Parent ProTech offers a guide to keep kids safe online

TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram. And so many more.

Social media is everywhere these days and can be accessible to anyone with a smartphone or computer. Having this type of power in one’s hand or pocket can be daunting for everyone involved.

Brock Murphy, a Southeast Missouri native, has come up with a solution to relieve stress for parents and educators when it comes to safely navigating technology. He and his team have developed a program called Parent ProTech which helps parents, who are unfamiliar with the platforms their children use, gain more information and understand the potential digital threats.

Murphy said Parent ProTech was born from people reaching out to him and a co-founder asking for help understanding the platforms and their updates.

“People were reaching out to us and we quickly realized that there’s a bit of a disconnect between what people hope they know about the platforms that our kids are surrounded by today and what they can be used for or who they can be talking to, not even to mention the data privacy and all that. Parent ProTech started from that. So what can we do to empower families and educators to be more active and aware of what our kids are doing online?”

One thing Murphy said that has families trying to understand is the rapidly changing names and new platforms. With Twitter now being called X and the different ways kids can game whether it be Roblox, Minecraft or Fortnite, Parent ProTech is a one-stop-shop under the parent protection umbrella that has family resources to stay up to date on the constant changes and updates.

He said one thing Parent ProTech strives to do is to meet parents where they are in their technology journey and to give them prevention education on the platforms their kids are on and how to navigate them. In addition, how to add available parental controls.

On the Parent ProTech website, there are terrifying facts rotating from the pressure kids feel to post on social media to the percentage of kids who are exposed to explicit content.

Murphy said there are other platforms parents may not think of such as streaming services Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV. While kids may not be interacting with others on these platforms, there is the online safety of what they should or should not be watching.

He said the content and policies are constantly being updated. To keep up with this, Parent ProTech adds new content every week, in both English and Spanish, for more accessibility.

Other than keeping children safe at home, Murphy said he wants to keep the school systems involved as well. One way they are doing this is by adding a digital citizenship curriculum. This hones in on the digital footprint, what you post today can come back and hound you for your dream job down the road. One school district that has decided to join Parent ProTech is the Chaffee School District.

Chaffee superintendent Shawn Nix said the district got in with Parent ProTech early and has been using the program since last school year. Nix is not only an educator but a parent to two teenagers, and while he is pretty tech-savvy, he does not know it all.

“Parent ProTech has tried to corner the market for this to be the expert to help teachers help families. Allow kids to be kids and be social and have things they need, but also be safe at the same time. It gives parents an extra layer of security on how to get into the settings and what to allow and not allow. Do those things and get kids out a little safer in the digital world because it can be scary.”

Nix said it depends on each class how the district uses this program. The business classes use it as well as some of the general classes to talk more about their digital footprint and digital citizenship. These classes start young in elementary school to try and encourage kids to leave a good impression because once it is out there, even if it is deleted, it is there forever.

As an educator, Nix said he would recommend other schools to join just to get an extra layer of education to their students about the digital world and to help families try to understand the ever-changing media world.

To look at the Parent ProTech website, go to www.parentprotech.com/main/home.