COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Colorado Springs parents got a closer look at the tools available to keep their children safe online at a community event hosted by TESSA in partnership with the Colorado Springs Police Department at Ent Center for the Arts Sunday night.
Representatives from platforms like Roblox and TikTok gave presentations to talk about the dangers children face online and how parents can use built-in tools to protect them.
Several community organizations also participated to showcase resources available in the community including the HOPE Animal Assistance Crisis Response and El Paso County Public Health.
One parent, Amanda Aquino, who has two young children, said she left the event with knowledge she did not have before.
"It feels overwhelming, there's so much, I'm learning, just now I learned about parental controls with Roblox and I'm like oh I didn't know about that, we got asked, the crowd, who has their parent account linked to their kids account and I'm sitting here thinking- not me!"
Aquino said she’ll be using the resources she learned at the event.
"Just learning that there are websites I can go to get information and educate myself and sort of guide me through all of this, I need it, I want it, and I'm grateful for it."
TESSA, a local non-profit that helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault said the dangers children face extend beyond social media and gaming platforms. Anne Markley of TESSA said teens are now navigating risks that many parents may not be aware of.
“As a parent of two teenagers myself, it is really frightening to see just what access they have to information, what access other youth have to them. I think something that's really big for me is just the sharing of locations with friends. That's huge. Your friends don't need to know where you are all the time,” Anne Markley, TESSA’s CEO said.
TESSA also does prevention education in local schools to educate students on healthy and unhealthy relationships.
"One of the things we talked about earlier was that teens are starting to actually date AI companions, and so these realities are things we are seeing in our schools and our local community. Our teens tell us about them, and so being able to really open those conversations and having parents know this is happening," Markley said.
TESSA said it plans to hold more community conversations with CSPD in the future.
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