Disclaimer: I have teamed up with Artimys in support of this campaign. We received compensation for participation in this campaign. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
My family recently went through a tragedy with a teenaged loved one. We had no idea about the difficulties he was going through or that he was at the brink of a devastating choice. It’s led to so many questions, wondering how we could have known or helped with the things he was hiding from us. The best option is for parents to always be pursing their children’s hearts, spending quality time with them and creating a safe environment for dialogue. But what can parents do to protect their children when they sense there is major trauma going on in their lives that isn’t being shared.
Sadly, parents are often the last to know, but a new company Artimys launched a $50,000 Kickstarter campaign to develop parental monitoring apps that catch cyberbullying, suicidal talk and sexual predators, while helping children maintain their privacy. Originally developed for and beta tested on Facebook, the planned companion apps (Fireball and Spitball) will use machine-learning techniques for monitoring a child’s text-based messages from popular social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, as well as SMS/MMS, and then alert parents to any messages containing potentially serious threats.
The first app planned for the Kickstarter funding is Spitball, which acts as a messaging inbox on Android phones for children. Spitball aggregates all of the child’s social activity from sites like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, SMS/MMS and more all in one place. The algorithms built into Spitball will help spot potential dangers and are based on thousands of real-life situations of threats to children – from bullying to sexual predation. As the system monitors messages, it lists all strong potential concerns and sends them to the parent or guardian. Unlike systems that monitor for key words and thus provide many false threat readings, Spitball’s built-in intelligence will provide contextual review so only likely threats will be flagged.
Spitball’s companion app, Fireball, resides on the parent’s Android or iOS phone. Fireball receives messages from the child’s Spitball app with information including social activity. It also highlights and presents to the parent only those threads and messages considered dangerous. Fireball’s unique sensitivity settings allow parents to determine and adjust how much content they see. For younger children, parents may choose the highest sensitivity level, for instance. “There’s a fine line for parents between protecting their children and spying on them,” explained Bob Dillon, Artimys Founder & CEO. “Spitball and Fireball let parents decide how much they want to see, and our system alerts them when messages should be of concern based on their content, not just key words.”
Potential supporters of the Kickstarter campaign can view and use the Artimys Guardian Facebook app for free now through April 30th. This app demonstrates the power of the Artimys Technology and serves as a preview for Spitball. The Kickstarter campaign will help Artimys continue its work, supporting the creation of Spitball and Fireball to protect children on virtually all messaging services on their Android smartphones.
The key to Spitball and Fireball is that both are designed to keep the lines of communication open and forge greater trust between parent and child. Rather than “hovering,” parents can get involved when messaging activities pose any amount of risk. When released to the public, the Spitball app is expected to sell for $10, with the companion app, Fireball, free for parents.
For more information:
Click here for Artimy’s Kickstarter campaign.
Click here for their website.