DES MOINES—Continuing her priority to keep children safe online, today Attorney General Brenna Bird released some helpful tips for parents, teachers and caregivers.    

“As a mom and a prosecutor, I know how important it is for parents to be aware of online dangers targeting their kids,” said Attorney General Bird. “It's valuable for parents to know what steps they can take to keep their kids safe, and to know they have support from my office.”  

Phone and Social Media Safety Tips 

• Create a Barrier.  Use both your phone’s global privacy and security settings-- and any separate privacy or security settings for apps-- to limit or block access to location sharing, media, and cameras. Some settings let you hide kids’ profiles from others.  

• Consider imposing screen limits.  Phones or apps often have features that allow you to set limits on when kids are allowed to use the phones, which apps and content they can access, and for how long.  

Video Game Safety Tips   

As a final note, Attorney General Bird cautions that although the above tips are helpful, parents should not fully trust that the technological protections always work. She encourages parents to manually check to verify and ensure that a child is protected. 

To report a game or platform that you believe is violating age-appropriate standards, contact the Iowa Attorney General’s office at 1-888-777-4590 or file a complaint online here.    

  

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For More Information:

Jen Green 

jen.green@ag.iowa.gov