Protect Kids Online

Looking back over the past four years the PKO Podcast team has covered a wide variety of topics, but which ones drew the most interest?  The final of the five we will cover considers blackmail/sextortion, a crime showing up with higher frequency in the ICAC world.  There's never a mistake too big - we can always ask for help.  Hear some of the new stats (and resources) offered to victims of sextortion from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Thorns' website: Stopsextortion.com

Looking back over the past four years the PKO Podcast team has covered a wide variety of topics, but which ones drew the most interest? The fourth of the five we will cover is a survey on the areas of technology teens want to be able to connect on with their parents. Dana and Carl share information from a survey done of teens in a Wall Street Journal article.  Teens shared what they wish their parents knew about their tech use and things they wished their parents would do or talk about - what valuable information!  Check it out, it might guide some of those safety discussions with your teen. 

Looking back over the past four years the PKO Podcast team has covered a wide variety of topics, but which ones drew the most interest? The third of the five we will cover is a brief jump back to popular video game Minecraft.. In this episode, Dana & Jeff dive into this very popular game among all age groups.  Learn about how it works, what's evolving, and how to find and set some privacy settings that will help across the board as your child is gaming.

Looking back over the past four years the PKO Podcast team has covered a wide variety of topics, but which ones drew the most interest? The second of the five we will cover is a brief jump back to popular online chat apps Discord & Twitch... Dana & Carl talk about these two popular gaming communication apps in this episode, and prove that neither one of them are regular online gamers.  They also prove very quickly how easy it is to spend a lot of time watching other gamers live stream their play.  It is very easy to lose track of time!

Looking back over the past four years the PKO Podcast team has covered a wide variety of topics, but which ones drew the most interest? The first of the five we will cover is a brief jump back to multiple accounts... Do you follow your teen on social media as part of your online safety plan?  That's a great way to have relevant discussions with them about their app use...but are you aware of all of their accounts?  Carl and Dana talk about how common it is for kids (and bad guys) to have multiple accounts on social media platforms.

Okay, we know that it's not the same as historical telegrams. The Telegram app has become a popular messaging option! Listen in as Carl joins Dana again to chat about what Telegram is, concerns with this and all messaging apps, and where you can get more information. Stay Safe!

Carl does a guest "appearance" on PKO over a phone call. The technology is a work in progress, but hear about some of the great resources out there for online activities, virtual tours, and more. Have ideas that have helped in your home? Share them at ProtectKidsOnlineWI.gov!

Dana & Nick discuss some of the most popular apps being downloaded recently, and many of them have a concerning trend in common. Users are meeting new friends on Snapchat that they don't know in real life, and may not have any previous connection with at all. Many of the new friends may be based on physical looks or risky posts only - Combined with potential location sharing through SnapMaps, there are safety discussion that would be good to have with your teens regarding their online use. Only you and your teen can decide what is appropriate for your situation, but make sure you consider the safety side of things!

Are we really actually good at multitasking? Or are we just getting used to having our focus split a number of ways over a short period of time? Either way, this sort of focus can take a toll on stress-levels and mental health. Listen as Nick joins Dana again to discuss ideas to help combat too much screentime, and why it is so important to create and push yourself to stick to healthy boundaries!

In this episode, Dana is joined by Nick to discuss Artificial Intelligence used to write Research Papers or otherwise help with schoolwork. We discuss how our digital decisions can follow us into the future, such as potential colleges or workplaces finding risky behavior online, but risky decisions like plagiarism would impact our future in a negative manner, too. When discussing digital citizenship and safety, there's a lot to consider!