playground/story?id=16081873

Nath, D. (September 17). Fox on Tech: Predators using online games, FBI warns. Retrieved February 12, 2019, fromhttps://www.foxnews.com/tech/fox-on-tech-predators-using-online-games-fbi-warns

[5] U.S. average age of video gamers 2018 | Statistic. (29018, May). Retrieved February 12, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/189582/age-of-us-video-game-players-since-2010

[6] Moore, A. (2016, January 23). I couldn’t save my child from being killed by an online predator. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/23/breck-bednar-murder-online-grooming-gaming-lorin-lafave

[7] PS4: Family Management and Parental Controls. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2019, fromhttps://support.playstation.com/s/article/PS4-Parental-Controls?language=en_US

[5] Xbox Live chat on the Xbox 360 console. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/xbox-live/chat

[2]  Buy Xbox Live Gold. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/xbox-live-gold/CFQ7TTC0K5DJ/000G?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

[7] How to manage play time controls. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/get-help/help-library/my-account/parental-controls/play-time-settings/

[8] About the core family safety features of Xbox One. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/security/core-family-safety-features#e1f06038f2184dac80b0167174e26e4e

Photo Credit

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

Photo by Fabian Alberton Unsplash

Photo by Alex Haneyon Unsplash

Staging: Sensible GetKidsInternetSafe Screen Media Guidelines for Children Ages 7-11 Years

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BLOG32KIDS Now is the age your kids are no longer looking to you for online material…they are ready to explore on their own. Don’t think for a second they are incapable of surfing right into trouble. Even if they’re not exploring now, they will soon and you’ll likely be the last to know. Be proactive with your setup rather than reactive. And by the way, if you need to review the GKIS Guidelines for 3-6 year olds, search guidelines on www.GetKidsInternetSafe/blog/. Congratulations for striving to do your best and dealing with this today. Your children’s Internet safety is important and you’re awesome for making it a priority!

GKIS Internet Safety Checklist (Staging)

  • Check to make sure all cybersecurity measures are online and updated. 
    • At this age, it is reasonable to start a dialogue with your children about technology facts, such as malware, hacking, and phishing. As always, cater the sophistication of the discussion to your children’s developmental phase and interest. Be sure to specifically teach them not to share personal information (name, grade, school, city, etc.) online, nor to open emails with unknown attachments or offers for “free” programs which can make your computer vulnerable to malware.

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        • Malware: any software that will attack or capture data on your computer; these include viruses, worms, Trojan horses (look like beneficial downloads but are actually malicious), spyware, adware, and other malicious programs.
        • Hacking: unauthorized computer access.
        • Phishing: a fraudulent attempt, usually through email, to gain personal information. Typically involves posing as a legitimate company or a distressed person in need of help.
  • Update parental controls on device operating systems, through your Internet service provider (ISP), from selected software programs and routers, and from kid-friendly browsers.

    • Ensure that you are the administrator on these systems and your children do not have your passwords or credit card information. It is essential that you authorize all system controls and new purchases.

     

    • Remember that television is screen media as well. Be sure the parent control features on your televisions block the channels that have mean-spirited, sexual, or violent programming. Co-viewing television and YouTube channels are an excellent way to set a baseline for good taste.

     

    • Provide commentary that includes your disapproval of cruel or violent solutions and challenge your children to identify or create prosocial problem-solving alternatives to increase their knowledge and overall resilience.
  • Update and check your home staging strategies such as screens in visible family areas only (never behind closed doors), timed routers, and family docking stations at night.

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  • Make a list of devices, apps, and games then schedule a weekly check-in to confirm consistent monitoring.
    • Inform your kids about these checks, even if you don’t tell them the exact dates and times. Maintaining a healthy relationship with trust and respect is critical while you fulfill your parental responsibilities of staying informed.

     

  • Do not allow personal ownership of hand-held medias with Internet access smaller than a tablet yet.
    • Why? Because even if you think you’ll monitor consistently, you probably won’t based on survey statistics. The average age for cell phone ownership is now eight years old; too young in my clinical opinion. But if there’s clear justification for phone ownership that young, at least limit Internet access. Even young children will explore sexual themes and the Internet is not a safe place for sexual education.
  • Encourage gaming.
    • Yay! Today you’re the good guy! Video games tend to get a bad rap, but the ones that spur kids to make cities out of virtual blocks, like Minecraft, are great for building spatial and engineering skills, creativity, and online social interaction in a moderated setting. (My kids sometimes play together as cooperative allies and other times sabotaging enemies. It’s really fun to watch them interact and get excited with their creations and accomplishments.)

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    • Make sure you assess game ratings and moderator/reporting features prior to purchase.
      • If you can’t find your answers online, go to a specialized gaming system store and ask questions.
  • Remind your children that the first several weeks of game or device ownership are probationary.
    • In other words, make sure your children understand that if any complications arise, you may choose to temporarily or permanently retire the new item.
      • Griefing is when a player in a multiplayer video game harasses other players as a gaming strategy. This can take the form of name-calling or actively sabotaging game play (through blocking, destroying or stealing virtual creations and property, or maiming or killing the player for example).Limit whom your children game with and keep checking. At what age are you going to cut them loose to play with the public and under what conditions (headset? text only?)? Hopefully not elementary school age where kids frequently fall victim to cyberbullying.
      • Trolling is when an individual intentionally provokes discord online by being tangential, argumentative, or inflammatory.

 

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  • Do not allow Instant Messaging, chat rooms/forums, texting, or emailing with anyone other than adult family members.
    • Children 7-11 years old simply don’t yet have the complex reasoning abilities necessary to make appropriate choices or anticipate consequences. They’re still impulsive and easily influenced. Don’t overestimate their social reasoning. They still need your supervision and guidance.

Although none of us are perfect parents, our love for and commitment to our children inspire us to constantly grow and be our best. I hope today’s article provides fresh ideas and inspires you to tighten up on the strategies you already have in place. A few minutes of focused effort here and there can really make the difference.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetYourKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo Credits:

Kids, Gemteck1, CC by 2.0
Credit Card Theft, Dan Hankins, CC by 2.0
Whose Toys?, John Flinchbough, CC by 2.0
Cave Troll as Corporate Bully, Kevin Dooley, CC by 2.0

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