One of my kids let me know that all the kids are passing around links in google docs to VPN and proxy services that can bypass all parental and school filters.
There seems to be no way to stop them without blocking every single VPN website, and new ones are created automatically every day.
I want my kids to learn to be smart and independent with technology by the time they leave the house, but the school provides them all with chrome books and I have no way of filtering even the most extreme adult content.
I’m considering putting all my kids on a no internet school list and having them use only home devices I can better monitor for internet. How are parents handling this? Feels like we are throwing another generation to the wolves.
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School districts can restrict what apps and programs are installed on the computers, as well as what websites are visited. A really savvy kid may still find a solution, but not something easy like this.
Send a note to the superintendent or IT director. It’ll help if you can provide details on how students are bypassing the current security measures. If that doesn’t address it, write the school board.
This sort of thing opens up a lot of possibilities that neither parents nor administrators want.
My kids also informed me of this - there is a tech arms race at school and the kids are always two steps ahead. Honestly my approach is to focus on impulse control and healthy behavior. While I do keep and eye on things and take devices away at night, I feel like I can’t constantly play gotcha with my kids.
Schools have limited budgets. That goes double for their IT. They’ll have techs that can replace an iPad or Chromebook, but suddenly are expected to be an all in one team (IT, IS, Asset management, procurement), on the budget of an entry level desktop support.
I remember when my parents were trying to put these Internet control programs on our PC. All I wanted to do was play Simcity and those programs would somehow interfere with it and prevent it from running and would piss me off.
Then my brother joined an Internet pedophile ring when he was 12, became a grade school teacher as an adult, and was eventually arrested on child porn charges (along with the rest of that Internet pedophile ring) in his 30’s. He was arrested for breach of condition after his release from those charges.
I don’t really interact much with my family now.
I think what I’m trying to say is, trying to control what they do online with a technology arm race does not work. Concentrating on forming a good bond with your kids, where they trust you, is more likely to be effective.
Our kid now has a chromebook. They (school) claim they are monitoring everything, and it’s a Catholic school, so they can actually kick the kid out. I think the only real solution is to make the consequences so bad that they won’t do it. You can’t win a technology arms race like this.
I would put child on the no Internet list. All screens at home should be in public areas of the house. No devices in bedrooms. Child will still probably get into things looking over shoulders. It’s good to have a lot of conversations about adult content. When my son was nine he was given links to porn by a boy at school. Within a few hours he was being served links to violent content involving rape and torture. My husband is not squeamish about sex but he was literally in tears when he saw some of what my son had seen. Because we had a device monitoring policy we were able to shut this down within a few hours. Son was never drawn into some of the really toxic social media quarrels that drew in his peers. While technology literacy is great, it should take a back seat to reading, writing, and math fundamentals in the early years. If child is a strong reader and thinks logically, tech is not going to be opaque. It’s really not that hard to use.
Be careful that you’re not punishing your kid for being honest with you. Adding them to the no internet list might feel like a punishment - what incentive do they have to tel you about things like this in the future?
Ah I remember when no one knew wtf a VPN was besides tweens and teenagers…good days lol. In all seriousness though, there really isn’t much you can do about this. You’re right, there’s just too much out there to try and fight. There’s too many sites. You can’t monitor them 24/7. You can’t put them in a virtual bubble. What you can do is keep an open dialogue with your kid about internet safety. I’m assuming your kid is at least in middle school cause wow if elementary kids are doing the VPN thing we’re doomed lol. Share some stories with them about the dangers of the internet. There are so many younger millennials/elder gen zers who are coming out and finally opening up about what happened to them online. I’m one of them. Anyone remember kik? My god. The best thing you can do is teach your kids to learn from our mistakes.
We have an open technology policy with our kids. We can go through their devices at any time (9 and 11, so it’s a tablet and then the school Chromebook). Everything charges with us overnight. We have them after 7:30 unless they are working on homework.
They tell us when they see something inappropriate and they’ve learned how to block people, how to not give out information they shouldn’t give out (we legit practice with scenarios).
Tech is always going to be ahead of safety mechanisms. So we have chosen to teach our kids how to interact, how to say no, how to identify bias in a source, how to find good resources, etc.
My kid figured out how to circumvent all safe guards at school by the time he was a sophomore. He then showed all his friend how to do it. I wasn’t upset about. I swear his school uses a cell blocker. I came to realization that I cannot keep up with his skill set, he’s making a career out of it now. You can do everything on your power to stop them at home but once out of your house you can’t shield them. Have open conversations, make your home a safe space to be honest. They are going to be exposed to things regardless. Teach them the world isn’t a safe place but you are.
My wife periodically has to work in schools and the school filters block her legitimate work resources (like google docs). Some high schoolers taught her how to use the vpn to bypass, so she could actually do her lesson.
I feel like keeping kids behind a iron curtain will just make them want to see what you are trying to hide. The best option is to teach the kids what is okay just like you would do in the real world since there is not much you can do unless you have a lot of knowledge in preventing them from bypassing this. For example you can block the ports used by VPNs in your router/modem settings like UDP port 500 or TCP port 443. You can also enable SPI Firewall in the router settings as well. If they use a PC make sure to password block the BIOS Firmware to stop them from attempting to install any alternative OS (kind of rare to see from kids but still). Also if they use an Iphone or Ipad you can block app (like vpns) installs by password locking them. You can also install a management profile on the iPhone/Ipad/Mac to monitor the kids from a root system level (basically tracking but without a visible app or the ability to bypass to reset due to Icloud auto backup.) As a last resort you can get a locked flip phone . You want your kids to be isolated from all social media and you want to them to watch education videos and play games you have deemed to be okay. So as long as the content they consume is not NSFW or just brainrot they should be able to watch educational videos on things they like or want. For example Linus Tech Tips, ETA Prime, How Ridiculous, brightside, kurzgesagt and Veritasium are good education youtube channels. You could also promote documentaries instead of movies based on what they preferred to know about. It can be technology, science, health, history or arts.
Overall I feel like you should replace instead of remove when it comes to kids. It is like with coffee, for some you can remove coffee but it will cause withdrawal if you do not find an alternative to lean on for a certain amount of time like hot chocolate, tea or chicory.
Lol, something never change. No advice here, just relating. A lifetime ago, in the early 90s in middle school, we some of apple’s first PC, IMac something or other.
They installed software to keep the kids in some “safe environment”… literally look us middle schoolers 1 day to find a way around the software. And since it was an all boys catholic school, you can imagine what the kids looked up on the internet.
There are definitely things that can be done to stop this. Simply tell the admin. I have a feeling someone with some form of education and experience in IT can outsmart some kids.
Our son’s highschool computer policy is a joke. Students continually use VPN’s to bypass blocks and virtual desktops to simply swipe on the touchpad between classwork and games/pornography.
I called the district IT office and they were pretty clueless and unhelpful and they idea that they were responsible was a bit lost on them. Might take another swing at it.
. You want your kids to be isolated from all social media and you want to them to watch education videos and play games you have deemed to be okay. So as long as the content they consume is not NSFW or just brainrot they should be able to watch educational videos on things they like or want. For example Linus Tech Tips, ETA Prime, How Ridiculous, brightside, kurzgesagt and Veritasium are good education youtube channels. You could also promote documentaries instead of movies based on what they preferred to know about. It can be technology, science, health, history or arts.