Kids & Family

Family IT Guy Podcast

by Family IT Guy

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Latest episodes

What I’m Building at Family IT Guy, October 2026

October 17, 2026 · 18 min

I'm sharing the Family IT Guy plans as of October 2026: guidance for choosing apps and devices, device setup classes, and education for parents and kids. I also talk about Boring, my phone-accountability prototype; private AI projects…
Accidental Kids Games: Why Many Games Kids Play Weren’t Built for Them

October 16, 2026 · 1 hr 50 min

This is a conversation about how to tell whether a video game is safe for your kid, with a game developer who has spent 25 years making games, including Club Penguin. My guest is Stephen MacDonald, CEO of Magic Potion Games, the studio…
Adult Ads in Kids’ Mobile Games: What a Lawsuit Alleges and What to Check

October 16, 2026 · 5 min

A game's age rating doesn't tell you which ads it will show. San Diego County alleges that AppLovin, which supplies the technology that puts ads inside mobile apps and games, sent adult ads into children's mobile games even with parental…
Is Perplexity Safe for Kids? Common Sense Media Rates It Unacceptable Risk

October 10, 2026 · 5 min

Is Perplexity safe for kids? Common Sense Media tested the AI search tool with accounts set up as a 15-year-old and gave it its lowest rating, unacceptable risk. My opinion and my suggestion is that kids should never use AI alone. The…
A Screen for the School Bus? A Book or an Old Nintendo DS Instead

October 8, 2026 · 6 min

I think boredom is good for kids, and a school bus ride is a good place to practice it. A parent in my livestream chat has two boys, six and seven, with no phones or tablets of their own, and the youngest wants a screen he can play with on…

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My 11-Year-Old Asked to Text His Friend. I Said No.

September 25, 2026 · 1 min

My son uses his Apple Watch for emergencies, with a short list of family contacts. When he asked to add a friend, my wife and I said no. Here’s why texting friends would change what we use the watch for. https://www.familyitguy.com
Teach Kids About Tech and Set Limits: Why I Recommend Both

September 24, 2026 · 2 min

Someone in the live chat asked why we don't just teach children to use devices well instead of banning them. It's a fair question and I think the premise is sound. My answer is that it depends on the device. A phone is not usually the…
When Your Child Says Everyone Else Has It

September 22, 2026 · 2 min

A mum wrote in during the livestream. She has two boys, nine and five, she wants to protect them from what is online, and she does not want to do it by frightening them. How do you balance that? I use an analogy at those ages. Most of us…
iOS 27 Parental Controls - Make Your Kid’s iPhone Boring

September 18, 2026 · 28 min

iOS 27 parental controls are out, and in this video I go through what changed for parents and how I'd set up a kid's iPhone with them. First, the new Screen Time features: suggested starting apps by age, Ask to Buy and Ask to Browse…
When Your Child Is in Trouble Online, How You React Matters

September 18, 2026 · 5 min

A parent shares how their daughter’s abusers got around the restrictions on her device. I discuss what happened and why children need to know they can ask their parents for help when something goes wrong online. I recommend that parents…
Roblox Is an Adult Platform Marketed to Kids

September 17, 2026 · 2 min

Roblox is an adult platform that is marketed to kids. It does not respect parental authority. It has lied to and misled parents for years, and it has traded safety for profit. I am not a fan. Roblox has 123 million daily active users and…
School Requires an iPad. What Can Parents Control?

September 16, 2026 · 7 min

A parent asks how to control a school-required iPad that their child also uses for homework. I discuss Apple’s Screen Time controls, NextDNS internet filtering, and home router schedules, including how the school’s restrictions may affect…

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About the show

Ben Gillenwater helps families protect children from digital dangers, bringing 30 years of cybersecurity expertise to the parenting journey. His background includes working with the NSA and serving as Chief Technologist of a $10 billion IT company, where he built global-scale systems and understood technology's risks at every level. His mission began when he gave his young son an iPad with "kid-safe" apps—only to discover inappropriate content days later. Despite his deep technical background, Ben realized that if protecting children online was challenging for him, it must be even more difficult for parents without his expertise. Through Family IT Guy, Ben creates videos and articles that help parents and kids learn how to leverage the positive parts of the internet while avoiding the dangerous and risky parts. His approach bridges the knowledge gap between complex technology and practical family protection, making digital safety accessible to everyone.