Limit Cyberbullying Effects With Parental Control for Teens
Summer break is in full swing, and teens are likely spending more time on their connected devices as they stay in touch with friends and classmates. Long gone are the days of hardwired phones and kids calling their friends to chat. Today, kids are connected using smartphones, tablets and gaming devices. It’s vital in today’s tech-driven world to enable parental control for teens to help limit cyberbullying effects.
Damaging Cyberbullying Effects
Cyberbullying is when someone uses today’s technology, such as social media or text messages, to threaten, demean or bully someone. Cyberbullying has come a long way from the days of prank phone calls. Today’s cyberbullying involves posting real or AI-generated photos or videos or personal information with the intent to humiliate or hurt someone. Cyberbullying also uses intimidation to harass someone. Based on the type of cyberbullying, such as against someone’s sexual orientation, religion, gender, race or physical differences, legal authorities could get involved and criminal charges could be pressed.
The damaging cyberbullying effects are because, oftentimes, cyberbullying is anonymous, and kids will set up fake accounts to bully someone online. Cyberbullying is incredibly difficult to control, and the teen victim often has no idea who has seen the social media posts or messages. Cyberbullying is a form of mental torture because whenever teens log in online to check their devices or accounts, they’re not sure what may await them.
The medical cyberbullying effects include:
- Stress
- Difficulty sleeping
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Mood Swings
- Appetite changes
- Sadness
Talk to your teens about cyberbullying effects. Encourage open communication so they know they can come to you. Bullying often gets worse unless teens speak up to get help from an adult. Teens can also be reluctant to tell an adult for fear they may lose access to their devices, which is why we’ll dive more into parental control for teens.
If your teen is experiencing cyberbullying effects, encourage them to:
- Do not respond to the bully.
- Save all evidence.
- Provide the evidence to the school and/or local authorities.
- Block the accounts or numbers that are bullying your teen.
- Talk to your teen about whether they need counseling to help get through the cyberbullying effects.
- Practice parental control for teens to limit cyberbullying before it starts.
Parental Control for Teens
Part of being a teenager is learning independence, which means it’s harder to control what your children do with their connected devices. At the same time, teen brains are still developing, so parents need to understand that enacting parental control for teens is a healthy boundary.
Home Telecom offers parental controls for WiFi using the MyWiFi Xtreme App. In the app, parents can:
- Block Content – Filters help limit violent or pornographic content for children.
- YouTube Restrictions and Safe Search – YouTube's restrictions and safe search filters help limit what children and teens see when they search for content. You can easily restrict social media apps and websites. Read more about the harmful effects of social media on teenagers and use it to guide a conversation with your teen about responsible social media habits.
- Limit Device Time – Limiting device time is also important, especially during the summer, when it’s easy for teens to stay connected for 9 or more hours. Whether you decide to restrict time on social media sites, games or both, the MyWiFi Xtreme App makes it easy to restrict or reduce time on all or specific connected devices.
- Pause Devices – If your teen is spending too much time on devices, you can easily pause their device or online access. It’s healthy to get outside, get some fresh air or take a dip in the pool!
- Device Usage – Quickly check device usage and see how long your teen is online so that you can adjust restrictions in the MyWiFi Xtreme App.
Home Telecom Offers Superior Parental Control for Teens to Limit Cyberbullying Effects
Home Telecom’s MyWiFi Xtreme App offers robust parental control for teens at your fingertips. The damage caused by cyberbullying can be life-changing, so it’s best to limit online activity – especially during the long summer breaks – before any issues may arise. Parents need to be open with children and teens so they feel comfortable turning to them at the first sign of trouble. Learn more about what MyWiFi Xtreme offers for parental controls.