The Apps That Kids Shouldn’t Have on Their Phones – Not Real Estate But Important

Taking a little break from all the blog posts about real estate and posting about another topic that is important to Orson Hill Realty. Orson Hill is a very high tech company. Founded by a guy that has been a tech geek before it was cool or even profitable to be a tech geek. Danny has always had all the cool gadgets from his first computer that was a Commodore Vic20. He has brought this tech knowledge into every business he has owned. That is why we feel comfortable addressing another part of technology.
We are a family owned and operated real estate company. Our brokers are just like you. Our owner/broker has 3 kids himself. All at the age of just getting into technology. If your children are anything like all of ours, your children’s phone and tablets are with them pretty much 24/7. This is a good thing for the most part. We won’t discuss the need for unplugging and getting outside and running in this post. That is a topic for another day. This is strictly about what is on your children’s phone and laptop right now. 
It isn’t just the “old man” in me that constantly thinks “things have really changed since I was a kid”. This is a very true statement. My parents always told me “don’t talk to strangers”. Now here we are putting apps on our kid’s phones that allow them to message and be messaged by anyone at anytime. This is something that should scare any of us. Even the best child locks and parental controls can be bypassed by a tech savvy child. My 11 year old showed me how he could get passed his mom’s need to approve the download of an app from itunes. It was a bit scary and a bit funny at the same time. He was getting tired of her taking so long to approve his apps so he figured it out. Took him all but 20 minutes to find a work around. I won’t tell you how to do but any kid with the knowledge and the will can do this. To be honest the tech geek in me was very impressed but the dad in me was terrified. 
Of course as the kids get older online safety is less of a concern, although even adults should be concerned about online safety, the concerns shift to different concerns like online fraud and identity theft. For the moment we are just talking about “stranger danger” and our children. Now some of these apps do serve their purpose in society and aren’t just for predictors to meet your children. For a while me and my oldest had snapchat because he became aware his mother was reading his text to me. So he suggested snapchat so we can have candid father/son discussions. Of course nothing crazy but boys talk differently to their fathers than they do their mothers. After a while I got concerned about safety and had him remove it.
Below is a list of apps that you may want to have your children remove from their phones or at least monitor them well. Again just because your child has these apps it doesn’t mean they are meeting strangers in an alley after you go to sleep at night. It just increases their odds of danger. That is kind of what it is about these is risk management. Keep your children safe and monitor their online activity as best you can.