Back-to-School Time: A Helpful Tech Checklist for Parents

Between school-issued Chromebooks, new phones, and a dozen education apps demanding accounts, the back-to-school season quietly turns every parent into an IT administrator.

Before the first bell rings, work through this checklist to keep your kids—and your household—safer online.

• Inventory the devices. Make a simple list of every laptop, tablet, and phone your child will use for school, including who owns it and what accounts live on it.
• Lock down logins. Create strong, unique passwords for each school portal and app, and store them in a family password manager. Enable multifactor authentication wherever it’s offered.
• Review app permissions. Many “free” education and gaming apps request access to contacts, location, and cameras they don’t need. Say no, or find an alternative.
• Update everything. Old software is an open door. Turn on automatic updates for operating systems, browsers, and apps before the semester’s chaos begins.
• Read the school’s tech policy. Understand what the district monitors on school-issued devices and what data it collects about your kids. Ask questions if anything is unclear.
• Separate school from home. If your child uses a family computer, give them their own standard (non-administrator) account so a bad download can’t compromise everyone’s files.
• Talk about scams. Kids face phishing too: fake game credits, bogus scholarship offers, “free” prize links, and more. Teach them to pause and ask before clicking anything unexpected.
• Set privacy settings together. Walk through social media and app privacy controls with your kids rather than for them; the lesson lasts longer than the setting does.

A little setup now prevents big headaches later. An hour spent on this checklist in August can spare your family from compromised accounts, stolen identities, and lost schoolwork all year long.

A good rule of thumb is that if a device can connect to the internet, it needs to be secured. Phones, tablets, and school laptops included. Visit our Fraud & Theft Protection page and subscribe to the Money Mill Blog for more information and best practices to keep your data and money safe.