Konten bei Instagram, TikTok oder Amazon werden mit Passwörtern gesichert. So sollen Fremde keinen Zugriff auf sensible Daten wie Adresse, Kontonummer usw. erhalten oder im Namen anderer etwas posten oder Sachen bestellen. Manche Passwörter sind allerdings so einfach, dass sie mit technischer Hilfe von Kriminellen einfach “geknackt” werden können. Kinder sollten lernen, wie sichere Passwörter aussehen, sobald sie digitale Geräte nutzen oder im Netz unterwegs sind.
Ein sicheres Passwort hat mindestens 8 Zeichen und besteht aus Groß- und Kleinbuchstaben, Zahlen und Sonderzeichen. Je länger das Passwort, desto sicherer ist es. Vermeiden Sie persönliche Passwörter wie die Geburtsdaten Ihrer Kinder, denn sie sind mit etwas Recherche leicht herauszufinden. Zahlenfolgen (zum Beispiel „12345“), alphabetische Buchstabenfolgen (wie „abcdefg“) oder eine Folge benachbarter Tasten auf der Tastatur (wie „qwertz“) sind ebenfalls nicht sicher. Am besten eignen sich Wörter, die in keinem Wörterbuch stehen und nichts mit Ihnen oder dem Dienst, bei dem Sie sich anmelden möchten, zu tun haben.
Ein sicheres Passwort zu erstellen und sich auf Dauer daran zu erinnern, ist gar nicht so einfach. Dabei hilft eine Eselsbrücke. Denken Sie sich einen Satz aus, den Sie sich gut merken können, beispielsweise „Elternguide.online informiert und unterstützt Eltern 365 Tage im Jahr!“. Wenn Sie nur die Anfangsbuchstaben, Zahlen und Sonderzeichen des Satzes herausnehmen, entsteht folgendes Passwort: „Eoi+uE365TiJ!“ Diese Zeichenfolge ist sicher und Sie vergessen sie nicht so schnell. Wenn Ihnen kein eigener Satz einfällt, können Sie auch an ein Sprichwort denken, zum Beispiel: „Wenn zwei sich streiten, freut sich der Dritte!“. Überprüfen Sie die Sicherheit Ihres Passwortes mit dem Passwort-Check. Mit dem Passwort-Schlüssel-Automat können sich Eltern und Kinder Passwörter-Schlüssel ausdenken, die einfach zu merken sind.
Ein Passwort sollte regelmäßig geändert werden. Wir empfehlen, für verschiedene Plattformen jeweils ein eigenes Passwort zu verwenden, da es immer mal zu Datenlecks und dem Diebstahl von Nutzerdaten kommen kann. Kriminelle könnten auf alle Accounts zugreifen, wenn immer das gleiche Passwort verwendet wurde.
Wenn Sie sich nicht so viele verschiedene Passwörter merken können oder wollen, nutzen Sie am besten einen Passwortmanager. Damit lassen sich Passwörter verwalten und verschlüsselt speichern. Sie müssen sich dann nur noch ein einziges Passwort für den Manager merken. Dieses sogenannte Masterpasswort sollte besonders sicher sein! Ein kostenfreier, datenschutzfreundlicher Passwort-Manager ist zum Beispiel KeepassXC.
Auf der Internetseite des Bundesamts für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik können Sie mehr zu sicheren Themen nachlesen und anschauen. Neben sicheren Passwörtern sind auch Themen wie Verschlüsselung, Zwei-Faktor-Authentifizierung und App-Berechtigungen wichtig, wenn es um die Sicherheit im Netz geht. Klären Sie Ihr Kind darüber auf, wie es seine Daten im Internet schützen kann und nehmen Sie gemeinsam Einstellungen am Smartphone vor.
Playbrush Kids is a smart sonic toothbrush with interactive games app designed specifically for kids to make brushing teeth a fun experience. The app uses the gamification approach to make brushing teeth a game that kids love to play. We explain what’s behind it.
With this app you can play games, track brushing activities and learn how to brush teeth properly. To do this, the app uses gamification technology, a trend in the technology industry, especially in healthcare. The idea is to use playful elements such as points, rewards or competitions to motivate people to improve their health and well-being. Playbrush Kids aims to promote healthy tooth brushing habits in children, for good oral hygiene and better long-term dental health.
The children’s toothbrush acts as a game controller – either with a special toothbrush attachment (Playbrush Smart), which is placed on a conventional manual toothbrush, or as an electric sonic toothbrush (Playbrush Smart Sonic). These are equipped with sensors that detect the movements of the toothbrush and transmit them wirelessly to the app.
The children then have to complete various tasks while brushing their teeth, such as fighting little monsters or collecting objects. The app tracks the child’s progress and offers rewards for good performance. It also reminds how long and how often children should brush their teeth. Playbrush Kids was developed by dentists.
For children, Playbrush Kids can be very appealing as it allows them to experience brushing their teeth as an interactive and fun game. You can play different games and unlock characters, which makes the experience even more interesting. Children can track their own progress as they clean and feel proud when they achieve their goals. Gamification elements such as points and rewards provide additional motivation for most children.
Playbrush Ltd is the company behind the app. They describe it as an innovative solution to help children improve their dental health by making brushing a fun and entertaining experience. They emphasize that the app is secure and complies with data protection laws.
Playing is fun – and it should be. Support your child in not neglecting or overdoing tooth brushing. A mutually agreed time limit can help. If you have any concerns, please talk to your dentist.
The app’s reward system should be seen more as a support. Also encourage your child to take care of their dental health on their own initiative. So it can develop a lasting healthy habit.
The app collects data, if only to provide you with reports. Familiarize yourself with the privacy policy in order to make an informed decision or to make specific settings. Also keep an eye on the possible in-app purchases. To do this, you can discuss with your child – depending on their age – or restrict the purchase options in the smartphone settings.
Interact with your child – together, mouth music, brushing technique training and oral health quizzes become even more fun.
They’re trending and can be seen on some teenagers’ wrists: small fitness trackers that look like watches. They record steps, eating behavior or energy consumption. What are fitness trackers and how can they be used safely?
Fitness trackers or so-called “wearables” are technical devices worn close to the body. They are equipped with sensors to measure and record movement data or health data, e.g. pulse. The data can then be evaluated and stored on a tablet or PC in an app via a wireless connection. Measuring, logging, evaluating and visualizing one’s exercise habits makes it very easy to see how many steps have been taken in a day or how many kilometers one rides on the bike each day on the way to school. This can raise awareness about how much or how little we move.
Monitoring exercise success through fitness tracking can help youth maintain motivation for their exercise activities and improve exercise outcomes. The direct positive feedback is a personal confirmation of having achieved something and can have a positive effect on self-confidence.
Fitness tracking also has a social factor. Young people orient themselves particularly strongly to their peers. They strive for acceptance and seek positive affirmations. Thus, the feeling of belonging can be increased by sharing personal training successes with friends.
The need to please others, on the other hand, can put pressure on adolescents and push them to go beyond their limits. Sharing the collected fitness tracker data among one’s group of friends can lead to competition among each other. Additionally, it increases the risk for youth who are not as athletic to be excluded within their friend group. Constantly comparing one’s own performance to others can create pressure to perform and push the practice of sports or certain eating habits in an unhealthy direction. However, sports or nutrition should not be used to prove something to others, but to do something good for yourself and your own body.
Many fitness tracking apps also record and share a lot of personal data. Some youth also share data on social media in public posts. This gives strangers access to private information. Thus, sensitive data, such as the regular running route, can be seen and misused by strangers.
With a few precautions, you can prevent misuse of your own data. You can explore and customize the app settings together with your child. In doing so, you can jointly determine which data may be shared and which may not. Restricting the usage rights of personal data does not usually degrade app performance.
Additionally, you can discuss with your child whether personal training successes may be shared online via social media and what this means.
And if you decide against using a fitness tracker: As an alternative to fitness tracking apps, team sports or organized sporting events with friends can also provide comparable positive experiences of success for young people and promote social skills.
In a recent study on teen self-tracking, you’ll find detailed results on how teens use self-tracking apps and tools.
There is a two-page information brochure on the subject of data protection, which answers all the important questions. The consumer advice center has published a detailed study on the subject of data protection and fitness tracking.
Want to share apps, music, and photos on multiple devices in a joint family account? For this, they can use Apple’s Family Sharing or Google’s Family Media Library . This way you can save costs and at the same time have a say in which apps your children use. This sounds practical at first, but there are also some things to consider.
… share media and apps: All apps you purchase are available to all family members. Photos, music, videos, books, and movies and series can also be shared. It is also possible to share your location with others.
… consent to your child’s app use: You can enable adult permissions with both a family account. If your child wants to download an app, you or other guardians will be asked to confirm.
… set up restrictions on app and in-app purchases: In the Google Family group, you can restrict in-app purchases for under-18s. With Apple screen time, you can set up more restrictions for your kids. You should refresh the settings when an app is re-downloaded. Don’t forget to discuss with your child what he or she can already decide for him- or herself and what is not yet possible, and set up rules for media use together.
On both iOS devices and Android devices running Google, guardians and their children can register as a family:
iOS: Up to six family members can be added on the iPhone, iPad or MacBook if they have an Apple ID. The minimum age to create your own Apple ID is 13. However, as a parent, you have the option to set up one or more child IDs. In addition, as the organizer of the family group, you can designate additional guardians.
Android: On Android devices, you can create and manage a family group with up to five members in the Google Play Store under “Account”. For children under the age of 13, only you as a parent can create a Google Account for your child. All family members must register for the family group via the Play Store. You can invite family members as an administrator and manage them.
You can find out how to activate family sharing on iOS and the family media library on Android and make other settings on DeinHandy magazine and on the help pages of Google and Apple.
Google’s Family Media Library or Apple’s Family Sharing is free, but you partially “pay” with your personal data. Some data are useful and necessary to use the functions, others are not. Therefore, use the possible settings for data protection. According to Google, the children’s data is not used for personalized advertising or passed on to third parties.
If you share your location within the family, for example, you should be aware that this also means that the company can follow your and your children’s everyday life at every turn. Consider together when it makes sense to use certain features, such as location sharing, and when it should remain disabled if you want to use a shared family account.
Without depositing a payment method, the family sharing or family media library function is not possible. Be aware that this gives Apple and Google access to your credit card, if applicable, your purchase history, and the online behavior of all family members.
If you use devices with different operating systems in your family, using the family function is more difficult. On an iPad and iPhone, you can log in to your Google Play accountvia the Internet browser and make settings under “Family Group”. Since Android devices with Google do not have an Apple ID, Apple Family Sharing cannot be connected to the device.
The presented features can be handy, but they also invade the privacy of you and your children. Consider carefully whether they need such help, or whether you can also achieve safe cell phone use for your child through conversation and clear rules.
The English word “tracking” means something like “to follow” in German. GPS tracking makes it possible to track where a device currently is. With GPS technology, the position at which an object is located can be determined using satellite technology. GPS stands for “Global Positioning System”. The position where a person is located can also be determined in this way, as most smartphones are equipped with this technology and GPS data is collected via apps such as Google Maps. In this way, it is possible to track where the person is at the moment, but also where he or she has been in the past.
The GPS function in smartphones is practical because you can, for example, display supermarkets in the vicinity and use the cell phone as a navigation system. However, the location data is always passed on to the provider of the respective app. What happens to this data, however, is difficult to understand. They can tell the provider where someone lives and works. GPS data is also used in forensics.
GPS services can usually be disabled in the device’s settings. When a cell phone is turned off, the location can no longer be determined via GPS. To see for sure that no unnecessary data is collected about you and your family, you should disable location data for those apps that work without GPS. You can also turn off the GPS by default and only enable it when you use Google Maps, for example.
By the way, the location can also be determined via cell phone data. Apps can recognize which cell of the mobile network you have “dialed in” to with your device.
A server is a storage on which contents of web pages, e-mails or files are stored. Every program or app needs servers in the background to store and process its users’ data, including WhatsApp, for example.
When sending messages, it then works like this: When person A sends a message, the first thing that happens is that it is sent to WhatsApp’s servers. They ensure that the exchange of messages works. This is comparable to a post office, where all letters are collected before they are delivered. The message is then forwarded to person B from the WhatsApp servers. Afterwards, person B can read the message on his smartphone. Compared to letter mail, the exchange happens online in just a few seconds.
