An organization dedicated to protecting children from the dangers of school-issued tech, such as cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content, has released several resources for parents to take control of their children’s time online.
The Tech-Safe Learning Coalition (TLC) provides 20 different guides, templates, fact sheets, and other resources for parents that explain how to set parental controls on school-issued Google Chromebooks, request to opt their children out of classroom tech, protect their children’s student data, and more.
According to the TLC, school-issued tech can lead to cyberbullying, discoveries of harmful content, unwanted interactions, substandard education, privacy concerns due to education technologies harvesting data, mental health struggles from excessive screen time, and physical health issues from screen time at school.
The resources offered by the TLC allow parents to “demand better educational environments for our kids,” according to its website.
One template allows parents to customize a form they can provide schools to request blocking or restricting their child’s YouTube access on school devices, while another details the benefits of using pencil and paper in the classroom rather than screens.
Another resource details the risks of using generative artificial intelligence (AI) as a teaching tool, noting that AI cannot reliably provide accurate information and has been shown to provide answers that encourage suicide or other harmful behaviors. The resource encourages schools to consider the potential benefits and harms of adopting generative AI before implementing it.
The TLC partners with several other organizations committed to keeping students safe from the dangers of tech, including Buckets Over Bullying, an anti-cyberbullying organization founded after a 15-year-old student took his own life, Scrolling 2 Death, a podcast hosted by TLC co-founder and ex-social media manager Nicki Petrossi, Protect Young Eyes, an organization that helps create safe digital spaces, and others.