fbpx

3 Reasons Summer Internet Risk Goes Up, Up, Up!

Blog Feature - Summertime Digital Risk

3 Reasons Summer Internet Risk Goes Up, Up, Up!

After multiple years of being locked up tight, many families are excited for an active, travel-filled, relative-visiting summer. We love all of these things! But each of these activities creates unique digital risks that should be monitored by awesome parents.

NEW PLACES Create Greater Summer Internet Risks

In Michigan, between Memorial and Labor Day, many families enjoy time at the lake or some other warm-weather retreat. And, although sleepovers can happen throughout the year, they tend to occur more frequently during summer vacation with friends and relatives (like grandparents).

This year, when you head to the cottage, or kids spend more time at a certain friend’s house, or wherever you go, be sure to take an inventory of the ways in which your family can access the internet. Then, guard those doorways, in the same way you filter and monitor at home.

We suggest the following three layers of protection to mitigate summer internet risk:

  • Guard the location – where kids use technology often dictates how they use technology. Sleepovers, bedrooms, bathrooms, and grandma’s house all increase digital risk.
  • Guard the wireless router – remember, you are responsible for every click on your home’s router! When was the last time you thought about your router? Try Gryphon – it’s great.
Gryphon Parental Controls - PYE
(Click/tap image to learn more!)
  • Guard the device – when the iPhone or Android isn’t using your WiFi, is it adequately controlled while using data? iPhones come with Screen Time parental controls and Android devices come with Family Link. Both of these solutions are free! The Gryphon router mentioned above also has controls that can be used over a data plan when not connected to home.

NEW PATTERNS Create Greater Summer Internet Risks

During the school year, weekday bedtimes are regular and predictable. But, summer bedtimes are typically looser – kids are allowed to stay up, enjoying sunshine later into the evening, bonfires with friends, and “just one more swim” or “one more time” around the block on a bike.

At Protect Young Eyes, we focus heavily on controlling internet access at night. In our experience, internet temptations are magnified at night. In quiet, dark moments, kids are more apt to click, share or do things they might not do during the day. Darkness rules the web at night because whether you’re 14 or 40, you can rationalize anything online at midnight.

Keep in mind the Toxic Trio – something coined by PYE during Covid, where BEDROOMS + BOREDOM + DARKNESS, along with internet access = increased digital risk.

This means you might want to shut off internet access after a certain time, just leaving talk and text available for emergencies. Blocking internet and social media access at night might be the most significant step you can take to decrease summer internet risk this year.

Special Consideration for Teen Drivers: for your teenager, this might also mean driving more at night and with larger groups of friends, thereby increasing the in-car risk of using technology. If your child has an iPhone, there’s the handy Do Not Disturb While Driving feature that can be locked in Restrictions.

You can learn how to enable this feature through Apple’s support article here: How to Use Do Not Disturb While Driving.

You can also LOCK in this feature through the iPhone’s Restrictions, which is really handy, by following the sequence of steps below:

Settings -> General -> Restrictions -> 4-digit Code -> Do Not Disturb While Driving -> Don’t Allow Changes

For Android users, we did a bit of research and the one that looks the most promising is from True Motion (but we haven’t tested it, so please let us know if you like it or if you have another suggestion).

NEW PEOPLE Create Greater Summer Internet Risk

Just due to having more time, kids hang out with new people during the summer and in larger groups. Parents might have to be more vigilant about who their kid is hanging out with, and whether or not the situation increases the risk of using the internet poorly.

An important question to ask yourself often is, “Do I know enough about the internet rules that exist in each home where my kid is spending time this summer?”

Parents often ask me, “Chris, how do I talk to a family that I don’t know very well about their internet rules?” And, my response is underwhelming – “I don’t know! Pray, practice, bake some banana bread, smile, and be kind.” Yea, that’s all I’ve got. I just know that it’s important to keep the judgment low (don’t make it seem like you’re the queen or king of internet safety) and just be honest about the things that worry you.

Consider the ideas in this video related to friends who might want to show you child something on a device.


Now what?

Before you give your kid a smartphone so that you can keep track of him/her during all of this summer fun, please consider giving them a Gabb Phone instead! You will receive a special PYE price if you tap here to learn more. Yes we’re affiliates! But that’s because Gabb is on our really short list of trust resources.

Featured Resource: Gabb Phone

2 thoughts on “3 Reasons Summer Internet Risk Goes Up, Up, Up!”

  1. Hi Chris,
    Great site and great work you do – thanks so much!
    I was going to order a Gryphon which seems to be your preferred router, but the recent reviews on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for the last 6 months are concerning and seem to suggest an issue with firmware update unresolved for many and other gripes (quite in contrast to earlier reviews they now seem almost universally bad instead of universally good). This might be a blip, but made me think twice.
    I saw in your best software review of 2020 that you are going to be reviewing hardware options also but, at the time of writing, your helpful spoiler alert was that the Gryphon was going to be hard to beat – do you still feel this is the case?
    I found another comment from a while back here where someone suggested the pcwrt router was compatible with cleanbrowsing and I wondered if you’ve tried it out and if so if you think it could be a good alternative to Gryphon?
    I want a porn free home, so want to take all the steps I can to get this right.
    Dave

    1. Hi, Dave – I have the review done, I just haven’t made time to post it. 2020 has been a crazy mess! I’m still 100% on-board with Gryphon. I’ve used the Guardian in our home with 6 of us for around 2 months and we love it. When I saw your comment I went and checked out the reviews, and quite a few coincide with a change in their technical support software which caused a bunch of support tickets to get lost and people weren’t receiving timely answers to technical issues. I know this because it happened to me as an affiliate, and after a phone call with their Marketing Director, he told me this. I’d still check it out if I were you and if it doesn’t work, they’ll refund you.

      Best,
      Chris

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay up to date

Scroll to Top
301 Shares
Share297
Tweet
Pin4
Share