It’s every parent’s fear that their child will be the victim of cyberbullying and when it comes to the internet, kids are at-risk for bullying 24/7. So what do you do to protect your kid from cyberbullying, or from bullying others? Enter Bark, a safety solution for parents to help protect their children online. Bark’s watchdog engine uses algorithms to look for a variety of potential issues, such as cyberbullying, sexting, drug-related content, and signs of depression. Here with me to discuss the rise of digital parenting tools is Bark CEO, Brian Bason.
BRIAN BASON“I started out doing software development, then went into the startup world and then had kids, so that’s how I got to Bark.
“Whatever your child has online, Bark monitors those 24 hours a day.”
“We encourage parents to talk to their kids about online safety besides just monitoring.”
“We alert parents if their child is the bully and present recommended actions which range from talking to their child to other resources they might need to get help.”
“We’ve analyzed over half a billion messages. We’ve got very good at picking up on subtleness. Words are very context heavy.”
“We view as what were doing as spot checking. We don’t give parents full unfettered access, only what they need to know. So kids report more privacy because their parents are reading everything all the time.”
“We have a CPO (Chief Parenting Officer).”
“Atlanta is a large city and active investor population. Tech Village is the 4th largest tech co-working space.”
“We do a lot of whiteboarding, and try to keep up with the way children speak.”
“We’ve had a ridiculously high amount of meetings about emojis, more than any company should have. We have to understand the text alongside the emojis.”
“Talking to kids is first and foremost the best thing you can do. Asking questions about what kids use can help. There’s nothing better than talking with your child.”
“We applaud anyone doing work in the children’s safety area.”
AMY SILVERSTEINAmy Silverstein is the author of My Glory Was I had Such Friends, a memoir about nine friends credited with saving Amy’s life when she had her second lifesaving heart transplant at age 50. The memoir is about the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit, My Glory tells the story of the extraordinary group of women who supported her through as she waited for the transplant to come through. And, if this story isn’t inspiring enough, just two days after publication of her memoir, JJ Abrams, of Star Wars and Westworld fame, acquired the rights to the book to develop as a limited series.
“I had my first heart transplant at 25. I found out I was in heart failure with a 10 year life expectancy. I was determined not to have that be my life expectancy.”
“At 26 years post transplant which is rare for hearts. But I needed a second heart and had to travel to LA to get the transplant. And my girlfriends created a spreadsheet so someone could stay in a cot next to me the entire time.”
“With Sick Girl I decided I wanted to write honestly from a patient’s perspective. I wasn’t living very healthily during those first 26 years. It was lonely and painful.”
“With My Glory I knew I had to write something about how miraculous it was. When you’re 25 you’re not the same kind of friend you are at 50.”
“It showed the change in friendship between 25 and 50. We know how to nurture and show up for each either.”
“It focuses on what each one of these women brought to me. We’re all living a different life now. We’re able to put ourselves aside to take what we’ve learned and help.”
“My friends would email each other about what to bring and what they needed to bring to help.”
“In the digital age, I talk about my friend Val who was one of my law school roommates. When I speak with Val, which is almost nightly. All we can do is hear each other. It’s different to hear and not see each other. Val could hear I wasn’t doing so well. She could “see” me in a different way than my friends could. Having that distance on phone, or text, or email can help bring a more real idea of what the friend is going through.”
“I was really dying out there. I turned quickly when they came to see me.”
“My friends kept me alive to receive that organ. I couldn’t do it without them.”
“I think my friend surprised themselves. There was something about it, sort of a pay it forward sort of thing.”
“I think you can form close friendships at any age. I know this because I met a few women who became great friends.”
“My oldest friend Jill from the second grade. Two from law school, two from my husband. One was a situational friend. She came every single day while I was there for two and half months.”
“People can rise up especially when it’s to save someone’s life.”
“As I was writing, I thought this could make a good movie scene. CAA read it quite early and waited until it was published. One night the phone rings, it says Bad Robot and it was JJ Abrams. He is so personable. He does a lot of male oriented stories with strong female characters built in there. This will be a limited TV series.”
“I think a lot of true friendship means showing up. That means putting your tech aside and using your legs. It’s so easy to send an email or shoot a text. Especially hard to show up at the door when you haven’t been welcomed.”
“I had friends who entered my house and sat on the couch and said I didn’t have to talk to them.”
“A lot of friendship is just showing up. As we get older we show up in a more complete way.”
“I wasn’t a super friend either at 25. At middle age you’ve acquired these tools where you can show up for someone.”
“A friend reached out today and wanted to stop by but my first reaction was don’t stop by because it’s easier to do through an email or text. But I said, “No, come on over.” It feels great when you give them a hug.”
“This heart is very powerful. I can feel the difference between this 13 year old’s heart and the last one.”
“I hope people feel less alone. I hope I say things in an honest way. We all have OCD ways that you line up your life. I put them all out there warts and all. I hope people feel that they’re not the only one coping. I think the more honest a writer can be, the more useful the book can be to others.”
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