July 27, 2020
Link up for phone freedom helps establish smart and safe digital habits
For parents and kids, digital safety can often be seen as limiting rather than protecting, causing fairness to be questioned. U.S. Cellular is looking to change that perception by providing resources for both parents and kids to create shared goals when using mobile devices and to help kids develop healthy habits as they explore their digital world.
Designed for younger children and teens, U.S. Cellular’s digital safety initiative, Link up for Phone Freedom, is ideal for parents of kids who are starting out with their first cellphones.
“Phone safety is a very high priority for parents, but very low on the priority list for kids,” said Courtland Madock, vice president of marketing for U.S. Cellular. “The new digital safety initiative from U.S. Cellular helps flip the conversation around phone safety from restriction to freedom. We strive to help families get the most from technology, while giving parents the confidence to let their kids explore on the devices they carry in their pockets.”
Parents will be directed to download Google’s Family Link app on their phone and their child’s phone. In addition, a parent-child agreement can be filled out on U.S. Cellular’s digitalfamilymatters.com website.
Google’s Family Link App
Family Link helps parents foster healthy digital habits in their child or teen as they learn, play and explore online. Parents can keep an eye on screen time with daily limits and set a bedtime on their child’s Android device. To help guide them to better content, parents can view their app activity and set per-app time limits, approve downloads and create content filters. And SafeSearch is on by default for supervised child accounts, helping to filter explicit search results.
Parent-Child Agreement
This agreement lets parents and kids select from the choices provided and add their own “agreements” that work best for their family. Parents can have a conversation with their child about phone safety and choose their favorite visual theme, customize their personal phone agreement and print or share on social channels.
Get Your Kids Ready
Using resources available in Google’s Digital Wellbeing Family Guide, parents can decide with their kids when the appropriate time is to hand them a device of their own. By providing tools and resources for discussions about healthy digital habits and internet safety, both parents and kids can gain confidence with the new device added to their family.
About U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular is the fourth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, providing national network coverage and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier is building a stronger network with the latest 5G technology and offers a wide range of communication services that enhance consumers’ lives, increase the competitiveness of local businesses and improve the efficiency of government operations. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or www.uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.
