FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions answered
Screen Time
It depends on their age and whether it’s fun or functional screen time
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Spending too much time in front of a screen means losing out on other activities and
experiences which are important to the development of your child. Too much screen time has proven detrimental impacts on young brains, eyes, bodies and mental health.
We like to distinguish between educational (or functional) and entertaining (fun) screen time. Screen time that combines both is first prize – such as MineCraft, brain games, word puzzles etc
Pornography & Violence
Online porn is hard-core and is being classified as the new drug. It is highly addictive and the younger the exposure, the greater the addiction. The aggressive/ submissive and violent theme of online porn significantly affects how young, developing minds view and approach intimate relationships later in life.
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Take a deep breath, read our blog to prep, and then sit down and talk to them. Use parental filters to prevent access to inappropriate adult websites, and to limit social media apps and games, which are often the initial source of exposure.
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Parents can get very defensive around accepting that their child exposed yours to
pornography. Remember that it was going to happen regardless of how it happened. Give yourself space to calm down before talking with the other parent, ideally in-person, and follow our guidelines in our blog.
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Gaming
Settings for games can be changed to protect the identity and location of your kids, to keep them safer.
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App and game developers use similar persuasive technology techniques to those used by the gambling industry, to make games irresistible, compulsive and hard to stop.
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Just like any professional sport, to be an eSport athlete you must show both Discipline and Evidence. Use their passion to drive them to build discipline (sticking to agreements) and competing in appropriate competitions to prove they have what it takes.
Social Media
Teens love social media but they need your guidance and inputs as it can affect their self-worth, confidence and general mental health. Most of the popular social media platforms like Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok, are real-age rated 16+.
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Settings for apps can be changed to protect the identity and location of your kids, to keep them safer.
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App and game developers use similar persuasive technology techniques to those used by the gambling industry, to make apps irresistible, compulsive and hard to stop. If you child’s Social Media use is negatively impacting their studies, sleep or relationships, talk to them about it.
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Filters & Limits
A: Try to wait as long as you can, to let your child use a smartphone. Set it up from the start with parental filters, and apply the “loan rather than own” principle, so that you can manage and control it. A cell phone contract is an excellent way to agree the rules of use and consequences of misuse.
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A: Make a Family Digital Alliance and agree how, when and where screens are used. Use screen time apps and/or WiFi routers to help guide and develop your family’s good digital habits.
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A: ScreenTime (iOs) and Family Link (Android) are a good start, but installing parental control filters on devices and WiFi are best.
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Settings
Tech companies monitor our likes and dislikes through every click we make, and use our data to channel our preferences, beliefs and opinions, and market products to us. Changing the default settings helps protect your online privacy.
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Default settings for phones, tablets, computers and gaming consoles can all be reset to protect data security and location.
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Start with your own phone, change your notification settings to stop your phones apps from contacting you for unnecessary reasons. Do you really need to know that you just got a new LinkedIn request?
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Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is prevalent on social media and online games, make it a habit of asking your child about their 'Digital Day' to keep lines of communication open about their online world. If they tell you they are being Cyberbullied, treat it as if it were in person bullying, contact the bullys parent, escalate to a teacher if need be, and be sure to take a screenshot the bullying so you can have a discussion about it.
Congratulate your child on speaking up. Teach your child to be a Cyber Superhero: an Upstander rather than a Bystander.
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An Upstander is someone who speaks up in support of a victim of cyberbullying. A Bystander takes the easier route of avoiding the conflict they are observers too.
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Getting your child to open up to you requires consistently asking them about what is going for them, do it daily, and don’t be specific about the bullying, when they feel more
comfortable, they will open up. Also, institute a new rule that all phones are out of
bedrooms at night, as this is when most cyberbullying occurs.
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Stranger Danger
If you wouldn’t open your front door to strangers and let them play in your child’s room, monitor who they are talking to online.
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Take screenshots of messages, save images or videos and report it immediately to the child protection authority in your jurisdiction!
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Unless you have made sure that your child can only talk with certain users who you have approved are their friends, or you have set up a private chat channel, you have to assume they are open to being contacted by unsupervised adults, which is a risk that is not worth taking.
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5 STAR REVIEWS
What Our Customers Say
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deeply thoughtful ideas to help parents with meaningful control over the acess to social media for their children. 
TimRobin Farina
December 10, 2020 - The solution could not be more relevant.
Arno Van Der Walt
December 15, 2020 - Very important for all families with young children, tweens and teens!
Susan Tasker
December 10, 2020 - An amazing organization made up of an amazing team! Extremely proud to be associated with BIT!
Russell Pengelly
December 14, 2020 - Be in Touch is an absolute invaluable initiative and resource for parents and their children, and even for grandparents like myself, as we navigate this ever growing digital landscape. The digital connected world has such incredible value, but also many challenges, as not only we are being exposed to very powerful negative agendas over the web, but also the danger of devices being the new addiction. Josh and team, thanks so much for coming form a deep values-based motivation to support us in this way.
Tertia Smit
December 17, 2020 - Josh and his team bring significant experience, best practice and the latest tech to the digital wellness space. Our learnings through Be In Touch really emphasize the dire need for all parents to step into a space or knowing how to manage your child’s online journey always supporting healthy usage. I highly recommend working with Josh
Misha Teasdale
December 14, 2020 - Simple, insightful - what all busy parents need
Rmd Gammatec
December 10, 2020 - Real, practical guidance that can save us a lot of damage and drama. A stitch in time n all. Thanks Josh!
Linda Wilson
December 14, 2020
Yo, Rents! Need to brush up a bit?
#beintouch #teenslang
#socialmediaslang
#onlinelife #onlineoffline #digitalwellbeing #digitalparenting #teenspeak #socialmedia
To all the MOMS out there - we salute the role you play in your kids' lives! You are more important than you will ever know...
#beintouch #mothersday #mum #mom #parenting
We are so excited to be launching the #share2protect campaign with FEDSAS, gathering data to train technology to do exactly this, through a facial scan, keeping kids safer online!
@fedsas @getyoti
#beintouch #ageestimation #keepkidssafeonline #yoti #fedsas #share2protect #under13 #filters #digitalfence #agerestriction #agegating #grooming
"If we don't know what are our kids are seeing and doing online, we can't be there for them."
We help schools and their parents -
Get real insights into what their learners are actually experiencing and being exposed too, online
Understand how this is impacting teaching and parenting
Realise the impact on how this generation is growing up
Find practical responses to support, guide, mentor and protect kids going online.
#beintouch
#digitalwellbeing #kidsonline #onlineoffline #digitalparenting #consciousparenting #stats #trends #cyberbullying #pornography #strangerdanger #grooming #selfharm #drugsandalcohol
Smart phones and tablets are designed for adults, and let's face it - they are hard for US to manage and control!
Kids need their parents to help guide and mentor them through their online-offine life.
Treat devices like a bicycle when letting your kids on to them, and put on some "training wheels" -
*Install parental controls & limits
*Set boundaries on when & where to use them
*Check IN & Check UP
"If we don't know what's going on in their world, we can't help them!"
Click the link in our bio to sign up for our newletter and join the Be In Touch Digital Village.
We just love working with teens, to understand what they are actually experiencing in their online-offline, one world life. As parents and teachers, it helps us to define the challenges that they need our help to grapple with, in our digital age!
Thank you for your amazing feedback on Josh's talk, and your honesty in our survey about what is really going down online! @generationschools students!
#generationschools #onlinelife #teentalk
#beintouch #teensonline #cybersavvy #familydigitalwellness #teenmentalhealth #onlineoffline
It takes a "digital village" to raise our children in today's online world! Come and join us...
#beintouch #digitalwellbeing #digitalparenting #onlinelife #keepkidssafe #techsavvy #consciousparenting #digitalvillage
In one of our recent surveys at a boys’ high school in South Africa, we asked WHAT TIME OF DAY DOES CYBERBULLYING MOSTLY HAPPEN? The response?
56% said late at night
24% said in the evenings
16% said in the afternoons
4% said in the mornings
Makes sense that families who put devices to bed, on charge, outside of bedrooms at night, halve the risk of cyberbullying.
And better sleep all round is an added bonus!
If you’d like to get more insights like this for your school, chat to us - [email protected]
The upside of some regular unplugging (even if it is forced!), is that you never know to what new adventures it might lead!
#beintouch #digitalwellbeing #digitalparenting #unplugged #screentime #offlinelife
Let's be mutuals!
#mutuals #beintouch #digitalvillage #followforfollowback #spreadthelove
Often used by teens to insult boys who are "too nice" to girls, SIMP can also be viewed as a compliment to someone who is simply ahead of their time! 😉
#bekind #beintouch #teenslang #onlinelife #teenmentalhealth #teenspeak #teentalk #genz #digitalwellbeing #digitalfamilywellness #digitalparenting
When was your last #madcapmoment?
#beintouch #beconscious #liveyourbestlife
Introducing... social AUDIO (as opposed to media)!
Who's managed to get an invite to Clubhouse yet?
Click our bio to sign up for our newsletter- we can't guarantee an entry to the Clubhouse, but we'll help you stay in touch with the goings on in the online world 😀
#beintouch #digitalwellbeing #digitalparenting #familydigitalwellness #clubhouse
#clubhouseapp #onlinelife #digitalworld
There isn’t pornography over here, and trafficking over there… they’re interlinked.” Melissa Farley Ph.D., Executive Director, Prostitution Research and Education
Pornography is a difficult conversation for many parents to have with their kids, but with the average age being 9 for first (often accidental) exposure to what is, let’s face it – NOTHING like what we were able to access as kids – it is a topic we need to open up for discussion early on and regularly.
Give porn a real face: Ask your kids how people in porn movies may have got there? Whether they might have chosen this or are being forced? Whether they might be someone’s sister, mother or daughter?
Then watch “Brain, Heart, World” – a ground breaking 3-part documentary presented by @fightthenewdrug
https://fightthenewdrug.org/brain-heart-world/
#beintouch #saveourkids
#reallife #changinglives #childhood #fightthenewdrug #brainheartworld #talktoyourkids #someonesdaughter #someonessister #someonesmother
TikTok has had a bad rap lately, with the sad consequences of the #blackoutchallenge. But there are also some great challenges out there, if you are looking for some family-friendly bonding over tech? Which ones have you tried??
#parentchallenge #footshakechallenge #balancechallenge
When downloading this app, remember these 2 tips:
👆We subscribe to #CommonSenseMedia : TikTok real age rating 15+
👆Adjust the privacy and Digital Wellbeing settings in the app
#beintouch #digitalparenting #tiktokdance #tiktokchallenge #familyfun #happyeaster #easterfun #familydigitalwellness #techsavvy #digitalwellbeing #familyfriendly
"But Mom, he's my boyfriend..." Do you (and your kids) always know who they're talking to online?
Check out all the great resources we have online, to help you with those super important digital conversations www.beintouch.org.za
#onlinelife #familydigitalwellness #keepkidssafe #beintouch
#betheparent #consciousparenting #boyfriending #grooming #strangerdanger #digitalparenting
Some days that "digital divide" just feels sooo real!
#beintouch #digitalparenting #familydigitalwellness #onlinelife #everydayanewday
No doubt about it, raising kids in today's digital world brings a whole new set of challenges to our parenting repertoire!
#beintouch #digitalgatekeeper #digitalvillage #digitalfamilyalliance #digitalfamilywellness #consciousparenting #cybersavvy #onlinelife #digitalparenting #licensetoparent
Online, offline - for our kids, it's all "real life" to them.
#onlinelife #offlinelife #reallife #unplugged #beintouch #digitalgatekeeper #digitalparenting #consciousparenting #cybersavvy #familydigitalwellness
CANCEL CULTURE – the new Cyberbullying? What do your teens think?
When something is cancelled, it is nulled, ended, voided. This is the basic idea behind the slang meaning of cancelling a person. When a person is cancelled, they are no longer supported publicly - as happened to public figures in the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter Movements.
#beintouch #digitalparenting #cancelculture #cyberbullying #kindnessisasuperpower #upstander #teenslang #socialmediaslang