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Outdoor safety tips: 10 things you can do to protect your kids
Outdoor safety tips: 10 things you can do to protect your kids
American children spend over three times as many hours in front of screens as they do outdoors. As children get older, their screen time increases on average, too, giving them less time to spend outside. Yet research suggests unstructured, outdoor play leads to higher self-directed executive functioning in children. In fact, being outdoors and playing in nature are essential to a child's overall health and well-being.
But there's a reason many parents are hesitant to send their children out the front door: outdoor play is simply riskier -- at least on an immediate, physical level -- than watching TV. Luckily, a few simple tricks can help lower the risks to children associated with playing outside.
Use the buddy system
Depending on the ages of your children, independent play can be risky without parents around to monitor it. If a child gets hurt, they might not be able to reach help on their own. Having a buddy around while playing can keep both children safer.
Emphasize personal safety
Educate your children on personal safety, especially when riding bikes, skating and playing sports. Teach your children the importance of wearing a helmet and that it's non-negotiable. Elbow and knee pads and other sports-specific gear are helpful protective measures. Instilling the importance of protective gear and helmet-wearing at all times when they're young ensures they'll make safer choices as they gain more independence.
Have a plan
In case of an emergency, you should already have a home safety plan in place. But do you also have a plan in place for your older kids as they gain more independence? When your children are old enough to leave your yard or venture away from your building, they should know what to do if they're hurt or need help of any other kind.
Talk through potential hazards with them, letting them ask questions along the way. Do they understand where to go, what to do and who to contact if something happens to them, a friend or even a stranger? Is there a plan B if you're not home, or if they can't reach you?
Chris Monroe/CNET
Use smart security as an extra pair of eyes
While many parents develop keen ears for hearing their child's distant cry -- including whether it's playful or genuine -- an extra set of eyes when the kids are outside can't hurt. Having an outdoor home security camera doesn't just protect your home; it can also give you another way to ensure child safety outdoors. Most smart security cameras can be monitored from smartphones, and some even boast smart features, like animal detection, facial recognition and person alerts, which can help give you more detailed notifications while your children play.
Remember road safety
Personal safety isn't the only thing kids should be educated about when they're playing outdoors. Many children are unaware of the surrounding dangers when outdoors until an adult explains it. Children walking and biking should know the rules of the road, including how to obey traffic laws and the correct traffic flow, like riding with the flow of traffic off to the right instead of against it. If your child has to walk a few blocks to get to the basketball court or nearest playground, do a trial run for their first time and help them navigate the roads -- using crosswalks and looking both ways for cars along the way so they know the right path to take.
Set up a kid-friendly zone
If you're lucky enough to have a backyard or other outdoor area for your kids to play, make sure it's kid-friendly by protecting against common hazards. Pools and hot tubs should be securely closed and locked to prevent accidental injuries or worse. Toys and playhouses should be checked for insect nests, snakes and other unwelcome critters (these will differ based on where you live).
Scan the yard for other potential hazards, like dead tree branches or poison ivy that may have creeped in from the neighbor's yard. If you have a trampoline or are planning to get one, know how to level it properly, especially if your yard is sloped.
For those who don't have a yard, it's important to create age-appropriate boundaries before children can safely play outdoors without an adult. There may be a creek nearby you want them to avoid, or a busy intersection they should steer clear of. Walk the boundaries, teaching them where they can and can't go along the way. If your apartment building has rules -- for instance, kids can play in the garden but aren't allowed to open the exterior door -- make sure your kiddos know the rules and can repeat them so you know they understand.
Keep track of the kids
A bit of freedom goes a long way toward unstructured play for your child's physical and mental growth, but you can't be everywhere with them. One solution is an age-appropriate tracker that can show you where they are, even without them checking in. (We recommend using these trackers only with the knowledge of your children.) You can use tracking services built into smartphones and watches, or use a separate device.
Remember medical considerations
Preparing a child with allergies or other medical issues for outdoor fun might take a couple of extra steps before they're ready to head out the door.
Make sure your children have any medication they need readily available, especially for serious allergies like bee stings. For children who need an inhaler, practice with them so they know when and how to administer their medicine on their own. If your child needs medication at a specific time, make sure they have an alarm set to come back home to take their medicine when needed, or have a system in place for them to safely take it while outside.
Even if your children don't have these concerns, that doesn't mean their friends don't. Check with parents of your children's friends to be sure you're not packing snacks that could lead friends to have serious allergic reactions.
David Priest/CNET
Encourage seasonal preparation
Children should stay well hydrated before, during and after outdoor activities -- especially when the weather is hot. Check on them every half hour to make sure they stay hydrated, and more often during hotter months. Know the signs of dehydration and have rehydration solutions like Pedialyte readily available in cases of mild dehydration.
In winter months, children should wear layers of warm, brightly colored clothes appropriate for the temperatures in your area. This way, they can remove or add layers based on temperature fluctuations, especially around dusk and dawn.
In general, asking what the kids plan to do before they leave for an hours-long play session is a good idea, too: if they say they're building a snow fort, you can remind them not to tunnel under heavy snow; if they say they're playing baseball in the street, you can remind them to watch for cars.
Set check-in timers
Kids can easily lose track of time when they're outside having fun. Help them remember to check in regularly by setting an alarm or reminder on their smartphone or tracker. You can also get an inexpensive smart speaker to set outside that will remind them to check in.
Conclusion
Encouraging outdoor play can have a lasting positive effect on your kids. But if you want to avoid any injuries worse than the usual bumps and bruises, following some safety tips can make a big difference. Make indoor and outdoor home security easier with some of these recommendations:
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Outdoor safety tips: 10 things you can do to protect your kids
Outdoor safety tips: 10 things you can do to protect your kids
American children spend over three times as many hours in front of screens as they do outdoors. As children get older, their screen time increases on average, too, giving them less time to spend outside. Yet research suggests unstructured, outdoor play leads to higher self-directed executive functioning in children. In fact, being outdoors and playing in nature are essential to a child's overall health and well-being.
But there's a reason many parents are hesitant to send their children out the front door: outdoor play is simply riskier -- at least on an immediate, physical level -- than watching TV. Luckily, a few simple tricks can help lower the risks to children associated with playing outside.
Use the buddy system
Depending on the ages of your children, independent play can be risky without parents around to monitor it. If a child gets hurt, they might not be able to reach help on their own. Having a buddy around while playing can keep both children safer.
Emphasize personal safety
Educate your children on personal safety, especially when riding bikes, skating and playing sports. Teach your children the importance of wearing a helmet and that it's non-negotiable. Elbow and knee pads and other sports-specific gear are helpful protective measures. Instilling the importance of protective gear and helmet-wearing at all times when they're young ensures they'll make safer choices as they gain more independence.
Have a plan
In case of an emergency, you should already have a home safety plan in place. But do you also have a plan in place for your older kids as they gain more independence? When your children are old enough to leave your yard or venture away from your building, they should know what to do if they're hurt or need help of any other kind.
Talk through potential hazards with them, letting them ask questions along the way. Do they understand where to go, what to do and who to contact if something happens to them, a friend or even a stranger? Is there a plan B if you're not home, or if they can't reach you?
Chris Monroe/CNET
Use smart security as an extra pair of eyes
While many parents develop keen ears for hearing their child's distant cry -- including whether it's playful or genuine -- an extra set of eyes when the kids are outside can't hurt. Having an outdoor home security camera doesn't just protect your home; it can also give you another way to ensure child safety outdoors. Most smart security cameras can be monitored from smartphones, and some even boast smart features, like animal detection, facial recognition and person alerts, which can help give you more detailed notifications while your children play.
Remember road safety
Personal safety isn't the only thing kids should be educated about when they're playing outdoors. Many children are unaware of the surrounding dangers when outdoors until an adult explains it. Children walking and biking should know the rules of the road, including how to obey traffic laws and the correct traffic flow, like riding with the flow of traffic off to the right instead of against it. If your child has to walk a few blocks to get to the basketball court or nearest playground, do a trial run for their first time and help them navigate the roads -- using crosswalks and looking both ways for cars along the way so they know the right path to take.
Set up a kid-friendly zone
If you're lucky enough to have a backyard or other outdoor area for your kids to play, make sure it's kid-friendly by protecting against common hazards. Pools and hot tubs should be securely closed and locked to prevent accidental injuries or worse. Toys and playhouses should be checked for insect nests, snakes and other unwelcome critters (these will differ based on where you live).
Scan the yard for other potential hazards, like dead tree branches or poison ivy that may have creeped in from the neighbor's yard. If you have a trampoline or are planning to get one, know how to level it properly, especially if your yard is sloped.
For those who don't have a yard, it's important to create age-appropriate boundaries before children can safely play outdoors without an adult. There may be a creek nearby you want them to avoid, or a busy intersection they should steer clear of. Walk the boundaries, teaching them where they can and can't go along the way. If your apartment building has rules -- for instance, kids can play in the garden but aren't allowed to open the exterior door -- make sure your kiddos know the rules and can repeat them so you know they understand.
Keep track of the kids
A bit of freedom goes a long way toward unstructured play for your child's physical and mental growth, but you can't be everywhere with them. One solution is an age-appropriate tracker that can show you where they are, even without them checking in. (We recommend using these trackers only with the knowledge of your children.) You can use tracking services built into smartphones and watches, or use a separate device.
Remember medical considerations
Preparing a child with allergies or other medical issues for outdoor fun might take a couple of extra steps before they're ready to head out the door.
Make sure your children have any medication they need readily available, especially for serious allergies like bee stings. For children who need an inhaler, practice with them so they know when and how to administer their medicine on their own. If your child needs medication at a specific time, make sure they have an alarm set to come back home to take their medicine when needed, or have a system in place for them to safely take it while outside.
Even if your children don't have these concerns, that doesn't mean their friends don't. Check with parents of your children's friends to be sure you're not packing snacks that could lead friends to have serious allergic reactions.
David Priest/CNET
Encourage seasonal preparation
Children should stay well hydrated before, during and after outdoor activities -- especially when the weather is hot. Check on them every half hour to make sure they stay hydrated, and more often during hotter months. Know the signs of dehydration and have rehydration solutions like Pedialyte readily available in cases of mild dehydration.
In winter months, children should wear layers of warm, brightly colored clothes appropriate for the temperatures in your area. This way, they can remove or add layers based on temperature fluctuations, especially around dusk and dawn.
In general, asking what the kids plan to do before they leave for an hours-long play session is a good idea, too: if they say they're building a snow fort, you can remind them not to tunnel under heavy snow; if they say they're playing baseball in the street, you can remind them to watch for cars.
Set check-in timers
Kids can easily lose track of time when they're outside having fun. Help them remember to check in regularly by setting an alarm or reminder on their smartphone or tracker. You can also get an inexpensive smart speaker to set outside that will remind them to check in.
Conclusion
Encouraging outdoor play can have a lasting positive effect on your kids. But if you want to avoid any injuries worse than the usual bumps and bruises, following some safety tips can make a big difference. Make indoor and outdoor home security easier with some of these recommendations:
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Best AirPods Deals: $69 Off AirPods Pro, $100 AirPods 2 and More
Best AirPods Deals: $69 Off AirPods Pro, $100 AirPods 2 and More
This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET's guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals.
AirPods are a top choice if you use an iPhone, iPad or Mac thanks to the devices' seamless integration with Apple's earbuds and you don't have to pay full price with the AirPods deals currently available. Plus, with Labor Day sales and a rumored October Prime Day around the corner, these AirPods deals should stick around for a while.
There are four different models of AirPods in Apple's wireless audio lineup: The second-gen AirPods from 2019 are the least expensive option, while the current, third-gen AirPods boast better sound quality with spatial audio. The AirPods Pro add versatility with active noise cancellation and transparency mode, and the plush AirPods Max over-ear headphones, by far the priciest of the bunch, are packed with high-end features.
As well as the Apple-branded AirPods, there are a couple of Beats-branded earbuds worth considering that also incorporate Apple-made tech for a similarly smooth experience. These include the Beats Fit Pro, which use Apple's H1 chip for fast, reliable connections and a sporty design for jamming out to tunes at the gym, or while running or otherwise exercising and being active. The Beats Studio Buds lack the H1 chip and the AirPod stem, but they are lightweight, comfortable and affordable.
Here are the best AirPods deals available right now along with the best prices to date for comparison.
Apple AirPods pricing 2022
Model
Apple Store price
Best price right now
Best all-time price
AirPods 2
$129
$100
$89
AirPods Pro 2021
$249
$180
$159
AirPods 3
$179
$169
$140
AirPods Max
$549
$479
$400
The list above is the full lineup of Apple wireless earbuds and headphones as of early 2022. Except for the baseline AirPods 2, all those listed above (plus the two aforementioned Beats models) are compatible with Apple's spatial audio features. However, none of them will deliver the maximum quality of Apple's lossless audio format, which is too rich for the current Bluetooth wireless standard to handle.
We update this story frequently to reflect current pricing.
David Carnoy/CNET
Unlike the AirPods Pro, these third-generation AirPods have an open-air design, so they don't have active noise cancellation, but they still offer some serious improvements over the AirPods 2. The adaptive EQ attunes music to your ear shape, and the battery life has been bumped up to 30 hours total. They also have an IPX4 water resistance rating. They are currently selling for $169 at select retailers, which is $10 less than you'd pay at Apple. They can often be found at a $29 discount at Amazon, so you may want to wait for that price break to return.
Read our AirPods 3 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
While the AirPods 2 aren't the most advanced model on the market right now, they still boast some impressive specs and are a great choice for those on a tighter budget. They're equipped with the same H1 chip as the AirPods 3, so they feature the same fast connectivity, and they support hands-free Siri access. Amazon quotes a $59 discount, but Apple has dropped the price of the 2nd-gen AirPods from $159 to $129, so you're saving only $29.
Read our AirPods 2 review.
David Carnoy/CNET
Apple's first full-size headphones are chock-full of high-end features like noise cancellation, spatial audio and easy integration with Apple devices. Yes, paying about the same as you would for a PS5 may sound excessive, but here's the thing: They're actually kinda worth it, so long as you don't feel burned by their lack of support for full lossless audio. You can save $70 or close to that figure on AirPods Max in their various colorways.
Read our AirPods Max review.
David Carnoy/CNET
No, they're not AirPods, but the Beats Studio Buds offer active noise canceling and make a great affordable alternative to the pricier AirPods Pro. They look a lot like the rumored stemless AirPods that people were talking about but that never materialized -- as AirPods, anyway. Geared toward both iOS and Android users, they're missing a few key features on the Apple side of things (there's no H1 or W1 chip), but they're small, lightweight earbuds that are comfortable to wear and offer good sound. They fit most ears securely, including mine -- I run with them without a problem -- but others may find a better fit with the Beats Fit Pro and their integrated wing tips. Right now, they're available with a $50 discount across their various colorways at a few retailers.
Read our Beats Studio Buds review.
David Carnoy/CNET
Technically, the new Beats Fit Pro aren't AirPods, but they're built on the same tech platform as the AirPods Pro. Unlike Beats' earlier and less expensive Studio Buds, the Beats Fit Pro include Apple's H1 chip and have most of the features of the AirPods Pro, including active noise canceling, spatial audio and Adaptive EQ. I'd venture to call them the sports AirPods you've always wanted. And for some people, they might just be better than the AirPods Pro. They are currently discounted by $20 at Amazon and Best Buy.
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V-Moda S-80 Review: These Headphones Mystified Me, But They Do Have One Saving Grace
V-Moda S-80 Review: These Headphones Mystified Me, But They Do Have One Saving Grace
V-Moda's new S-80 on-ear headphones have not being getting good reviews -- and it's pretty easy to see why.
First, they're an on-ear headphone, which are a dying breed as consumers who eschew earbuds gravitate toward over-ear models if they're going the full-size headphone route. Secondly, they're expensive at $400. And at 355g -- just 31 grams lighter than Apple's 386-gram AirPods Max -- they're heavy: The headband can put a little pressure on the crown of your head. (I shifted it off the apex of my head, moving it forward slightly.)
Like
Impressive build quality
Great sound, particularly for an on-ear headphone
Removable ear pads and swappable faceplates (both adhere magnetically
Don't Like
Heavy
Expensive
Could be more comfortable
Lacks features for the price
No carrying case
Additionally, they don't have such features as active noise-canceling, a transparency mode or much of anything extra except for swappable faceplates that adhere magnetically (that's nice) and an automatic volume boost that turns the headphones into sort of a wearable speaker when you turn the ear cups face up when the headphone are around your neck. They don't even come with a carrying case or an option for wired listening (they're rated for 20 hours of battery life).
So the question is: Why on earth would anybody buy them instead of the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2 -- along with several other excellent headphones -- are being offered for the same price? I don't have a good answer other than to say they S-80 are really well-built and have one major strength: They sound great. In fact, they may just be the best sounding on-ear headphones out there right now. They also sound better than V-Moda's Crossfade 2 Wireless headphones, offering better clarity and depth, though that model is more comfortable to wear.
The headphones have 40mm drivers and removable ear pads that adhere magnetically.
David Carnoy/CNET
Equipped with 40mm drivers, they offer well-balanced, detailed sound with sparkling highs, natural-sounding mids and punchy, powerful bass that never gets boomy. They support the AAC, AptX HD and SBS audio codecs but not AptX Adaptive. They have a relatively spacious soundstage -- particularly for an on-ear headphone -- and they're a headphone you can listen to for long stretches without any hint of listening fatigue. That said, some folks simply won't be able to find them comfortable enough to wear for long stretches. I found my comfort zone with them but a comfort zone probably isn't something you want to have to search for with a pair of headphones.
I didn't have a big problem with the lack of active noise canceling because the removable and replaceable ear pads do seal your ears off from the outside world pretty well and offer good passive noise isolation. The speaker mode is a little underwhelming because the volume boost doesn't really take the volume to the same level as the horseshoe-shaped wearable speakers I've tried from Bose and Sony over the years. And voice-calling performance is only so-so outdoors with subpar noise reduction (it's fine indoors with no wind and other ambient noise).
You can buy additional faceplates with some pretty cool designs (you can choose one extra faceplate with your initial purchase of the headphones)
V-Moda
V-Moda S-80: Final thoughts
V-Moda's earlier wired on-ear model, the XS, is being discounted in white for as little as $110. V-Moda spent a lot of time developing that model to create a more compact, streamlined alternative to full-size over-ear headphones. It has a folding headband and is relatively comfortable for an on-ear headphone with decent sound. I'm not sure why V-Moda didn't just create a wireless version of that for around $250.
Instead we got the S-80, which is really well-built and sounds great for an on-ear headphone, but is hard to make a case for at its $400 price when you factor in its ergonomic issues and lack of features. On some level I like it for being different and a weird bird, so to speak. However, it's a bit mystifying and will have to come down in price to make it really worth considering.
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Battery Backup vs. Generator: Which Backup Power Source Is Best for You?
Battery Backup vs. Generator: Which Backup Power Source Is Best for You?
When you live somewhere with extreme weather or regular power outages, it's a good idea to have a backup power source for your home. There are various types of backup power systems on the market, but each serves the same primary purpose: keeping your lights and appliances on when the power goes out.
It might be a good year to look into backup power: Much of North America is at an elevated risk of blackout this summer thanks to an ongoing drought and expected higher than average temperatures, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation said Wednesday. Parts of the United States, from Michigan down to the Gulf Coast, are at a high risk making blackouts even more likely.
The SaveOnEnergy marketplace helps you search, compare, sign up and save on the right energy fit for your home — all for free. If you're interested in solar, answer a few questions to get an exact price quote from our solar advisors.
In the past, fuel-powered standby generators (also known as whole house generators) have dominated the backup power supply market, but reports of risk of carbon monoxide poisoning have led many to search for alternatives. Battery backups have emerged as a more eco-friendly and potentially safer option to conventional generators.
Despite performing the same function, battery backups and generators are different devices. Each one has a particular set of advantages and disadvantages, which we'll cover in the following comparison guide. Keep reading to find out about the main differences between battery backups and generators and decide which option is right for you.
Cynthia R Matonhodze/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Battery backups
Home battery backup systems, such as the Tesla Powerwall or the LG Chem RESU, store energy, which you can use to power your house during an outage. Battery backups run on electricity, either from your home solar system or the electrical grid. As a result, they're much better for the environment than fuel-powered generators. They're also better for your wallet.
Separately, if you have a time-of-use utility plan, you can use a battery backup system to save money on your energy bills. Instead of paying high electricity rates during peak usage hours, you can use energy from your battery backup to power your home. In off-peak hours, you can use your electricity as normal -- but at a cheaper rate.
LifestyleVisuals/Getty Images
Generators
On the other hand, standby generators connect to your home's electrical panel and kick on automatically when the power goes out. Generators run on fuel to keep your electricity on during an outage -- typically natural gas, liquid propane or diesel. Other generators have a "dual fuel" feature, meaning that they can run on either natural gas or liquid propane.
Certain natural gas and propane generators can connect to your home's gas line or propane tank, so there's no need to refill them manually. Diesel generators, however, will need to be topped up in order to keep running.
Battery backup vs. generator: How do they compare?
Pricing
In terms of cost, battery backups are the pricier option upfront. But generators need fuel to run, which means that you'll spend more over time to maintain a steady fuel supply.
With battery backups, you'll need to pay for the backup battery system upfront, as well as installation costs (each of which are in the thousands). Exact pricing will vary based on which battery model you choose and how many of them you need to power your home. However, it's common for an average-sized home battery backup system to run between $10,000 and $20,000.
For generators, the upfront costs are slightly lower. On average, the price of purchasing and installing a standby generator can range from $7,000 to $15,000. However, remember that generators require fuel to run, which will increase your operating expenses. The specific costs will depend on a few factors, including the size of your generator, which type of fuel it uses and the amount of fuel used to run it.
Installation
Battery backups earn a slight edge in this category since they can be mounted to the wall or floor, whereas generator installations require a bit of additional work. Regardless, you'll need to hire a professional for either type of installation, both of which will require a full day of work and may cost several thousand dollars.
Aside from setting up the device itself, installing a generator also requires pouring a concrete slab, connecting the generator to a dedicated fuel source and installing a transfer switch.
Maintenance
Battery backups are the clear winner in this category. They're quiet, run independently, don't produce any emissions and don't require any ongoing maintenance.
On the other hand, generators can be quite noisy and disruptive when they're in use. They also emit exhaust or fumes, depending on which type of fuel they use to run -- which may irritate you or your neighbors.
Keeping your home powered
As far as how long they can keep your home powered, standby generators easily outperform battery backups. As long as you have enough fuel, generators can run continuously for up to three weeks at a time (if necessary).
That's simply not the case with battery backups. Let's use the Tesla Powerwall as an example. It has 13.5 kilowatt-hours of storage capacity, which can provide power for a few hours on its own. You can get extra power out of them if they're part of a solar panel system or if you use multiple batteries in a single system.
Expected lifespan and warranty
In most cases, battery backups come with longer warranties than standby generators. However, these warranties are measured in different ways.
Over time, battery backup systems lose the ability to hold a charge, much like phones and laptops. For that reason, battery backups include an end-of-warranty capacity rating, which measures how effective a battery will hold a charge by the end of its warranty period. In Tesla's case, the company guarantees that the Powerwall battery should retain 70% of its capacity by the end of its 10-year warranty.
Some backup battery manufacturers also offer a "throughput" warranty. This is the number of cycles, hours or energy output (known as "throughput") that a company guarantees on its battery.
With standby generators, it's easier to estimate lifespan. Good-quality generators can run for 3,000 hours, as long as they're well maintained. Therefore, if you run your generator for 150 hours per year, then it should last about 20 years.
Which one is right for you?
Across most categories, battery backup systems come out on top. In short, they're better for the environment, easier to install and cheaper to run long-term. Plus, they have longer warranties than standby generators.
With that said, traditional generators can be a good option in some cases. Unlike battery backups, you only need a single generator to restore power in an outage, which brings down the upfront costs. Plus, standby generators can last longer than battery backup systems in a single session. As a result, they'll be a safer bet if the power is out for days at a time.
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Twitter could cut back on hate speech with suspension warnings, study says
Twitter could cut back on hate speech with suspension warnings, study says
Since Twitter launched in 2006, it's become a giant networking event, bar hangout, meme-generator and casual conversation hub stuffed into one. But for every 280-word-long timely news update and witty remark, you'll find a violent, hateful post.
Among the crew of experts strategizing to disarm the dark side of Twitter, a team from New York University ran an experiment to test whether warning accounts that hate speech will result in suspension is a functional technique. Turns out, it could be pretty effective.
After studying over 4,300 Twitter users and 600,000 tweets, the scientists found warning accounts of such consequences "can significantly reduce their hateful language for one week." That dip was even more apparent when warnings were phrased politely.
Hopefully the team's paper, published Monday in the journal Perspectives on Politics, will help address the racist, vicious and abusive content that pollutes social media.
"Debates over the effectiveness of social media account suspensions and bans on abusive users abound, but we know little about the impact of either warning a user of suspending an account or of outright suspensions in order to reduce hate speech," Mustafa Mikdat Yildirim, an NYU doctoral candidate and the lead author of the paper, said in a statement.
"Even though the impact of warnings is temporary, the research nonetheless provides a potential path forward for platforms seeking to reduce the use of hateful language by users."
These warnings, Mikdat Yildirim observed, don't even have to come from Twitter itself. The ratio of tweets containing hateful speech per user lowered by between 10% and 20% even when the warning originated from a standard Twitter account with just 100 followers -- an "account" made by the team for experimental purposes.
"We suspect, as well, that these are conservative estimates, in the sense that increasing the number of followers that our account had could lead to even higher effects...to say nothing of what an official warning from Twitter would do," they write in the paper.
At this point you might be wondering: Why bother "warning" hate speech endorsers when we can just rid Twitter of them? Intuitively, an immediate suspension should achieve the same, if not stronger, effect.
Why not just ban hate speech ASAP?
While online hate speech has existed for decades, it's ramped up in recent years, particularly toward minorities. Physical violence as a result of such negativity has seen a spike as well. That includes tragedies like mass shootings and lynchings.
But there's evidence to show unannounced account removal may not be the way to combat the matter.
As an example, the paper points out former President Donald Trump's notorious and erroneous tweets following the 2020 United States presidential election. They consisted of election misinformation like calling the results fraudulent and praise for rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His account was promptly suspended.
Twitter said the suspension was "due to the risk of further incitement of violence," but the problem was Trump later attempted to access other ways of posting online, such as tweeting through the official @Potus account. "Even when bans reduce unwanted deviant behavior within one platform, they might fail in reducing the overall deviant behavior within the online sphere," the paper says.
Twitter suspended President Donald Trump's Twitter account on Jan. 8, 2021.
Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET
In contrast to quick bans or suspensions, Mikdat Yildirim and fellow researchers say warnings of account suspension could curb the issue long term because users will try to protect their account instead of moving somewhere else as a last resort.
Experimental evidence for warning signals
There were a few steps to the team's experiment. First, they created six Twitter accounts with names like @basic_person_12, @hate_suspension and @warner_on_hate.
Then, they downloaded 600,000 tweets on July 21, 2020 that were posted the week prior to identify accounts likely to be suspended during the course of the study. This period saw an uptick in hate speech against Asian and Black communities, the researchers say, due to COVID-19 backlash and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Sifting through those tweets, the team picked out any that used hate language as per a dictionary outlined by a researcher in 2017 and isolated those created after January 1, 2020. They reasoned that newer accounts are more likely to be suspended -- over 50 of those accounts did, in fact, get suspended.
Anticipating those suspensions, the researchers gathered 27 of those accounts' follower lists beforehand. After a bit more filtering, the researchers ended up with 4,327 Twitterers to study. "We limited our participant population to people who had previously used hateful language on Twitter and followed someone who actually had just been suspended," they clarify in the paper.
Next, the team sent warnings of different politeness levels -- the politest of which they believe created an air of "legitimacy" -- from each account to the candidates divided into six groups. One control group didn't receive a message.
Legitimacy, they believe, was important because "to effectively convey a warning message to its target, the message needs to make the target aware of the consequences of their behavior and also make them believe that these consequences will be administered," they write.
Ultimately, the method led to a reduction in the ratio of hateful posts by 10% for blunt warnings, such as "If you continue to use hate speech, you might lose your posts, friends and followers, and not get your account back" and by 15% to 20% with more respectful warnings, which included sentiments like "I understand that you have every right to express yourself but please keep in mind that using hate speech can get you suspended."
But it's not that simple
Even so, the research team notes that "we stop short, however, of unambiguously recommending that Twitter simply implement the system we tested without further study because of two important caveats."
Foremost, they say a message from a large corporation like Twitter could create backlash in a way the study's smaller accounts did not. Secondly, Twitter wouldn't have the benefit of ambiguity in suspension messages. They can't really say "you might" lose your account. Thus, they'd need a blanket rule.
And with any blanket rule, there could be wrongfully accused users.
"It would be important to weigh the incremental harm that such a warning program could bring to an incorrectly suspended user," the team writes.
Although the main impact of the team's warnings dematerialized about a month later and there are a couple of avenues yet to be explored, they still urge this technique could be a tenable option to mitigate violent, racist and abusive speech that continues to imperil the Twitter community.
1 in 10 americans uses stalkerware to track partners and peds 1 in 10 americans uses stalkerware to track partners and building 1 in 10 americans uses stalkerware to track partners and orka 1 in 1000 as a percentage 1 in 10 fatal accidents are caused by 1 in 10 women 1 inch to centimeters 1 inch 5 1 in inches height wibc 93 1 indianapolis 1 inch to millimeters
1 in 10 Americans uses stalkerware to track partners and exes, poll finds
1 in 10 Americans uses stalkerware to track partners and exes, poll finds
There's a booming market for apps that track your phone without your knowledge, siphoning off call and text records, photos and more to send to the person who secretly installed the spy app. It's called stalkerware, and according to a poll released on Wednesday by antivirus provider NortonLifeLock, one in 10 Americans admits to using it on their partner's or ex's devices.
Men are more than twice as likely than women to use the apps, according to the poll, which NortonLifeLock conducted in partnership with the Harris Poll. The apps are often marketed as theft protection or child-monitoring tools, said Kevin Roundy, a researcher at NortonLifeLock.
Because the apps run in the background, victims receive no notification that someone has installed stalkerware on their devices. The stealth nature of the apps makes them dangerous, Roundy says, and NortonLifeLock notifies users when the apps are detected.
"It should never be covert about what it's doing," Roundy said, referring to stalkerware technology.
The NortonLifeLock report comes as antivirus companies boost their efforts to detect and track stalkerware. Malwarebytes and Kaspersky look for the apps on customers' devices and have published reports on how often they find them. Academics and advocates are also working with antivirus companies to push for greater awareness of the dangers of stalkerware. All three antivirus companies are part of the Coalition to Stop Stalkerware, as are German antivirus firms Avira and G Data.
The apps fit an odd category of malicious software that can harm users but is sold legally. It's installed by people who know the victims, rather than distant cybercriminals. Roundy said people often use stalkerware when relationships are ending, a time when domestic violence experts say the risk of harm to an abused partner is highest.
Using the apps can violate wiretap and GPS privacy laws and is often part of a pattern of criminal harassment and stalking. But local law enforcement agencies are still catching up with the trend. Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation says education and advocacy are necessary to crack down on the use of stalkerware.
People who buy and install stalkerware on a partner's devices often leave obvious traces, including payment records and IP addresses that could let law enforcement track them down.
"That's very strong evidence they can take action on," Galperin said.
Though app stores have made progress in removing the apps from their platforms, NortonLifeLock's Roundy said, some apps just rebrand and say they're child safety apps. But as long as they're capable of covertly spying on device users, they're dangerous, he added.
Tracking partners without their consent is also bigger than stalkerware apps, Roundy said. Respondents to the poll said they engaged in several broader behaviors that let them stealthily track partners and exes.
The most common behaviors were checking a partner's phone or browsing history without their consent, with 29% and 21% of respondents respectively saying they did this. Nine percent said they'd created a fake social media profile and sent a friend request to their target's private social media accounts, and 8% had tracked someone's physical activity through fitness apps.
Many respondents also said they didn't think such "creeping" behaviors were a big deal, with 35% saying they weren't concerned as long as they weren't being stalked in person. However, men were much more likely to voice this opinion; 43% of men agreed with the idea, compared with 27% of women.
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
Rachel Barkman's son started accurately identifying different species of mushroom at the age of 2. Together they'd go out into the mossy woods near her home in Vancouver and forage. When it came to occasionally sharing in her TikTok videos her son's enthusiasm and skill for picking mushrooms, she didn't think twice about it -- they captured a few cute moments, and many of her 350,000-plus followers seemed to like it.
That was until last winter, when a female stranger approached them in the forest, bent down and addressed her son, then 3, by name and asked if he could show her some mushrooms.
"I immediately went cold at the realization that I had equipped complete strangers with knowledge of my son that puts him at risk," Barkman said in an interview this past June.
This incident, combined with research into the dangers of sharing too much, made her reevaluate her son's presence online. Starting at the beginning of this year, she vowed not to feature his face in future content.
"My decision was fueled by a desire to protect my son, but also to protect and respect his identity and privacy, because he has a right to choose the way he is shown to the world," she said.
These kinds of dangers have cropped up alongside the rise in child influencers, such as 10-year-old Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, who has almost 33 million subscribers, with various estimates putting his net worth in the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Increasingly, brands are looking to use smaller, more niche, micro- and nano-influencers, developing popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach their audiences. And amid this influencer gold rush there's a strong incentive for parents, many of whom are sharing photos and videos of their kids online anyway, to get in on the action.
The increase in the number of parents who manage accounts for their kids -- child influencers' parents are often referred to as "sharents" -- opens the door to exploitation or other dangers. With almost no industry guardrails in place, these parents find themselves in an unregulated wild west. They're the only arbiters of how much exposure their children get, how much work their kids do, and what happens to money earned through any content they feature in.
Instagram didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it takes any steps to safeguard child influencers. A representative for TikTok said the company has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and pointed to policies to protect accounts of users under the age of 16. But these policies don't apply to parents posting with or on behalf of their children. YouTube didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"When parents share about their children online, they act as both the gatekeeper -- the one tasked with protecting a child's personal information -- and as the gate opener," said Stacey Steinberg, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of the book Growing Up Shared. As the gate opener, "they benefit, gaining both social and possibly financial capital by their online disclosures."
The reality is that some parents neglect the gatekeeping and leave the gate wide open for any internet stranger to walk through unchecked. And walk through they do.
Meet the sharents
Mollie is an aspiring dancer and model with an Instagram following of 122,000 people. Her age is ambiguous but she could be anywhere from 11-13, meaning it's unlikely she's old enough to meet the social media platform's minimum age requirement. Her account is managed by her father, Chris, whose own account is linked in her bio, bringing things in line with Instagram's policy. (Chris didn't respond to a request for comment.)
You don't have to travel far on Instagram to discover accounts such as Mollie's, where grown men openly leer at preteen girls. Public-facing, parent-run accounts dedicated to dancers and gymnasts -- who are under the age of 13 and too young to have accounts of their own -- number in the thousands. (To protect privacy, we've chosen not to identify Mollie, which isn't her real name, or any other minors who haven't already appeared in the media.)
Parents use these accounts, which can have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, to raise their daughters' profiles by posting photos of them posing and demonstrating their flexibility in bikinis and leotards. The comment sections are often flooded with sexualized remarks. A single, ugly word appeared under one group shot of several young girls in bikinis: "orgy."
Some parents try to contain the damage by limiting comments on posts that attract too much attention. The parent running one dancer account took a break from regular scheduling to post a pastel-hued graphic reminding other parents to review their followers regularly. "After seeing multiple stories and posts from dance photographers we admire about cleaning up followers, I decided to spend time cleaning," read the caption. "I was shocked at how many creeps got through as followers."
But "cleaning up" means engaging in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to keep unwanted followers at bay, and it ignores the fact that you don't need to be following a public account to view the posts. Photos of children are regularly reposted on fan or aggregator accounts, over which parents have no control, and they can also be served up through hashtags or through Instagram's discovery algorithms.
The simple truth is that publicly posted content is anyone's for the taking. "Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it," said Leah Plunkett, author of the book Sharenthood and a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School.
This concern is at the heart of the current drama concerning the TikTok account @wren.eleanor. Wren is an adorable blonde 3-year-old girl, and the account, which has 17.3 million followers, is managed by her mother, Jacquelyn, who posts videos almost exclusively of her child.
Concerned onlookers have pointed Jacquelyn toward comments that appear to be predatory, and have warned her that videos in which Wren is in a bathing suit, pretending to insert a tampon, or eating various foodstuffs have more watches, likes and saves than other content. They claim her reluctance to stop posting in spite of their warnings demonstrates she's prioritizing the income from her account over Wren's safety. Jacquelyn didn't respond to several requests for comment.
Last year, the FBI ran a campaign in which it estimated that there were 500,000 predators online every day -- and that's just in the US. Right now, across social platforms, we're seeing the growth of digital marketplaces that hinge on child exploitation, said Plunkett. She doesn't want to tell other parents what to do, she added, but she wants them to be aware that there's "a very real, very pressing threat that even innocent content that they put up about their children is very likely to be repurposed and find its way into those marketplaces."
Naivete vs. exploitation
When parent influencers started out in the world of blogging over a decade ago, the industry wasn't exploitative in the same way it is today, said Crystal Abidin, an academic from Curtin University who specializes in internet cultures. When you trace the child influencer industry back to its roots, what you find is parents, usually mothers, reaching out to one another to connect. "It first came from a place of care among these parent influencers," she said.
Over time, the industry shifted, centering on children more and more as advertising dollars flowed in and new marketplaces formed.
Education about the risks hasn't caught up, which is why people like Sarah Adams, a Vancouver mom who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted, have taken it upon themselves to raise the flag on those risks. "My ultimate goal is just have parents pause and reflect on the state of sharenting right now," she said.
But as Mom Uncharted, Adams is also part of a wider unofficial and informal watchdog group of internet moms and child safety experts shedding light on the often disturbing way in which some parents are, sometimes knowingly, exploiting their children online.
The troubling behavior uncovered by Adams and others suggests there's more than naivete at play -- specifically when parents sign up for and advertise services that let people buy "exclusive" or "VIP" access to content featuring their children.
Some parent-run social media accounts that Adams has found linked out to a site called SelectSets, which lets the parents sell photo sets of their children. One account offered sets with titles such as "2 little princesses." SelectSets has described the service as "a classy and professional" option for influencers to monetize content, allowing them to "avoid the stigma often associated with other platforms."
Over the last few weeks, SelectSets has gone offline and no owner could be traced for comment.
In addition to selling photos, many parent-run dancer accounts, Mollie's included, allow strangers to send the dancers swimwear and underwear from the dancers' Amazon wish lists, or money to "sponsor" them to "realize their dream" or support them on their "journeys."
While there's nothing technically illegal about anything these parents are doing, they're placing their children in a gray area that's not explicitly sexual but that many people would consider to be sexualized. The business model of using an Amazon wish list is one commonly embraced by online sugar babies who accept money and gifts from older men.
"Our Conditions of Use and Sale make clear that users of Amazon Services must be 18 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian," said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement. "In rare cases where we are made aware that an account has been opened by a minor without permission, we close the account."
Adams says it's unlikely to be other 11-year-olds sending their pocket money to these girls so they attend their next bikini modeling shoot. "Who the fuck do you think is tipping these kids?" she said. "It's predators who are liking the way you exploit your child and giving them all the content they need."
Turning points
Plunkett distinguishes between parents who are casually sharing content that features their kids and parents who are sharing for profit, an activity she describes as "commercial sharenting."
"You are taking your child, or in some cases, your broader family's private or intimate moments, and sharing them digitally, in the hope of having some kind of current or future financial benefit," she said.
No matter the parent's hopes or intentions, any time children appear in public-facing social media content, that content has the potential to go viral, and when it does, parents have a choice to either lean in and monetize it or try to rein it in.
During Abidin's research -- in which she follows the changing activities of the same influencers over time -- she's found that many influencer parents reach a turning point. It can be triggered by something as simple as other children at school being aware of their child's celebrity or their child not enjoying it anymore, or as serious as being involved in a car chase while trying to escape fans (an occurrence recounted to Abidin by one of her research subjects).
One influencer, Katy Rose Pritchard, who has almost 92,000 Instagram followers, decided to stop showing her children's faces on social media this year after she discovered they were being used to create role-playing accounts. People had taken photos of her children that she'd posted and used them to create fictional profiles of children for personal gratification, which she said in a post made her feel "violated."
All these examples highlight the different kinds of threats sharents are exposing their children to. Plunkett describes three "buckets" of risk tied to publicly sharing content online. The first and perhaps most obvious are risks involving criminal and/or dangerous behavior, posing a direct threat to the child.
The second are indirect risks, where content posted featuring children can be taken, reused, analyzed or repurposed by people with nefarious motives. Consequences include anything from bullying to harming future job prospects to millions of people having access to children's medical information -- a common trope on YouTube is a video with a melodramatic title and thumbnail involving a child's trip to the hospital, in which influencer parents with sick kids will document their health journeys in blow-by-blow detail.
The third set of risks are probably the least talked about, but they involve potential harm to a child's sense of self. If you're a child influencer, how you see yourself as a person and your ability to develop into an adult is "going to be shaped and in some instances impeded by the fact that your parents are creating this public performance persona for you," said Plunkett.
Often children won't be aware of what this public persona looks like to the audience and how it's being interpreted. They may not even be aware it exists. But at some point, as happened with Barkman, the private world in which content is created and the public world in which it's consumed will inevitably collide. At that point, the child will be thrust into the position of confronting the persona that's been created for them.
"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult, as many will already have notions about who that child is or what that child may like," said Steinberg. "These notions, of course, may be incorrect. And some children may value privacy and wish their life stories were theirs -- not their parents -- to tell."
Savannah and Cole LaBrant have documented nearly everything about their children's lives.
Jim Spellman/WireImage
This aspect of having their real-life stories made public is a key factor distinguishing children working in social media from children working in the professional entertainment industry, who usually play fictional roles. Many children who will become teens and adults in the next couple of decades will have to reckon with the fact that their parents put their most vulnerable moments on the internet for the world to see -- their meltdowns, their humiliation, their most personal moments.
One influencer family, the LaBrants, were forced to issue a public apology in 2019 after they played an April Fools' Day Joke on their 6-year-old daughter Everleigh. The family pretended they were giving her dog away, eliciting tears throughout the video. As a result, many viewers felt that her parents, Sav and Cole, had inflicted unnecessary distress on her.
In the past few months, parents who film their children during meltdowns to demonstrate how to calm them down have found themselves the subject of ire on parenting Subreddits. Their critics argue that it's unfair to post content of children when they're at their most vulnerable, as it shows a lack of respect for a child's right to privacy.
Privacy-centric parenting
Even the staunchest advocates of child privacy know and understand the parental instinct of wanting to share their children's cuteness and talent with the world. "Our kids are the things usually we're the most proud of, the most excited about," said Adams. "It is normal to want to show them off and be proud of them."
When Adams started her account two years ago, she said her views were seen as more polarizing. But increasingly people seem to relate and share her concerns. Most of these are "average parents," naive to the risks they're exposing their kids to, but some are "commercial sharents" too.
Even though they don't always see eye to eye, the private conversations she's had with parents of children (she doesn't publicly call out anyone) with massive social media presences have been civil and productive. "I hope it opens more parents' eyes to the reality of the situation, because frankly this is all just a large social experiment," she said. "And it's being done on our kids. And that just doesn't seem like a good idea."
For Barkman, it's been "surprisingly easy, and hugely beneficial" to stop sharing content about her son. She's more present, and focuses only on capturing memories she wants to keep for herself.
"When motherhood is all consuming, it sometimes feels like that's all you have to offer, so I completely understand how we have slid into oversharing our children," she said. "It's a huge chunk of our identity and our hearts."
But Barkman recognizes the reality of the situation, which is that she doesn't know who's viewing her content and that she can't rely on tech platforms to protect her son. "We are raising a generation of children who have their entire lives broadcast online, and the newness of social media means we don't have much data on the impacts of that reality on children," she said. "I feel better acting with caution and letting my son have his privacy so that he can decide how he wants to be perceived by the world when he's ready and able."
