Raise your hand if your kiddo is super into video games. I know I’m not the only one! Video games are no longer seen as drivers of aggression, and they may even be associated with better cognitive performance in children. We’re here to talk about a feature many gaming platforms have: a chat feature.
A lot of preteen boys I know flock to Roblox specifically for the chat. In-game chat can be a source of positive socialization and a way to develop teamwork, but it also introduces some big concerns. Let’s take a look at those risks and explore how to make in-game chat safer for your child.
There are a variety of in-game chat options. Specifically:
At least one version of messaging is available on most major gaming platforms. In the majority of popular multiplayer games, like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite, chat is enabled by default.
There are two levels of in-game chats:
These are the primary risks of in-game chats that you need to be aware of:
Let me be clear: you aren’t obligated to let your child use in-game chat at all. I don’t let my 10-year-old use any in-game chat, except for with friends and family inside a closed server on Minecraft. If you decide to let your child use in-game chat (also a valid decision), here are some tips for helping them stay safe.
If your kiddo hasn’t started their gaming adventure yet, start with games that have trusted chat filters like Splatoon 3 and Among Us.
Before your child downloads a new game, research the game and the community surrounding it. (Pro tip: Common Sense Media is my go-to for vetting all types of media for my kids.)
Have a conversation about the behavior you expect from your child while on chat, and how they should expect others to treat them.
Your child should never share any personal information over in-game chat. Period. Make sure they know this.
Teach your child that if someone is harassing them, making them uncomfortable, or generally acting a fool, they shouldn’t be afraid to mute or block that user.
Set up parental controls on all gaming platforms that your child uses. For most games, there are a range of choices.
Every game is slightly different, but you can use this as a general guide:
Regardless of how restricted or open you set your child’s in-game chat, it’s important to monitor how they use it. Some platforms, like Nintendo Switch, allow for monitoring as part of their parental controls. For games like Roblox and Minecraft, which can be played on Apple devices, BrightCanary monitors everything your child types and sends you real-time alerts to any concerns.
In-game chat provides kids benefits like teamwork and social connection. It also introduces risks like cyberbullying, predators, and inappropriate content. To help your child use in-game chat safely, teach them chat etiquette, use all available parental controls, and monitor their activity with a tool like BrightCanary.
As X (formerly Twitter) descends further into dumpster-fire territory, Bluesky is emerging as a popular alternative. With Bluesky’s user base growing among younger users fleeing X, parents are starting to ask questions. This article explores if Bluesky is safe for kids and what you can do to keep your child safe on the platform.
Bluesky is a microblogging social media platform designed as an alternative to X. Instead of being controlled by a centralized, opaque social media algorithm, Bluesky feeds are customizable. Users can set multiple feeds based on a topic or interest or select from pre-curated options and then toggle between them.
If users don’t want to manually select accounts to follow, Bluesky offers “starter packs.” Your teen can choose algorithms or topics as their “home” timeline. For example:
Users can also create their own starter packs and share them with friends or post them to their other social apps.
Bluesky users must be at least 13+. Some countries and states have laws that require a higher minimum age, which Bluesky honors.
Bluesky’s age verification process varies by location. Here in Washington state, I was able to open an account for a fake 13-year-old simply by fabricating a birthdate.
I got an alert stating that, according to the laws of my country, my parent or legal guardian must read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy on my behalf, but I was able to ignore that and still create an account.
In jurisdictions that have age verification laws, Bluesky uses Kids Web Services to verify age through a payment card authorization, government-issued ID scan, or facial age estimation.
Bluesky gets some safety points right, namely the extraordinary level of control users have over their feed and moderation experience.
These risks remain, though:
Professionally, I always advise that minors set their accounts to private, but Bluesky doesn’t provide that option. Personally, this is a sticking point for me as a parent. Public accounts expose your child to predators, scams, and harassment.
Because Bluesky’s moderation is decentralized and operated with a mix of AI, in-house human moderators, and user moderators, the quality is inconsistent at best.
Bluesky is open-source, and users can create and run their own servers on the Bluesky platform. They are then responsible for moderation (or lack thereof) for anything posted on their platform. Anyone, including your child, can access any user-run Bluesky server, but because it’s hosted on the main platform, they likely won’t even know it. This creates the perfect storm for a harbor of harmful content for your child to discover.
There have also been reports of racist interactions and violent threats, and concerns over the lack of moderator involvement in such incidents.
Underage users are prevented from turning on the “adult content” option, but because age verification is nonexistent in many jurisdictions, this means very little.
The risk of falling into an algorithmically driven echo chamber exists on all social media. Users’ ability to customize their content feeds and moderation policies magnifies that risk on Bluesky. Your child could easily get trapped in a toxic online bubble.
Bluesky doesn’t have parental controls. Many of the same elements can be adjusted in the settings, but it’s not password protected and can be changed by your child at any time.
If you choose to let your child use Bluesky, here are a few ways to reduce the risks when they use the platform:
Peruse the options together and choose a few that you get a good feeling about.
Go through your child’s content and moderation settings with them and adjust them according to your child’s maturity and needs. This guide gives an in-depth walkthrough, but I suggest paying particular attention to these two areas:
Keep an eye on how your child uses Bluesky, and watch for warning signs that they’re falling into toxic territory or interacting with strangers. BrightCanary monitors everything your child types across all platforms, including Bluesky, and sends you real-time alerts to any concerns.
Bluesky has meaningful safety gaps for kids such as public accounts, no parental controls, and inconsistent moderation. Users can customize their experience, which mitigates some risk, although kids can change the settings themselves. Bluesky should be approached with caution, and parental involvement and monitoring are a must if your child uses the platform.
Many parental control apps can’t monitor newer apps yet. BrightCanary’s keyboard-level monitoring allows for comprehensive monitoring across all apps, even Bluesky. Download today to get started.
If you’re like me and are skeptical of AI and find most influencers cringeworthy, buckle up. AI influencers are officially a thing, and these synthetic salespeople are flooding your kid’s feed, likely without them realizing it.
AI influencers present risks to kids beyond generic exposure to AI slop. They also perpetuate unrealistic beauty and lifestyle standards and encourage parasocial relationships with amoral robots. If it’s not already obvious, I am not a fan of AI influencers. Here’s what I want you to know so you can protect your child.
AI influencers are computer-generated characters designed to function like human influencers. The individuals, agencies, and brands behind AI influencers maintain a social media presence for the entity in order to promote products, brands, lifestyles, or ideas.
AI influencers range from cartoonish and easy to spot, like Lu do Magalu, to naturalistic and harder to identify, like Aitana Lopez. They market fashion, makeup, technology, and more, and have deals with brands like Prada, Puma, and Samsung.
Besides the general ick factor, AI influencers present real risks for kids. For example:
Human influencers are often criticized for creating unattainable standards. For AI influencers, who are almost universally young, fit, and conventionally attractive, that risk is magnified. When kids are persistently exposed to AI influencers, they may become preoccupied with their appearance and go to extreme lengths to emulate these artificial creators.
Unlike their mortal counterparts, AI influencers don’t have a moral compass and don’t risk the same real-life backlash. This lack of integrity and accountability means AI influencers may post content or interact with kids who follow them in harmful and manipulative ways.
Unless the person or brand behind an AI influencer is transparent, it’s impossible to know who’s behind the account. This murkiness makes it difficult to discern intentions. Your child could be following an AI influencer run by a nefarious person who intends them harm, wrapped up in a perfectly polished package.
Parasocial relationships are one-sided bonds that can develop when a person invests themselves in someone who doesn’t know they exist, like an influencer. Parasocial relationships are normal and potentially positive. But they can also lead to compulsions, delusions, and problems with real-world relationships.
Here are some clues to help you spot AI influencers:
The time has come to add AI influencers to your conversations about digital literacy with your child. Here’s how:
AI influencers push unrealistic standards, have no moral compass or accountability, and obscure who's really in charge. Protect your child by teaching them about the risks of AI influencers and how to spot them.
Learn more about how BrightCanary can help you monitor what your child sees on social media.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is frighteningly good at determining your child’s location from a photo, even when no location tags are used. And the risk is only going to get worse as AI systems get better. Here’s everything you need to know about how strangers can use AI to find your child and how to reduce the risk.
AI systems are shockingly adept at determining a photo’s location by quickly analyzing clues. Every model is slightly different, but here are some things an AI platform might use to determine location:
These bits of data are processed within seconds, and the more context a user provides to the AI system, such as narrowing it down to a specific region, the more accurate the results. In some cases, exact GPS coordinates can be identified.
I tested some systems myself and found a mixed bag. Claude and ChatGPT had the hardest time identifying the location of my photos, while Gemini and programs like Picarta, which are designed expressly for this purpose, were alarmingly accurate.
Strangers might feed photos of your child into AI to determine a variety of things, such as:
The brutal truth is that there isn’t a lot that can be done to protect against determined and nefarious actors gleaning information from your child’s photos. Here are some steps you can take to mitigate the risks:
The only truly foolproof method for protecting your child is to not post any pictures of them online and to prevent them from posting any photos, period. I fully realize this is an extreme most people aren’t willing to go to, though.
Not all AI platforms can read metadata, but the ones that can tend to be accurate down to exact coordinates because that info is usually embedded in the photo. Here’s an explainer of how to remove metadata. It’s a good idea to do this not only before you post online, but also when sending photos to other people.
Before posting, crop out or put a sticker over any details that might be used to identify a location. For example:
Kids aren’t generally known for their logical calculation of risk, so they’re likely to need some coaching in this area. Here’s how to talk to your child about photo privacy online:
AI can determine your child's location from photos by analyzing landmarks, architecture, metadata, and other visual clues. Sometimes, it can even pinpoint exact GPS coordinates. The safest option is to not post any photos of your child and to prevent them from posting pictures. Other efforts to reduce risk include removing metadata and cropping out or obscuring identifying details.
Talk to your child early about these risks, model thoughtful decision-making before sharing photos, and steer them toward private sharing options like close-friends groups or small text threads.
For added peace of mind, join the thousands of parents who trust BrightCanary child monitoring. The app will alert you if it flags anything concerning, and with robust text message monitoring, you’ll be able to see what photos they send to and receive from friends and peers.
Rather than strict guidelines for how much time kids should spend online, the American Psychological Association suggests prioritizing helping kids use social media in ways that promote healthy socialization. But what does that look like?
This article explores the social benefits of social media for kids, helps you assess if your child is using these platforms in positive ways, and provides tips for how to help build healthy social media habits for teens.
Prioritizing peers is a normal and necessary part of adolescent development, and social media use can be a healthy part of that picture. Here are a few ways that social media can benefit kids socially:
Despite the benefits, social media use also presents interpersonal risks. For example:
As you evaluate if your child is socializing online in healthy ways, here are some guiding questions:
Removing access to social media or setting rigid restrictions can feel punitive and may cut your child off from healthy social connections. Instead, use these tips to help them build healthy social media habits they can carry into adulthood:
Focus on teaching them natural boundaries based on context, instead of strict, externally-imposed limits. For example:
Parental involvement is key to promoting positive social media use.
Helping your child develop healthy social media habits today will help them navigate social media on their own later.
The ultimate goal is for your child to have a healthy balance between their online and offline lives. Encourage them to prioritize positive offline activities, and model healthy social media habits yourself.
Social media provides kids with social benefits like community, identity exploration, and a sense of shared purpose, especially for those who feel isolated or struggle socially. But it also brings social risks, including cyberbullying, exclusion, and a false sense of community.
Monitor your child’s social media activity and watch for warning signs like withdrawal from offline life and dishonesty about their social media use. Focus on natural boundaries over strict limits and encourage healthy social media habits such as active engagement rather than passive scrolling.
Learn more about how to monitor social media accounts, and get started with BrightCanary child monitoring today.
Has your child asked ChatGPT for diet advice? A study published in Frontiers in Nutrition examining this issue has experts sounding the alarm. Nutrition advice from AI is consistently harmful to growing adolescent bodies. This has serious health implications and can contribute to eating disorders.
I tested this out for myself and found results consistent with the researchers’ findings, along with language associated with disordered eating. Let’s get into it.
Here are some ways your child might ask AI for weight loss advice:
The study found that chatbots consistently suggest plans that don’t include the nutrition young bodies need to grow and develop. These interactions can also lead kids down a path of body insecurity and disordered eating.
Here are the risks:
On average, the AI suggestions in the study included almost 700 calories less per day than a dietitian recommended. That’s equivalent to skipping a full meal and is a large enough deficit to have a serious impact on things like growth and metabolic health.
My testing was consistent with this. Equally disturbingly, with a little pushback, the chatbots frequently followed my request to restrict calories beyond the initial, already insufficient suggestions.
The diet plans suggested by AI consistently deviated from the macronutrient balance dietitians recommend for adolescents.
For example:
Here are some of the ways asking AI for weight loss advice may contribute to disordered eating in children:
Follow these steps to protect your child from dangerous AI diet and weight loss advice:
If your child is exhibiting disordered eating behaviors, here are some resources:
Children increasingly turn to AI for weight loss advice, but research shows chatbot recommendations are often dangerous, averaging nearly 700 fewer daily calories than expert recommendations, with too much protein and too few carbohydrates for growing bodies. AI also tends to reinforce disordered eating behaviors and lacks the clinical judgment to assess individual risk.
Parents should educate kids about these dangers, monitor their AI use with a tool like BrightCanary, and instead connect them with qualified professionals.
If you’ve ever watched a kid try to make an actual phone call, you know it’s rapidly become a lost art. I’ve witnessed my own kids talk into the earpiece (as hilarious as it was ineffective), answer with “what?” instead of “hello,” and hang up before closing the conversation.
Even in 2026, phone skills are still important for personal and professional reasons. It’s become my mission to teach my kids how to use the phone, and I want to pass on what I’ve learned to you. Here are my tips for teaching phone skills to the texting generation.
Because kids need to learn how to do things like take messages for another person, relying on a cell phone for practice isn’t usually enough.
Here are some options for modern-day house phones:
Our kids are always watching, and they are excellent at mimicking adult behavior. Let your child see you taking and making phone calls, texting people, and putting the phone away when it’s appropriate to do so.
Want to keep track of what your child is doing and saying on their phone? Supervise text messages, direct messages, and more with BrightCanary child monitoring.
Start with low-pressure calls like grandparents or friends. This allows them to practice with less anxiety.
After they’ve had some practice, ask your child to put in a takeout order or call the pool to find out open swim hours. Just because it can be done on the internet, doesn’t mean it can’t be used to build phone skills instead.
Recently, my son wanted to use his allowance to buy a book. I had him call our neighborhood bookstore to see if it was in stock and then, when it wasn’t, ask them to order it for him. He resisted hard when I proposed the idea, but he really wanted that book, so he did it, and it went great (mostly!).
The thing that helped my son conquer his nerves and call the bookstore? I gave him some language to use when he called and what to say next based on a few possible responses he might get. Then he practiced out loud a few times.
The goal is for kids to make calls without a script, but giving them some tools as they start out is a great way to build these skills.
Most kids simply haven’t seen enough calls to have an innate sense of etiquette when they take or receive phone calls. Review these basics with them:
In addition to etiquette, go over these safety points with your child:
Did you know? Thousands of parents trust BrightCanary to make sure their kids are having safe conversations in their text messages.
Resist the mighty urge to hover and micromanage! Give them tips, help them practice, and provide gentle feedback after, but allow them to fall mightily on their face during the actual call.
Difficulty with auditory processing, lack of visual cues, and the unpredictable nature of answering an unknown call are a few reasons why phone calls can be extra difficult for neurodivergent people. If this is your kiddo, it’s important to be patient, give them plenty of encouragement, and provide them with extra support and coaching as needed.
Even for the texting generation, learning basic phone skills is still important. Provide your child with opportunities to practice, give them tips on basic phone etiquette and safety, and don’t be afraid to let them make mistakes along the way.
Do you know what to do if your child is talking to a predator online? We spoke with an expert — here’s what to do.
Messages encouraging self-harm, such as KYS (short for “kill yourself”), are a common cyberbullying tactic. But reporting incidents to social media platforms can do more harm than good, and police officers often aren’t properly trained on how to deal with cyberbullying.
I talked to Detective Rich Wistocki, child crime expert and founder of BeSure Consulting, about what to do if your child sends or receives KYS or other self-harm messages.
Wistocki says that kids may not realize how dangerous sending messages encouraging self-harm can be. He points to cases where kids have killed themselves because someone online convinced them they should.
“You have no idea what [they’re] going through at home. You don’t know if they have mental health issues. Maybe [your message] is the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” says Wistocki.
If your child receives self-harm messages, these are the steps to take:
It might surprise you to learn that reporting to social media platforms can make things worse. Wistocki warns that reporting self-harm messages to social media sites is a bad idea if you plan to also report the situation to the police. Most platforms respond by deleting the account of the person who sent or posted the messages, thereby destroying evidence that law enforcement needs in order to respond.
BrightCanary’s child monitoring tools make gathering evidence to give to the police much easier because everything is preserved, even deleted messages. Here are the steps Wistocki recommends for collecting and preserving evidence:
Type a statement detailing everything that occurred, including how the situation made your child feel.
Print a hard copy of your statement and all evidence.
Upload your statement and evidence to two thumb drives. Give one to the police; keep the other as backup.
I asked Wistocki how to decide whether to report self-harm messages to the police. “If the parents are friendly with each other, then I would handle it through [the] parents,” he said. But Wistocki also emphasized that a child who sends KYS messages to one child is likely doing it to many other kids. “They have to be held accountable, which would require a police report."
Unfortunately, Wistocki tells me that most of the patrol officers you will initially encounter if you want to make a report have zero training in dealing with cybercrime like KYS and self-harm messages. Many may even refuse to take a report.
Here are Wistocki’s tips for how to get your situation taken seriously by law enforcement:
If your child has been sending messages encouraging someone to hurt themselves, it’s important to take swift action.
If your child receives KYS or other self-harm messages, prioritize supporting them emotionally. Don't report to social media platforms, as this can destroy important evidence. Instead, collect screen captures, contact details, and a written statement, then bring everything to law enforcement. If officers are reluctant to help, escalate to an ICAC-trained detective.
If your child is the one sending harmful messages, address it immediately, get to the root cause, and monitor their activity online to ensure the behavior doesn’t continue.
Read next in our expert insights series: what to do if your child talks to a predator online.
You know you need to ask your children for their passwords so you can keep tabs on their online activity. But the thought of having that conversation causes you to break out into a cold sweat. What if they push back? What if they think you don’t trust them? Is this the internet equivalent of sneaking into their bedroom and reading their diary?
Even though your intentions are good, you have to tread lightly.
First, take a deep breath. You can do this. Remind yourself that you don’t need to have all the answers. You’ll make mistakes and you’ll course correct. The important thing is that you’re taking a crucial first step toward monitoring your child’s online activity.
After you’ve taken that deep breath (or two!), the next step is to have an open conversation with your child about why you need their logins. Here are some helpful tips for how to talk to them.
Free download: These passwords are the most important ones to have. Here's how to ask your child for them.
Listen more than you talk. Find out what your child’s online experience has been so far and if they have any concerns. Here are some examples of conversation starters:
Internet safety is an ongoing conversation and it’s important to create an open channel of communication right from the start.
Two of our biggest jobs as parents are to keep our children safe and to raise them into good adults. Let them know you aren’t interested in becoming a digital overlord spying on their every online move. Your goal is to respectfully guide them to develop responsible digital habits they’ll carry with them into adulthood.
It's like when you taught them how to cross the street. You didn’t just throw them into traffic as a toddler, did you? Of course not. You went from carrying them, to holding their hand, to walking next to them, until they were eventually ready to go it alone. Along the way you taught them to look both directions, pay attention, and use the crosswalk.
Think of Google or YouTube as the intersection of the internet—it’s your job to teach your kid how to safely get to the other side.
Kids need and want clear boundaries. (Not that they’ll ever admit it.) They feel safest and most confident when they know where the guiderails are.
And since you just talked about partnership, you can make expectation setting a collaborative effort. The more opportunity for input they have, the more buy-in you’re likely to get. You might even consider writing a digital family agreement together.
BrightCanary doesn't require passwords to monitor most apps, but you need your child's logins to monitor Google and YouTube. Text Message Plus users will also need their child's Apple ID — which requires a conversation about passwords.
The beauty about a monitoring service like BrightCanary is that you don’t need to directly monitor every little click and tap to know your child is safe. (And let’s be honest, that is bound to be a relief for both of you. Because who has time to scroll through hundreds of interactions?)
Let your child know what kinds of activities that will trigger an alert and your plan for following up when one occurs.
After a few weeks of having their logins, sit down again to discuss how it’s going for you both. Periodically checking in and giving your child space to voice any questions or concerns they may have is vital for building trust.
Now that you have a game plan, it’s time to set it into motion.
Asking your child for their passwords can be awkward, but you can do it while maintaining two-way trust and respect. First ask questions about what they've seen and experienced online and on social media. Set expectations, tell them how you plan to use their logins, and set a regular time to review their activity.
You have your plan in place, so go ahead and call your child in to talk. Except they probably can’t hear you over the YouTube video they’re watching. Try texting them. No, wait . . . kids don’t text anymore. You’ll need to DM them on Instagram. Better yet, just wait until they wander into the kitchen for a snack.
You’ve got this.
Learning your child is getting groomed by a predator is every parent's nightmare, but knowing what to do next makes all the difference.
I spoke with Detective Rich Wistocki, child crime expert and founder of BeSure Consulting, to get his step-by-step guidance on what to do if your child is talking to a predator online, from what evidence to gather to how to report it to law enforcement effectively.
Wistocki warns not to report a predator to social media sites if you plan to go to the police. That’s because most platforms respond by deleting the offending account, thereby destroying evidence. Don’t do it.
Instead, here are the steps Wistocki says to take if your child is targeted by an online predator.
Bringing evidence to law enforcement is key. BrightCanary’s monitoring tools make this much easier on iPhones and iPads because everything is preserved, even deleted messages.
Wistocki says to gather these items:
Type a statement detailing everything that occurred, including how it made your child feel.
People can delete messages, edit what they sent, or even delete their accounts. Print a hard copy of your statement and all evidence.
Upload your statement and evidence to two thumb drives. Give one to the police; keep the other as backup.
Report the situation to law enforcement following Wistocki’s instructions in the next section.
Get all these tips in a free downloadable guide:
Reporting an online predator to the police protects your child and prevents the perpetrator from abusing more children. The problem, says Wistocki, is that “most of the patrol officers that you will call to take a report have no training in cybercrime and child exploitation. None.”
Wistocki warns that this lack of training can hurt a family’s chances of getting law enforcement support. He says officers may insist it’s a civil matter and that there's nothing the police can do, which is incorrect. They may tell you they’ll handle everything, but not take a report or follow up. Or they might insist that if they take a report, they also have to arrest your child for taking inappropriate pictures. (This is false. “Officers are not going to arrest your child … I promise you,” says Wistocki.)
Here are Wistocki’s tips for getting the police to take your report seriously:
After you report a predator, an ICAC-trained detective will take over the case. What happens next depends on a few factors:
If naked, semi-nude, or sexual photos or videos of your child are online, Wistocki suggests visiting takeitdown.ncmec.org. Once you upload the material, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will obtain its digital DNA and work with participating websites such as Meta and Pornhub to remove all corresponding photos and videos from their platforms.
I asked Wistocki what advice he has for children who are hesitant to report a predatory situation. He said:
We must teach our kids that no one is allowed to make them feel bad about themselves online. No one is allowed to make them do something they should not be doing such as sextortion. If [a predator is] doing it to them, they are doing it to ten other people as well, and they need to be stopped. This is the only way.
If your child is targeted by an online predator, reporting it to the social media platform can lead to destroyed evidence. Instead, gather evidence and report it to the police, escalating to an ICAC-trained detective if necessary. Use takeitdown.ncmec.org to remove any inappropriate videos or images of your child from the internet.
