Crowd-sourcing the best parent tech tips: Rebel Tech Alliance
hi everyone,
We're on a mission to get as many people off Big Tech products as we can, and as many people away from the surveillance economy. And since that starts early we've made this page for parents to find the best tech tips to keep their children safe.
[Note on social media: we do not support a ban for social media, we think the tech companies should fix their products instead. But since that will probably never happen, and the best option - never use social media - is probably not practical for many families, we've listed alternatives on this page.]
We welcome any tips that parents here can share - stuff that's worked for you to keep your children safe from big tech. It doesn't have to be app alternatives - it can be habits / mindset stuff too. Or it could be stuff that's not worked / pitfalls.
Please also let us know if anything currently on the page looks wrong or misleading.
Be mindful that this is aimed at totally non-technical-minded parents.
Thank you!
utopiah
in reply to Paddy66 • • •Reclaming for kids! - Tech Reclaimers
forum.techreclaimers.clubPaddy66
in reply to utopiah • • •thank you! I like that you suggested irl activities like upperstory.com/en/turingtumble…
The point about games is a good one. Free games apps are terrible for collecting location data. Do you (or anyone here) know of a place/collection of open source games? They don't have to be free (£$ money free) but they would have to be open source to know they're not data harvesters.
Turing Tumble - Build Marble-Powered Computers
Upper Story - Endless CuriosityOtter
in reply to Paddy66 • • •This is helpful, and I hope these other platforms grow in popularity. However, my concern with kids is that they will desperately want to use the platforms that their friends are on and they will hold it against the parents (and alternative platforms) if they are forced to make do without the big tech ones.
I think addressing that will be helpful. What I would add:
... Show more...- Talk about alternative front ends and teach kids about them. Its possible to access the big tech sites without the ads and tracking, and often its a much better experience. You could also explore other ways of using the platforms with limited permissions, such as by using the mobile browser instead of the app, and/or custom extensions that modify the platform (ex. uBlock origin removes ads). This way, kids can still see some of the content that their friends see (under parental supervision), and they can talk about it with them / participate in the group dynamic. They might even feel superior for knowing how to get around the problems that their friends complain about.
- Work with other parents to transiti
This is helpful, and I hope these other platforms grow in popularity. However, my concern with kids is that they will desperately want to use the platforms that their friends are on and they will hold it against the parents (and alternative platforms) if they are forced to make do without the big tech ones.
I think addressing that will be helpful. What I would add:
- Talk about alternative front ends and teach kids about them. Its possible to access the big tech sites without the ads and tracking, and often its a much better experience. You could also explore other ways of using the platforms with limited permissions, such as by using the mobile browser instead of the app, and/or custom extensions that modify the platform (ex. uBlock origin removes ads). This way, kids can still see some of the content that their friends see (under parental supervision), and they can talk about it with them / participate in the group dynamic. They might even feel superior for knowing how to get around the problems that their friends complain about.
- Work with other parents to transition on to these other platforms. If the kid and their close friends are on the better platform, then all of the stuff above is a moot point :)
edit: by alternative front ends, I mean something like Redlib for Reddit: redlib.catsarch.com/r/aww/
There is a list here: github.com/mendel5/alternative…
GitHub - mendel5/alternative-front-ends: Overview of alternative open source front-ends for popular internet platforms (e.g. YouTube, Twitter, etc.)
GitHubgrue
in reply to Otter • • •This is literally my greatest worry as a parent.