Online Safety for Your Kids: Help is Here!

Kathryn Swegart offers practical advice on internet safety for your children.

A recent news story reported that an AI-powered teddy bear had been pulled from the market. You might ask, "Why? What could be dangerous about a stuffed toy?"

Plenty. FoloToy’s Kumma had more than fluffy cotton in its stomach. It had an OpenAI chatbot inside. The chatbot was all too ready to teach children where to find knives at home and the best method to light a match. It also communicated unsavory topics in disturbing detail.

If you can’t trust a teddy bear, what can you trust? After all, parents have more control over a toy than the digital world. Here is the good news. As the digital threat grew, parents and digital companies have devised common-sense solutions within reach of the average family.

Finding Digital Safety Tools that Work for Your Family

David McGarry, a policy analyst with Taxpayers Protection Alliance, wrote about this problem in The American Spectator (December 9, 2025). He writes, “As difficulties mount, the digital safety tools available to parents become more formidable.”

Does your child have an iPhone? According to McGarry, parents can “restrict downloads to explicitly approved applications, block explicit content in apps and on the open internet, enable maximal privacy protections, and limit communications to phone contacts.”

There is a tool for digital safety that covers most every platform, according to a listing published by CEI.org.

Other solutions exist to help parents navigate the digital morass. My son’s family introduced me to Wisephone2, used by their teenage son. Considered a minimalist device, it is designed to cut out distractions and addictions that steal away precious hours. Techless designed it to have no email, no browser, and no social media apps, calling the device the World’s Healthiest Smartphone.

Techless also eliminated colors and icons from the home screen, features that capture attention and add to addictive qualities. The home page has simple black and white lines on an off-white background. What does Wisephone2 allow? Here is an incomplete list:

Music and podcasts
Messaging
Ride Sharing
Food Delivery
Navigation
Login and security
Google Calendar

For a more comprehensive list, visit the review on WhatIfIDidnt.com or Techless.com.

Audiobooks for Kids, No Internet Required

Still another positive approach to controlling internet access is a device called Yoto. I wrote about this before on Catholic Mom. It is such a simple yet ingenious invention that it bears repeating.

Yoto is a screen-free audio device that lets kids enjoy storybooks, riddles, and more with no connection to the internet. All the content is powered by physical smart cards. These tools are good news to families. The Yoto catalog has an impressive collection of classic literature including Paddington Bear by Michael Bond and Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne.

Yoto has skyrocketed in popularity over the years, offering more classics and even the opportunity to create your own Yoto card. One Catholic company has created cards with stories about eight saints that will appeal to younger children.

As I wind up this survey of tools to protect your children from internet prowlers, I hope you feel encouraged. We need not worry about Kumma, the unscrupulous bear. You now have Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington ready to entertain your children in things good, true, and beautiful.

Please see the links below for more helpful Yoto tools. 

The Little Rose Shop offers Catholic saint stories, the Rosary, Stations of the Cross and more for use on the Yoto platform.

US.Yotoplay.com

What other resources would you suggest to fellow parents?

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Copyright 2026 Kathryn Swegart
Images: Canva