Hangouts

Is Hangouts safe for my kids?

Parents should know that Hangouts, a Google product, is an app that allows users to message one another and participate in group chats or conversations, as well as take advantage voice and video calling capabilities. Hangouts is an effort for Google to create a centralized location for Google users to conduct communications of all types.

Parents allowing their children to use Google Hangouts should familiarize themselves with Google+, and understand how both the platform and its communities work, as they may be missing a great deal of child’s social network activity.

Google’s terms of service state that users must be 13 years or older to open a Google account, however, Google Family Link users allow for users under the age of 13 to have Google accounts.

Parents will want to ensure that their children keep their Google+ accounts set to private, only adding those users that are found within their own contacts list. When Google+ accounts are set to public, anyone may add a minor to their circles, allowing them to initiate messaging conversations or video calls.

Google Hangouts, and Google+ for that matter, is an app that parents will want to have a discussion with their children about, revisiting appropriate and inappropriate behavior, in addition to alerting a parent when an interaction or a contact makes them feel uncomfortable.

As with any live video app, there is always the possibility of minors being exposed to inappropriate language and behavior, so it’s especially important for parents to be monitoring their child’s activity in the Hangouts app.

Parents should also periodically check that their child’s account remains set to private, to alleviate the possibility of a stranger adding them to their circle and initiating contact and Google Hangouts can be used as a grooming tool.

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