Testimonials
Schools, organizations, and students rave about Internet Safety Presenter Jesse Weinberger
“Big Mama, you’re right, I’m going to cut my device time and eat more dirt. My mom needs to do everything you say – she has no idea what’s really going on.”
“I have been a technology professional for 20 years and I thought I had a good understanding of what it meant to be safe on the internet. Jesse opened my eyes. Whether you are a technology novice or a so called expert, you will learn something that you will start applying immediately. ”
“Please accept our sincere appreciation for your outstanding presentation. Your session was a huge hit with the SRO and DARE officers. It was informative, funny, and irreverent, all the right ingredients for law enforcement. Since I’m from New Jersey I could really relate to your comments about your parents who were not big believers in coddling their children. Thank you for speaking to our group and sharing your time and talent to instruct so many of our school law enforcement.”
“Thank you for what you do. We needed this information to be drilled into us from the start. We didn’t know what we were doing.”
“This is the best presentation I’ve heard all year. I’ve learned so much it’s amazing. Thank you! PS You are very entertaining too. 🙂 ”
“Big Mama, I want to thank you – that was disturbing AND awesome all at the same time.”
“On behalf of the administration and Ramaz community, heartfelt thanks for a powerful and substantive presentation. We’re sure you have heard this countless time, but your dynamic speaking style, total command of the latest information about internet safety, and no nonsense, direct approach is such a winning combination. Cameras are being taped, apps are being deleted, parents are organizing, and the community is buzzing – all testimony to how effective you were. We couldn’t have hoped for more.”
“I sincerely thank you for coming to our community and talking to not only our children this week, but to us last night. Your message was priceless. I’m beyond grateful for the impact I saw in my 6th grade quiet son. He came home and spontaneously blurted out “Mom, I do know you love me!” My son thinks you’re great, that you’re “real”, and that he could tell that you cared. He sat down and unloaded all the anxiety he was carrying (at the age of 11) over how many of his friends are hiding apps and behavior, and that he can’t sleep sometimes because of what they tell him. Now we talk “real” every day. Thank you for all of this. My husband and I thank you!”
“Thank you very much! You were very educational and funny!”
“Jesse Weinberger is a presenter that all parents should be required to see! She tells it like it is, in a way that will scare you… in a good way! You must, must, must hear her tips on internet safety. I’m on Facebook and on Instagram… oh boy I had no idea! Jesse’s no nonsense approach and interactive delivery make this sometimes touchy subject fun and fact filled.”
“Thank you Jesse Weinberger for a fantastic Internet Safety presentation to our 4th and 6th grade Girl Scouts! You tackled the important topic of internet safety without boring the girls with statistics and sounding like a “mom”. The girls were laughing and asking questions – no small feat! I really appreciate the time you took with our group and encourage all parents to get up to speed on this important safety issue! “
“I wanted to personally thank you for your leadership while working with Kenston stakeholders this year. I was reflecting on your impact after both presentations. One of the main reasons parents showed up on Tuesday is because students clearly respect who you are and followed the orders to go home and talk to mom/or dad on what they learned. Your presentation skills are spot on, especially how you win over every audience with an authentic approach but also how you connect by sharing personal and family experiences that are real. Thanks again for your time!”
National Internet Safety Speaker talks to Marshall County middle school students about internet safety
MARSHALL COUNTY, W. Va. (WTRF) – All 5th and 6th grade students throughout Marshall County attended a presentation on internet safety Monday afternoon.
Internet Safety Speaker
and author, Jesse Weinberger, hosted two sessions at John Marshall High School’s Center for Performing Arts where she went over the basic “dos” and “don’ts” of navigating the internet.
Some of the core topics of her presentation to the students included an age appropriate discussion about cyberbullying, sexting, and the dangers of sexual predators on the internet.
During her time with the students, she anonymously collected data to use for the presentation with parents and community members scheduled for March 18 at 5:30 at the same location.
Weinberger also talked about loneliness, depression and anxiety with the students, explaining how increased screen time can also increase these mental health struggles.
“We know for a fact that the higher the time spent on devices, the higher the rates of depression and anxiety. That’s already been proven,” she said. “I’m going to talk to them about what apps they should use, and which apps they shouldn’t.”
The biggest takeaway Weinberger wants kids to learn from her presentation is to disconnect from the online world and engage with the real world.
The parent session will cover the same topics talked about with the students (sexting, cyberbullying, etc.); however, their session will look into parent complicity, neurological impacts, sex trafficking, as well as different apps parents should be on the lookout for on their kids’ devices.
“I’m going to go over 20 different apps, I will also provide handouts to parents that includes information on how to ‘put the genie back in the bottle’ if you’ve already given your kid a phone,” Weinberger said.
She went onto explain that parents can make a few small changes that can significantly increase their child’s safety because predators often go “for the low hanging fruit.”
Anyone in the Ohio Valley is welcomed to join Weinberger’s presentation. Her advice to parents is to just show up on March 18 and she’ll take care of the rest.
Internet Safety Speaker – Jesse Weinberger Interview : Protecting your children from sextortion: Mom Squad
Jesse Weinberger, Internet Safety Speaker was interviewed by Maureen Kyle, the host of Mom Squad
VIDEO: CNN & Sprint: Safe & Sound – Jesse Weinberger Internet Safety Speaker Interview
Jesse Weinberger, Internet Safety Speaker was interviewed for a CNN internet safety piece presented in part by Sprint.
Beginning with Season 2 – Big Mama’s House Podcast will be a podcast for teens
It’s taken forever, but season 2 is finally going to be released this week.
Focusing on Teens
I went back and forth for a long time – trying to craft the best possible way to reach a much larger audience. (I can only spend *so* much time traveling before I snap.) After much deliberation, I’ve decided to reformat the podcast.
Big Mama’s House Podcast is now for teens (13 years old and up).
While covering true crime, tech issues, social media issues, bullying, sexting, etc – I’m also going to explore the latest discoveries in mental health, as well as topics exploring the immense amounts of pressure impacting teens.
(Insider info: Based on the episodes already recorded, I can guarantee that you’ll learn something new and laugh along in the process. Some of my guests are the teeensiest bit unhinged. My favorite.)
Useful to parents & schools too
As an added bonus, the teen-centric content will be a useful resource for parents and school districts. If you’re a parent or an educator and you’re not sure how to begin a conversation, feel free to use the episodes as the starting point for “real” conversations.
If you’ve landed in this space as an adult, you’re welcome to stay and participate. Just beware that we’re going to have some stuff to say to you too. Like, don’t ask your kids to put their phones down at dinner, while YOU have yours in your hand. Seriously. Enough is enough
Bottom Line
Season 1’s intended audience is adults and school districts
Season 2’s (and future season’s) intended audience is teens
New York Times Interview: What’s the Right Age for a Child to Get a Smartphone?
Jesse was interviewed by New York Times columnist Brian Chen.
A sobbing nine-year-old girl admitted to me she’s addicted to porn – this is why we need to tackle online safety NOW – Sun (UK)
BTW – The editor swapped in UK-friendly phrasing and language and I did NOT choose the graphics that went with the article. 🙂
– Big Mama
Digital content consumption – example: Instagram
The digital content our children consume in an almost endless loop comes in a myriad of forms and formats. In order to illustrate WHAT your child might be seeing, let’s take the example of one of the most popular apps among tweens and teens: Instagram. Chances are if you have a tween or teen using social media, he/she is using Instagram. It was recently voted the most important social platform for teens.
NOTE: Instagram is a social media site where users post photos taken through the app and posted for the user’s “followers”. Unlike Facebook there is no synchronous agreement of “friends” – on Instagram (like Twitter) your account is open to the public for anyone to see what you’ve posted. There is no “agreement” to see each other’s content, unless the user locks their account to private, an option used by only 12% of IG/TW users.
In your child’s engagement with Instagram (and many other social media sites) – they will see/experience/consume many types of content:
PHOTOS
The actual photo posted by your child; which may or may not be sexual – and can be considered felony child pornography even when the photo is NOT nude, and even when your child has taken the photo of him/her self (parent control: none)
The actual photo posted by another user that your child follows – in other words, photos posted by others which your child is experiencing. These can obviously be sexual, violent, disturbing, etc. (parent control:none)
WORDS
The comments which appear after any photo; which may or may not be sexual, hostile/bullying, threatening (parent control: none)
HASHTAGS
…which your child may use in an effort to categorize their content and makes it easier for other users to sift through hundreds of millions of photographic content. If your child is searching for “#SexyBoy” – the content she finds may not be what she is expecting. The same is true in reverse when your child tags her photo as “PrettyYoungThing” – which expands the reach of that photo to unintentioned/undesired eyes. (parent control: none)
PEOPLE
The user accounts which your child chooses to follow; which may or may not be appropriate (parent control: you can snoop and delete follows – which of course presumes that your child will not re-follow when you’re not looking) – those accounts contain (obviously) their own set of content, comments, etc
The user accounts which follow YOUR child. Your child may have followers from anywhere in the world, literally. Your child may think that he/she is being followed by a 15yo child from a neighboring town when the follower is actually a 48 year old man pretending to be a younger child with the purpose of luring the child into a conversation or an in-person meet. (parent control: none – unless #1:your child keeps their account private and doesn’t switch from private to public, and back like most kids do AND #2:as a parent you go through the list of your child’s followers weekly and ensure that YOU know every single person who is following your child – and you can confirm that you have personally met them in real life
NUMBERS/VALUE
The raw number of followers your child has Most tween and teens derive some level of self-worth by the actual number of likes, shares, and followers he/she has on any given social media site. Tweens and teens are keenly aware of the social pecking order which has been oh so conveniently quantified by social media engagement. (parent control: none except for #5 note above)
LOCATION/MAPS
Your child may intentionally or accidentally tag the location where a photo was taken through the Instagram platform. That location becomes a literal dot on a map to your home, your child’s school, or wherever else the photo was taken. Your children know that tagging a location results in MORE photo views, MORE photo likes, and MORE comments. In fact statistically – Instagram posts with location data result in 79% higher engagement. (parent control: none. Location is assigned by the user on a photo-by-photo basis)
VIDEOS
Instagram now allows you to shoot up to 15 seconds of video for distribution in the same way as photos. This puts your child in the position of potentially being the subject of the video (whether they know it or not) AND/OR becoming the consumer of the video that someone else may post. Obviously the huge risk here is extremely graphic sexual or violent content. (parent control: none)
!!!! PRIVATE MESSAGING aka “Instagram Direct”
Any Instagram user can private message ANY OTHER Instagram user whether or not the account is private and whether or not the sender officially “follows” the intended receiver. That private message can include either a photo or a video. Just to be clear: ANYONE can send your child videos or photos regardless of their privacy settings. Conversely, your child can send ANYONE photos or videos of themselves (privately) without knowing the receiver and without the receiver first following your child’s account.
The risk for sexual predation and sexting here is huge. The two aspects which contribute to this are the privacy factor and the ability to send to anyone. This kind of “isolated” communication between individuals (especially with strangers) is precisely the sort of scenario which parents should seek to avoid at all costs. (parent control: none)
BOTTOM LINE
Most social media platforms or apps like Instagram are an all-or-nothing proposition when it comes to content exposure. As a parent you don’t have the ability to cherry pick permissions or settings. You cannot, for example, as a parent turn off your child’s ability to add locations to images from the settings screen of the app. It’s all or nothing: either you use the app WITH the geolocation option in place or you don’t use the app at all.
In this sense – as a parent you are either accepting the possibility that your child will consume every kind of content listed above with little to no ability to control what your child sees….or you don’t allow your child to use Instagram at all. Those are your only two choices.
As parents, all we can do is continue to engage with our children and with each other. If you learn something new, here or anywhere else, share it with your friends. Share the knowledge and the support with the global community of parents.
We’re all in this together.
– Big Mama