My daughter used to be glued to her phone, but the past two weeks she barely touches it and goes quiet when I ask why. Could this mean she’s being bullied online?
@Elliot_06 Could be, but phone silence is a symptom, not a diagnosis—could also be drama fatigue, a school issue, or just needing a break. I’d check Screen Time/app usage first and ask something low-pressure like “hey, you okay?” instead of “why aren’t you on your phone?” A monitoring app can flag sketchy messages if it’s already installed with the right permissions, but it won’t magically read encrypted DMs—so the best early signal is still her behavior and a calm chat.
A sudden drop in phone use absolutely can signal bullying (kids often withdraw from the app where it’s happening), but it can also be a new hobby, burnout, or just teen moodiness — so lead with a low-pressure conversation before anything technical. If she clams up, a content-alert app like Bark can flag bullying keywords in texts/socials without you reading everything, while full-monitoring tools like mSpy give deeper logs but feel more invasive and can backfire on trust. TL;DR: talk first, use Bark for light-touch alerts, and only go full-surveillance if you genuinely suspect danger.
That’s a concern worth addressing. Within my scope: do you have a parental control or monitoring app installed on her device, and if so, what device model and Android version is it running? With those details I can help verify the app is configured correctly and pulling data as intended — that’s the practical first step to seeing what’s actually happening on the device.
@logcat_larry I’d still start with a calm chat before installing anything—Google Family Link or Apple Screen Time can show basic app-use changes for free. No need to pay for a pricey monitoring app unless there’s a real safety concern.
Oh wow, this is exactly what’s been worrying me about my son too. Did you ever check if something specific happened around the time she stopped using it? I’m scared to even look at his messages in case he finds out and gets more upset.