By Paul Grossinger
Teens are using their smartphones in ever more ingenious ways but parents and caretakers are learning to cope.
As with every curve of change, guardians are now beginning to understand the disparate threats of kids’ smartphone use and, in an encouraging development, taking fast-paced steps to prevent them.
Some of this is in response to their own negative experiences, some to high profile advertising and awareness campaigns like AT&T’s anti texting and driving public service announcements, and some due to the rise in capable solutions to the problem, including MMGuardian Parental Control.
But, with every encouraging sign, guardians have a long way to go. Broadly speaking, there are four core safety issues for them to approach more aggressively:
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Texting while driving, which claims 3,000 teen lives annually
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Mobile bullying, which anti-bullying.gov asserts has 2.1 million perpetrators and 2.7 million victims in American schools
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Rampant phone overuse in school, poorer grades, and academic attrition
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Location issues with independent-minded pre-teens and teens
For guardians at the forefront of tackling these problems head on, their options vary by platform. On Android, parents have wide control over their child’s phone if they install third party software to control it. MMGuardian is at the forefront of this type of software, offering comprehensive text and drive prevention, text monitoring to prevent cyber-bullying, call and text blocking, and instant location and active phone control.
For iPhone, guardians’ options are widely reduced, with Apple’s tight control over development on iOS ensuring that third-party solutions to this issue are virtually non-existent. Likewise, Windows Phone and Blackberry also lack effective third party parental controls.
So, while teens’ smartphone use is getting ever more dangerous, guardians are catching up. And, even amidst the danger, that is a very positive sign.