back to school safety
Setting Screen-Free Zones at Home Without a Family Fight
The dinner table has become a place where four people sit together and stare at four separate screens. Nobody planned it that way. It just happened, one notification at a time, until it felt normal. Now school’s back, mornings are rushed, evenings are shorter, and the phone habits that felt manageable in July are suddenly […]
Instagram and TikTok Privacy Settings Worth Checking Before School Starts
New school year, new class schedule, new group chat, and for a lot of teens, a fresh wave of interest in their social accounts. New classmates look people up. Old classmates reconnect. Accounts that sat quiet all summer suddenly get more visitors, and more visibility means it’s worth knowing exactly who can see what. This […]
Choosing a Smartwatch for a Kid Starting School: What to Check Before You Buy
Your kid starts school, and suddenly you’re not the one holding their hand at pickup. That gap between “I dropped them off” and “I know they’re safe” is exactly what smartwatch makers are selling to. Walk down the aisle or scroll the ads and you’ll see the pitch everywhere: call your child anytime, see where […]
Back-to-School Phishing Emails: Fake Tuition, Supply Lists, and School Portal Scams
Your inbox in August looks different than it does the rest of the year. Class assignments, supply lists, sports fees, lunch account reminders, portal login prompts. It’s a lot of legitimate email arriving in a short window, and that’s exactly the cover scammers wait for. Fraud that hides inside routine paperwork works because the routine […]
How to Set Up Parental Controls on a New School-Issued Laptop or Tablet
Your kid comes home with a laptop in a school-branded case, a login sheet, and a list of apps you’ve never heard of. It looks like any other device, but it isn’t quite yours, and it isn’t quite theirs either. It belongs to the school, which means a lot of the usual parental control playbook […]