Chromebook Safety Made Simple: 5 Essential Tips For A Safer School Year

Chromebooks have become essential in classrooms across the country, with schools issuing them to students as young as kindergarten. While these devices are fantastic tools for learning, they also bring new challenges for parents trying to manage screen time and ensure their kids stay safe online.

Risks of school-issued Chromebooks

It’s crucial to recognize the risks associated with school-issued devices, particularly the alarming exposure to pornography. A Common Sense Media survey of teens found:

41% of respondents reported having seen pornography during the school day, including roughly one in three (31%) who said they had viewed pornography while attending school in person. Furthermore, among teens who reported that they have viewed pornography during the school day, nearly half (44%) reported having viewed pornography on school-owned devices.

This statistic underscores the importance of implementing strong safety measures both at school and at home to protect your child from harmful content.

Whether your child is using a school-issued Chromebook or one you’ve provided yourself, it’s important to have strategies in place to protect kids on Chromebooks.

Let’s dive into five practical tips to help you keep your child safer and on track.

1. Understanding the school’s filtering tools

One of the biggest frustrations parents face with school-issued Chromebooks is the lack of control. Unlike personal devices, where you can install parental control apps or adjust settings, these Chromebooks are typically managed by the school district’s IT department, limiting parents' ability to block sites or set time restrictions.

But don’t lose hope! Start by having a conversation with your child’s school. 

• Ask about the existing filters and safety measures in place.
• Express any concerns you have.
• Make suggestions for improvement. One school district we know of, in response to parental feedback, enhanced parental access to their children's Chromebook usage by implementing Qustodio. This allowed parents to view browsing history and even disable internet access on the devices when needed.
  
  Another school explored installing Canopy on their Chromebooks. Instead of making a bulk order, they offered parents a significant discount to install it themselves with the option to install on their other home devices as well. Canopy* uses advanced computing technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to instantly recognize and filter out pornographic content online and even on your child’s smartphone camera.

While many districts may not allow such software on school-issued devices, it’s worth discussing this option with your school’s IT department. Some schools are more receptive to parental feedback than others, and advocating for stronger controls can lead to positive changes.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with Chromebook parental controls and the tools and settings already available on the device. Understanding what the device can do—and what it can’t—will help you better guide your child in using it responsibly.

Related: Unexpected Nudity and Unsuspecting Kids: Protecting Your Children Online

2. Ensure key Chromebook safety features are in place

Before diving into more advanced strategies, it's essential to ensure that basic safety features are activated on your child’s Chromebook. These free tools can provide an extra layer of protection and are relatively simple to set up.

Explore Google Family Link as a first layer of defense

• Check compatibility: Verify if Google Family Link is compatible with your child’s school-issued Chromebook. If it isn’t available, contact  your school’s IT department to see if access can be enabled using these steps to allow a school account.
• Manage apps and screen time: If available, use Family Link to manage which apps your child can access, set screen time limits, and even lock the device remotely.
• Be aware: Keep in mind that if your child is over 13, Google Family Link gives them the option to opt out of parental controls, but you will receive a notification if they do.

Additional Safety Steps

Parents seeking the best parental control tools for Chromebooks should also consider these basic safety measures.

• Google SafeSearch: Activate Google Safe Search to filter out explicit content in search results. This is a quick and easy step that makes a big difference. See our tutorial here.
• YouTube Restricted Mode: Enable Restricted Mode on YouTube to help block potentially mature content. This mode isn’t foolproof but it does add an extra layer of safety.
• Google activity monitoring: Regularly review your child’s Google Activity log to keep track of their online behavior and address any concerns early.

As with Family Link, these safety measures may be limited by the school. If these aren’t available, talk to the school’s IT department to see if they can be activated.

Related: 

How to Set Up Google FAMILY LINK Parental Controls

Filtering 101: Protect Kids From Porn on New Devices

3. The home court advantage: Utilize home network controls for Chromebook filtering

After talking with your school’s IT department to ensure safer Chromebook use while at school, it’s time to ramp up controls at home. Even if you can’t install apps directly on the Chromebook, you still have control over your home network. 

Start by enabling strong filters on your router. This is one of the most effective ways to ensure Chromebook safety for students, blocking inappropriate content including pornography at the router before it even reaches your child’s device. 

There are several routers on the market designed with families in mind, offering customizable settings for your family’s needs.

Recommended tools:

• Router with built-in parental controls: Many routers on the market offer built-in parental controls. We love Gryphon and Netgear. Each offers robust parental controls and content filtering.
• Bark or Aura (formerly Circle): If your router doesn’t have built-in controls, you can manage your home network with one of these add-on devices that controls traffic at the router. This comparison video will show you the differences between them.

Pro Tip: Use your router’s settings to limit Chromebook access during family time or after a certain hour in the evening.

Related: 

How to Protect Your Kids from Porn with a Gryphon Router

3 Ways Bark Protects Your Child from Porn

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4. Establish rules where and when Chromebooks can be used

Sarah Siegend of Parents who Fight encourages families to think in terms of cubicles, not private offices. She advises:

“In a traditional classroom setting where computers are used, kids can see each other's screens, and so can their teachers. Students don’t use computers in private closets with closed doors at their school building, so make that your guiding principle for at-home usage as well.”

Here are some guidelines we recommend for all tech use, including chromebooks:

• Public use: Restrict Chromebooks and other portable devices to public spaces of the home. A good rule of thumb is the screen should always be visible.
• Bedtime hours: Turn devices in at bedtime where they can be charged overnight in the parents' room. Be sure to put a bedtime on the router for those times when you might forget to ask for devices.
• Clear time limits: Establish and enforce clear time limits using router controls. Consider setting a “tech-free” time in the evening when all devices are turned off.
• Homework only: Consider allowing school-issued devices for homework only. Make them boring by utilizing router controls to only allow access to school related sites, limiting distractions and keeping your child focused.
• Home and school use only: Since your strongest controls will be through your home network, leave these Chromebooks at home for any reason other than school. Don’t allow them to go to friends’ houses, on vacation, or anywhere else. 

5. Install an internal filter and stay engaged

While technical controls are important, nothing replaces the most powerful tool: Education and preparation.

Even when parents do everything possible to keep their kids safer online from pornography and other risks, tech controls aren't fool-proof. We wish it weren’t true, but there are myriads of online tutorials coaching kids how to get around filters, and kids themselves coach each other.

That’s why equipping your child with an internal filter is so critical. This internal filter doesn’t happen overnight. It takes ongoing conversations (not a one and done talk) that teach:

• a clear definition of what pornography is,
• the harms of pornography so your child will understand why to reject it, and a
• plan for what to do when they encounter it.

Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids will help guide these conversations and offers a definition, warning, and a plan.

It’s critical to teach kids the lies porn tells so they recognize and reject these lies.

Our article, Healthy Sex vs. Porn Sex: 7 Crucial Comparisons to Teach Your Kid (Before XXX Hijacks Their Future), gives a powerful and persuasive comparison between healthy sex and porn sex that’s crucial for kids to know. This can be discussed in an age-appropriate way.

It’s also important to stay engaged in your child’s online activity and discuss things as they occur.

For example, Sarah shares:

“An engaged parent who clearly lays out expectations and follows through when correction or discipline is needed makes quite a difference in a child’s online experiences. 

‘I noticed you did a Google search for the new Cardi B music video. How did you hear about that? I watched part of it, and I’d like to talk with you about it.’

We may not be able to block or prevent every kind of content we find distasteful, but our kids still need to know that we’re checking in on them, adjusting boundaries, and providing consequences as needed.”

Talk to your kids about how to stay safe on Chromebooks, why certain sites or activities are off-limits, and involve them in setting rules that make sense for your family.

Conversation starters

• Discuss online behavior: Explain why respectful and safe online interactions are crucial.
• Review activity together: Regularly check your child’s Google Activity log and discuss what they’ve been up to online.

Related: 3 Steps to Give Kids an Internal Filter

Take action today

School-issued devices are here to stay, and it’s more important than ever for parents to take proactive steps regarding safety on Chromebooks. The risks are real, but with the right strategies, you can create a safer environment for your child.

As a summary, here’s what you CAN DO

• Work with your school’s IT department to enhance filtering and control on school-issued devices.
• Set up essential safety features like Google Safe Search and YouTube Restricted Mode on your child’s Chromebook.
• Utilize home network controls to manage and monitor internet access at home.
• Establish clear rules for when and where Chromebooks can be used.
• Stay actively involved in your child’s online life by having regular conversations and reviewing their activity.

Don’t wait—start implementing these tips today. To help you in this journey, Defend Young Minds offers a range of resources designed to empower you and your child.

Essential resources

• Digital Safety Planner: A free, comprehensive digital guide to help you create a personalized online safety plan for your family.
• Brain Defense: An engaging digital safety curriculum designed to teach kids how to protect themselves from online dangers.
• Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids: An Amazon bestseller, read-aloud book for ages 7-11 that makes talking to your kids about pornography natural and comfortable. It features easy-to-understand science and simple analogies to help your child develop defenses against the harms of pornography, especially its addictive nature. 
• My Kid Saw Porn! Now What? A comprehensive digital guide to calm, comfort and provide a step-by-step SMART Plan for helping a child who has been exposed to or started viewing pornography.‍
• Good Pictures Bad Pictures Guidebook for Counseling Kids: This book provides proactive parents activities and role plays for prevention as well as for recovery efforts.

*Defend Young Minds readers can take advantage of a 30 day free trial of Canopy with code DYM30. Use this code when registering at www.canopy.us. Accessing this link via Canopy's website (opposed to app stores) will allow you to enter the coupon code.