children – PSafe Blog

I Am A Witness: Antibullying Emoji Campaign

PSafe Newsroom — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 21:33:36 +0000

There are lots of apps available that can make your life less dangerous. But now kids can support their friends through being bullied — and help to stop it — with a unique set of emojis. Called I Am a Witness, the keyboard is designed to stop bullying by helping kids point out cruelties, which, according to the app, can be remedied simply by someone calling out bullies. Here, we’ll discuss some of the best features — and a few drawbacks — to the I Am a Witness app.

The Purpose
According to the I Am a Witness app, 81% of bullying ends when someone steps in to stop it. That’s the function of the I Am a Witness app. In group chats or private messages on phones, kids can tell friends to stop saying nasty things about other members of the text conversation using an emoji or a sticker. They can also support bullied students by sending them private messages letting them know they aren’t alone.

The Witness Emojis
There are several types of emojis available, all in a bright and fun pop art style. There are multi-colored staring eyes letting bullies know they are being watched. To support bullied friends, kids can send kind messages like “Stay Cool” or “Don’t Listen” to offer visual sympathy. The app is completely free, so kids don’t have to buy anything to offer their support to bullied peers.

Reviews
Most of the users of I Am Witness really liked the app — it has over a four-star rating in the Google Play store. A number of users say that the app really helps to stop bullying. Not everyone is such a fan, however. Some reviewers say that the app often crashes, while others don’t like that the app asks for too much data from users. Additional keyboard users don’t like that keyboards takes up too much of the phone’s screen

I Am Witness helps your kids support their friends. If you want to make sure your kids can always stick up for their friends, download PSafe Total onto their smartphones. PSafe’s Memory Booster helps them optimize their data, clear out clutter from their storage, and speed up their devices. Kids can have a lot of junk on their phones, and PSafe will help you help them clean.

Tips for Helping Your Child Create a Good Password

PSafe Newsroom — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:43:10 +0000

Creating a good password can be a difficult process, even as an adult. We know that they must be long and include numbers, symbols, and upper- and lowercase letters. The best passwords often involve a random sequence of letters, as opposed to actual words. But that can be incredibly difficult to remember. Fortunately, a good password is not necessarily one that your closest friends or family couldn’t (eventually) guess — but that a hacker or computer couldn’t guess. This is worth remembering when helping your child create a good password. Whether you’re creating a password for your child for the first time, or teaching them how to make a good password — and remember it — the following are some tips to keep in mind.

It’s a good idea to create unique passwords for each account or device, especially when it comes to more important accounts, such as those for your e-mail or online banking.
Make the password as long as you can, and incorporate lower- and uppercase letters, symbols, and numbers. Avoid popular number sequences, words, or important dates.
Have your child think of a TV show they like, or even a favorite food or color. Tell them to choose something that they will remember, but something that isn’t easily guessable. Now alter that word or phrase, and add in some uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
If you or your child is having trouble thinking of a long password, it’s okay to repeat the password twice to make it longer.
Teach your child to memorize the password. This is a good practice, especially for beginners who don’t have dozens of different passwords to remember. However, it usually doesn’t hurt to let your child write down his or her password, as long as that information is kept in a safe place.
A password should be changed semi-regularly.
Remember to emphasize that a password that is easy and fast to type is not always the best password — Security is more important than speed!

Protect Your Devices From Threats
You have enough things to worry about as your child learns how to navigate the internet — don’t let hacking be one of them. Download PSafe Total for your Android device and PSafe Total Windows for your PC to ensure that your devices are protected from malware 24/7. With PSafe Total you can also add an extra layer of security to your favorite apps, by using the Vault feature to add second passwords. Another layer of security never hurts — especially when you’re sharing your devices with someone still learning about how it all works.

Use These Helpful Apps to Teach Children to Read and Write

PSafe Newsroom — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 20:46:59 +0000

As a parent, it’s important to play an essential role in developing your child’s literacy. When they leave the classroom, it’s possible to continue their education at home or on the go, no pens or paper required. Next time your child asks to play with your phone, open up one of these apps to keep their attention occupied and their mind stimulated.

123s ABCs Kids Handwriting
This app offers the bare essentials to teaching kids how to write. New writers can trace letters, shapes, and numbers to gain exposure to the practice of handwriting. It’s good for kids who are a bit farther along in their progress, as it offers fewer interactive elements than its competitors, some of which might serve as a distraction.

LetterSchool Free
This award-winning app covers the basic shapes of letters, both uppercase and lowercase, and numbers 1 through 10 as well. There are four games that test the child’s memory and skills they’ve learned, and their progress is tracked along the way. It only requires Android 2.3 and up.

Cursive Writing Wizard Letters
Not every school offers cursive in the curriculum, but your child can learn at home with this interactive handwriting app. Personalized word lists can be created to produce a wide variety of words, and each child’s progress is tracked through reports and records of their letters written. Different fonts and other customizations are available.

Endless Reader
As a follow-up to Endless Alphabet, which targets a younger audience, Endless Reader uses cute, digital monsters to act out the words associated with their narratives. The app uses basic language to get kids recognizing sounds and letter combinations while they learn to read, and there is no competitive element to it; kids can progress as they please. The Endless series offers more advanced apps, such as Advanced Wordplay, on Google Play.

Your Child’s Learning and PSafe
These apps require an extended amount of storage space to track their progress, and PSafe Total’s Memory Booster offers extended space to save all the work your child has done in these respective apps. To keep your child focused, use the Vault to lock distracting apps such as your phone’s contacts, photos, and text messages, and to prevent your child them from opening them accidently. Finally, to ensure that no unwanted or questionable forces disrupt their workflow, get Advanced Protection to block any third party intrusions, so you can have peace of your mind while your child plays.