National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Keeping Kids Safe Online

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (Oct. 6, 2025)—October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and United Communications wants to help families in Middle Tennessee build healthy digital habits and keep themselves and their personal data secure in today’s digital world.

Setting Screen Time Limits

For kids, screen time is nearly as natural as playtime. But without boundaries, it can interfere with schoolwork, sleep, and family time. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under 2, one hour per day for children between the ages of 2 and 12, and two hours per day for teenagers.

Here are a few tips to help families create and maintain healthy screen time limits with your kids:

• Set clear expectations early: Sit down with your kids and explain why you’re putting filters and schedules in place. Let them have input so that reasonable limits become a family norm.
• Start with realistic goals: If your kids spend a lot of time on screens, start by setting attainable goals. For example, instead of immediately cutting screen time to an hour or two, start by reducing their current screen time allowance in half.
• Lead by example: If parents are glued to screens late at night, it’s harder to enforce bedtime rules. Demonstrate good habits and remember to spend time every day engaging your kids in activities you all enjoy, giving them your full attention.
• Consistency over perfection: Schedules should apply nearly every night, but it’s okay to allow for exceptions during weekends, holidays, or other special occasions.
• Review regularly: As kids age, their needs and maturity change. What’s appropriate in middle school may not be the same in high school. Revisit the filtering levels and time limits occasionally.

Talking About Online Dangers

The internet can be a wonderful place for learning and connecting, but it also comes with risks. Parents should have regular, open conversations with their children about how to stay safe online.

• Stranger danger: Remind kids that not everyone online is who they claim to be, and that safe online contacts won’t ask them to keep secrets. Encourage them never to share personal details, including photos and videos, or agree to meet someone they only know through the internet.
• Cyberbullying: Define what it looks like—mean messages, exclusion, gossip—and why it’s important to treat others online the same way we treat others in person. Make sure your kids know they can come to you if they feel like they’re being harassed or disrespected online or if they see it happening to others.
• Personal information: Teach your children that their address, phone number, and even seemingly mundane details like their school’s name should stay private. Use real-world analogies to convey the message, like comparing personal details to a set of house keys or online privacy to a superhero’s mask.

The Role of Parental Controls

Even with the best conversations, kids are naturally curious. That’s where parental controls can help. By filtering inappropriate websites, blocking unsafe apps, or limiting certain platforms, you add a protective layer that supports your family rules—like helmets or seat belts for the internet.

United Communications is proud to offer Ultimate UControl, a tool designed to help parents manage these challenges in one place. With UControl, you can:

• Set screen time schedules so kids log off when it’s homework time or bedtime.
• Filter online content to ensure that what your children see is age-appropriate.
• Manage devices individually, so you can adjust limits for each child’s needs.
• Encourage safer habits by combining boundaries with conversations about online behavior.

Ultimate UControl empowers parents to keep kids safe without constant battles or daily negotiations around screen time and online habits. Best of all, it’s easy to use, so you don’t need to be a tech expert to make it work for your family. Parents can learn more about United’s fast, reliable fiber internet at United.net, or explore UControl’s features at united.net/support/ucontrol-app.

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About United Communications

United Communications is a leading provider of internet and phone services for residential customers, small and mid-sized businesses, and enterprise-level organizations across Middle Tennessee. United has been nationally and regionally recognized, including a 2024 and 2025 Gold Stevie® Award from the American Business Awards®, 2024 and 2023 Best Places To Work from the Nashville Business Journal, 2023 Top 100 Fiber-To-The-Home Leader, 2023 Torch Award from the BBB, and designation as a Smart Rural Community Provider℠.

United operates more than 4,800 route miles of fiber covering portions of Bedford, Davidson, Franklin, Giles, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Rutherford, Williamson, and Wilson counties. United Communications is a service of Middle Tennessee Electric. To learn more, please visit united.net.