Teens do not separate their online and offline lives; parents should not either. We need to be present and active in both spaces. StopMedicineAbuse understands this. They support parents dealing with abuse issues as well as helping parents reach across the digital divide. Here is my latest post featured on their FiveMomsBlog. Start the Digital Talk with…
I received another reminder on the importance of security. In the mail was a new credit card followed by a letter from Costco Photo about the potential for stolen data. While these reminders are discouraging, there are steps everyone can take to reduce the likelihood of thieves accessing personal information. By everyone, I mean children as well. Cybercriminals…
One of my top tips for parents on how to manage and guide their family’s technology use is building a family phone contract. I am not talking about a list of rules. Kids will mindlessly sign anything to have that phone in their hands. I am talking about sitting down together and building a contract. By…
This week, headlines about sexting flooded my dash. This was hardly the first time I had seen headlines about teens sexting, but this headline had me worried. A new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that a significant number of adolescents between ages 12 and 14 sext, and that these children are more likely to kiss, have…
We decided she was ready. We picked a phone and plan. Now, she has a phone! My kid spent her first phone weekend searching for the perfect case and texting her friends. On Monday, she discovered her phone journey was not over. We sat down together to draft her phone contract. Her phone contract included rules…
Privacy and security go hand in hand. This is especially true with a kid’s mobile phone. Their phone contains lots of personal information that anyone who has access to it can see. In order to keep their information private, kids need to keep their device secure. With kids, the two big security issues are losing…
Occasionally I have a week where my friends are all asking about one particular website or app. I had a MyYearbook week followed by an Instagram week. This week it was Kik. “Have you heard of Kik? What is Kik? What do I need to know about Kik?” Kik is a free mobile messenger app. With…
The start of school is no longer about having the right jeans or the new shoes. A new phone is the must have fall accessory. The phone most kids want and think they need is a smartphone. Smartphones are not really phones. Most kids will rarely use them to call anyone except for their parents. Smartphones are small,…
We recently upgraded all of our phones. I knew it was time to divorce my G1 when my friends were making fun of me. Now, we are trying to figure out what to do with the old phones. Before moving them along, we need to remove all of our information such as emails, contacts, pictures,…
How hard is it to hack into a cellphone’s voicemail? Quite easy. Reporters from the British paper News of the World hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians and private citizens including a murdered schoolgirl, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7/7 London bombings. For a quick update on the scandal check out this clip from the Daily Show.…
KidsPrivacy 