Family IT Guy Podcast
Claim This Podcastby Family IT Guy
Podcast Overview
<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
8/8/2025
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Recent Episodes
June 18, 2026
Porn: The Conversation That Protects Your Kids | Chris McKenna
How do you talk to your kids about pornography before the internet does it for them? Chris McKenna founded Protect Young Eyes to help parents answer exactly that, and his approach surprises most people: the fix is not a better filter. It is a braver and more frequent conversation.Most of us are scared of this talk, so we put it off, and putting it off is the one move that leaves a kid alone with whatever they find. Chris makes the case for the opposite. Make the conversation normal. Start early, keep it casual, have it often, so your kid runs to you when something feels wrong instead of hiding it. Shine light on the topic.We get into the number that stopped me cold. In every child-on-child case the counselors Chris interviewed had handled that year, the child who had harmed another had been exposed to pornography early in childhood. We talk about why a young brain has no "file" for what it is seeing, then we get practical: ten conversations before age 10, the porn talk you can have in the car without ever saying the word "porn", and how to make yourself the person your kid comes to.MORE FROM CHRIS McKENNAOrder his book, 5 Habits of the Tech-Ready Family (out June 16 2026): https://www.techreadyfamily.comProtect Young Eyes: https://protectyoungeyes.comDigital parenting coaching, The Table: https://protectyoungeyes.com/the-tableThe Ultimate Guide to Understanding Routers: https://www.protectyoungeyes.com/devices/the-ultimate-guide-to-understanding-routersCHAPTERS0:00 Welcome1:05 How Chris got into this10:39 The realities of porn today20:04 Young brains can't process it21:28 The 100% statistic24:00 Make Porn the Norm (the reframe)28:14 10 before 1030:28 Where kids really see it35:11 How to actually have the talk43:42 Porn isn't real sex57:31 The one fix at AppleSOURCESThe 100% figure is from Chris McKenna's interviews with counselors at Children's Assessment Centers, which work with both the child who was harmed and the child who caused harm. More on his research at https://protectyoungeyes.comABOUT CHRIS McKENNAChris is the founder of Protect Young Eyes and president of The Better Tech Project. He testified before the U.S. Senate in 2019, co-authored the Child Device Protection Bill that is now law in Utah and Alabama, and is featured in the documentary Childhood 2.0. Publishers Weekly calls his new book "comprehensive," "illuminating," and "an informative resource for parents eager to establish digital safety nets for their children."ABOUT FAMILY IT GUYBen Gillenwater is a cybersecurity expert and dad who helps parents protect their kids from the two biggest digital dangers: addictive algorithms and anonymous communication.#digitalparenting #onlinesafety #pornography #raisingkids #parentingtips #protectyoungeyes #screentime #familyitguy
June 9, 2026
Apple iOS just made kids’ phones safer.
For years, giving a child their first phone meant starting with a device designed for adults and then trying to lock it down afterward.Apple just announced a major shift.With iOS 27, kids' devices can start as a blank slate—no wide-open access, no endless game of chasing settings and blocking apps after the fact. Parents decide what gets added and when.This is how child-safe technology should work: parental authority first, access second.It's also a reminder that protecting kids online doesn't require invasive age-verification systems or sacrificing privacy. Good design can solve a lot of problems before lawmakers try to.Apple deserves credit for raising the bar on both privacy and parental controls.Would you feel more comfortable giving your child a phone if it started locked down by default?#Apple #iOS27 #OnlineSafety #DigitalParenting #FamilyITGuy
June 8, 2026
The Hidden Risk of Instagram’s New Instants Feature
Meta's new Instants feature has drawn comparisons to Snapchat for one simple reason: both are built around disappearing photos and messages.For parents, the important question isn't which app your child is using—it's whether they understand how these features actually work.Platforms market disappearing content as temporary, but "disappearing" doesn't mean private. Content can be screenshotted, screen-recorded, photographed with another device, shared, and in many cases retained by the platform itself. The technology may make content less visible, but it doesn't make it disappear from the internet.In this video, I look at why Meta is embracing a Snapchat-style feature despite ongoing concerns about youth safety online, what parents should know about supervision tools, and why digital literacy is a more effective long-term strategy than relying on app settings alone.The most valuable lesson we can teach kids is not which apps to fear, but how to think critically about privacy, permanence, and the business models behind the platforms they use every day.I'm Ben, the Family IT Guy—a dad and cybersecurity expert with 30 years of experience helping families navigate social media, smartphones, AI, parental controls, and online safety.Subscribe for practical advice on raising tech-smart kids in a digital world.
61 total episodes available
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- What is Family IT Guy Podcast?
<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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