101 TECH NEWSLETTER OCT 12, 2021_FINAL

MIDDLE SCHOOL A GE FOCUS

Users under 13 cannot post videos or comment , and content i s curated for a younger audience. For chi ldren ages 13 to 15 , accounts are pr ivate by defaul t ; only f r iends can comment on videos , and other users can' t duet (explained below) wi th your videos . Only users 16 and over can l ivestream and use di rect messaging, and only users over 18 can buy , send, or receive vi rtual gi f ts . (source: Common Sense Media) TikTok does have parameters based on age level and they do provide sett ings to al low parents some control . Parents can al so use Restr icted Mode to reduce mature content or Fami ly Safety Mode to pai r thei r account wi th thei r chi ld’ s to control sett ings completely . Here are a few helpful t ips f rom Common Sense Media: To make your TikTok account pr ivate, go to your prof i le page and select the three-dot icon in the top- r ight corner . On the "Sett ings and pr ivacy" page, tap Pr ivacy . That takes you to the Di scoverabi l i ty page. Toggle the swi tch for Pr ivate Account . On thi s page, you can al so control other safety and pr ivacy features , such as who can send you comments and di rect messages , and who can do a duet wi th you. Us ing the Fr iends sett ing or turning those features of f completely l imi ts contact wi th strangers . Cl ick here for more informat ion. Another popular appl icat ion among young adul ts i s Snapchat . Snapchat al lows users to share photos , chats and video streams wi th another user . I t i s di f f icul t to check what your chi ld has seen or sent as there i s no feed to check and messages are not stored. Quest ions regarding appropr iateness of var ious technologies , social media, gaming, and cyberbul lying increase dur ing the middle school years . Simi lar to elementary aged students , parents serve as the best model for appropr iate use. When teaching a chi ld to r ide a bike; safety , pedal ing and braking were among the f i rst conversat ions . Parents start wi th developmental ly appropr iate language, training wheel s , and a t ight gr ip on the seat as chi ldren are ready to launch when those training wheel s come of f . When i t comes to technology , training wheel s may need to stay on longer than you think for safety purposes . Keeping conversat ion open about what your chi ld wants to use tech for and creat ing a Fami ly Media Usage agreement together l ike the one l inked here f rom Common Sense Media, are helpful strategies . Most social media appl icat ions requi re that users be 13 years or older due to pr ivacy i ssues and mature content . TikTok in part icular i s al l the rage r ight now. TikTok i s a f ree social media app where users can be creators , consumers , or both. Users can watch, create and share videos r ight f rom thei r phone or device. Lip-synching, s inging, and dancing to popular mus ic are among the more popular uses . TikTok chal lenges are becoming more pervas ive, ranging f rom the good (dancing, s inging, and cooking chal lenges) to the bad (destroying property , harmful pranks , vandal i sm, and violence) . I f you choose to al low your chi ld to use thi s app, i t i s vi tal to ensure that you set pr ivacy sett ings to l imi t what informat ion i s shared and that the company i s under f i re for col lect ing user data ( Last year , Wel l s Fargo banned the app f rom company devices due to secur i ty concerns . )

OCTOBER 13 , 2021

D A RIEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS