Do Smartphones Stunt Social Skills?
Are smartphones teaching kids to scroll instead of connect? Here’s how parents can raise confident, connected children in the digital age.
December 12, 2024
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Safety is the foundation of our mission at Gabb so all of our devices are packed with features designed specifically to help parents keep their kids safe. Below we’ve highlighted some key features you may want to utilize on your kid’s Gabb Watch, Gabb Phone, or Gabb Phone Pro this school year and beyond to give you and your child a little more security.
How to Set Up Parental Controls on Gabb Phone
In the traditional sense (and unlike most phones), Gabb parental controls are unnecessary because Gabb devices do not have access to internet browsers, social media apps, or addictive games. With Gabb, rather than adding parental controls to adult devices, the whole device is designed to give parents more control of their child’s digital experience.
However, your and your child’s experience with Gabb devices can be adjusted to your unique preferences using Safe Zones, focus mode, and more. Gabb phone parental controls can also be toggled specifically in Gabb Messenger for closer monitoring.
Gabb Watch Lock Mode or “School Mode”
Focus mode is a feature on Gabb Watch that helps keep kids connected, but not consumed. Using the MyGabb app, parents can remotely mute the device, increase ringtone volume, and even lock all applications, calls, and messages. For urgent or emergency situations, primary and guardian contacts and the SOS button are always available.
Using focus and silent mode features on Gabb Watch means you can help so your child’s device won’t be a distraction in the classroom.
GPS Location Services (Tracking and Safe Zones)
Every Gabb device comes with reliable GPS and tracking functionality. This is handy in a lot of ways but two of the most popular — and most applicable to a new school year — are safe zones and lost device tracking.
With Safe Zones, you can set up customizable locations through the MyGabb app on your smartphone to get notifications when your child exits and enters a specified area (e.g. school).
You can also use the MyGabb app to help track a misplaced device’s general location and then trigger an audible alert to pinpoint that device once you’re within earshot. It’s an easy way to determine if your child’s device is just buried in their backpack upstairs or was left at school.
No Internet Browser, Social Media Apps, or Unchecked App Stores
Although the absence of these features is technically not a feature itself, it is one of the top reasons parents turn to Gabb. The potential negatives of an internet browser, social media apps, and addictive games are pretty well-known by now. But you need a way to stay connected to your children and safety settings on adult smartphones don’t bring the same peace of mind as a device without those options in the first place.
Gabb believes kids benefit from taking tech in steps. With our devices and service plans, parents can give their kids and teens a tailored tech experience that provides the right amount of tech at the right time. This can range from a fully locked-down experience to a device that allows parents to enable 3rd-party apps that have been carefully reviewed by Gabb.
Gabb Music
Music is powerful. For good and bad. Inappropriate music can have negative effects on mature and developing minds, but the right music can be a great way to counterbalance many of the stressors and challenges of a new school year.
Good music has been found to improve memory, energize and motivate the listener, and increase social connection and strengthen relationships. If that’s not enough good news, it’s also been found to positively impact identity formation, relegate and elevate mood, and improve sleep.
The trick for parents has always been finding a good way to expose their kids to the benefits of music, while shielding them from the dangers. That’s pretty much Gabb Music in a nutshell.
Built from the ground up with kids in mind, Gabb Music offers a safe music library curated from millions of new releases and top hits from all genres with the assurance that every song has passed rounds of digital and human review.
Gabb Messenger
One of the biggest benefits of school is the social interaction it gives your kids. But now, two decades into the 21st century, it’s hard to deny that at least some of that social interaction has spilled into the digital sphere, even for junior high and grade school kids.
Gabb Messenger is our built-from-scratch child messaging app that safely handles SMS (text), MMS (video/photo), and group chat. Features like parent monitoring, focus mode, and pre-emptive filtering allow children to connect with friends and family while protecting them from bullying, grooming, ads, and screen addiction.
What features would you like to see added to Gabb devices? Share your experiences with Gabb in the comments below!
Author Jake Cutler
Jake is Gabb Now's managing editor. He and his wife have three wild little boys. Prior to Gabb, Jake was a band manager and adjunct faculty in the English department at BYU and BYU-Hawaii. His own writing has been published by Esquire, Forbes, Elsewhere, Iron Horse Literary Review, and others.
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