Are schools taking online safety seriously?
I'm Alice Hunsberger. Trust & Safety Insider is my weekly rundown on the topics, industry trends and workplace strategies that Trust & Safety professionals need to know about to do their job.
This week, following an incident at my son's school, I'm writing about technology use and young kids. Not what I was expecting, but hopefully it's useful for EiM readers who are parents or know school-age kids.
More than anything, it made me glad that I had some resources and best practices in my pocket ready to suggest to the school. Get in touch if you have any experiences or advice to share or want to share your feedback on today's edition. Here we go! — Alice
We're proud to share a major milestone! Resolver is celebrating 10 years of partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), working tirelessly to combat online child abuse.
This decade-long collaboration has been instrumental in disrupting the spread of harmful material, supporting investigations, and helping to build safer digital spaces for everyone. Our joint efforts have contributed to the removal of thousands of abusive images and videos, making a real difference in protecting vulnerable children.
Want to learn more about our impact and how we're continuing to fight online harm?
When my son accessed YouTube while at school
My son just finished first grade, and his class sometimes use iPads to access educational apps during lessons. This is pretty common in the US, particularly since Covid-19, when technology was deployed to help kids who were stuck at home.
Now, I’m not one of those people that is strongly anti-tech for kids; I believe it is helpful in many ways, particularly in providing individualised support for kids who are at different attainment levels in the same class. Lexia is a great example of this.
I also find scaremongering and moral panic about technology and kids to be naive and frustrating. I prefer to have a realistic, balanced view about the net positive nature of tech while also having plans in place to mitigate the downsides.
However, the use of any kind of internet-connected technology, especially with younger grades, must have active supervision and guardrails. Unfortunately, an incident this week made me realise that this isn't always the case.
Browsing the open internet in first grade
Recently, my son came home after school and told me that another kid has showed him how to bypass the intended apps, open Safari, navigate to YouTube, and search for Minecraft videos. Instead of focusing on reading, these seven-year-olds were fully browsing the open internet during designated iPad time. I was shocked.
Luckily they were "only" watching videos of Minecraft guys shooting each other. It certainly could have been worse. The teacher had no idea it was happening, and it occurred again the very next day. I'm glad that my son immediately told me about this; many kids wouldn't have.
I immediately sent an email to the school (see my template below), in which I asked for an explanation and offered concrete help to lock down their devices and consult on media literacy curriculums. I got an immediate, albeit generic, response and I'm hopeful that they will take this seriously.
Unfortunately incidents like this aren’t uncommon. I shared this story on LinkedIn a couple days ago and the comments are full of similar stories. So do not assume your school is employing best practices to keep kids off the open internet.
What can you do to keep kids safe?
Being able to educate children about internet safety — not just sons and daughters but nieces, nephews, grandchildren and your friend's kids, for that matter — is a new and important role for responsible adults.
Based on my 15 years in the industry, I thought I'd share some questions to have in mind as you navigate these tricky situations: