App Steers Parents to Safe Smartphone Use for Children; Holiday Code Good Through Monday

The Bark app is pitching a 30-percent-off holiday code, active on its website through Monday, for new subscribers to its smartphone app. Bark bills itself as an essential tool for parents considering a smartphone for kids, saying it helps keep children safe online without infringing their privacy. The company issued safety tips for parents including: (1) caution kids on sending or posting images/videos online; (2) know who your child is talking to online; (3) have kids choose non-identifying screen names; (4) regulate daily screen time; (5) make room for non-digital family time; (6) avoid having phones in bedrooms after a designated time; (7) don’t allow unsupervised YouTube time; (8) join a parent tech education and community group; (9) require approval for every app download; and (10) talk openly about cyberbullying. Standard subscription fee is $6.30 per month.