A new photo-sharing application called Snapchat has just been released for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Snapchat is an app that allows users to take a photo and share it with someone for up to 10 seconds. When the allotted time is up, the photo is permanently deleted. If the recipient tries to take [...]
As a mother of two college students and two tween boys, I absolutely understand the urge to give children what they want. Right now, in this world of digital media and instant gratification, that ‘want’ is to be on a social network with their friends. Most children, as you know, use Facebook as that social [...]
In many ways, and without reinventing the wheel, Instagram is changing the way people share photos with each other. The mobile app, which is only available on the iPhone, is steadily growing in popularity among the kid and teen crowds, causing parents to take notice and ask, what exactly is Instagram, and is there anything [...]
“It’s a case of digital rape in the 21st century.” That’s how SSP Blue founder and Internet-safety advocate, Hemanshu Nigam, referred to sextortion. Never heard of sextortion? You’re not alone, which is exactly why this issue has never been more vital to the safety and privacy of our children, both online and offline. Sextortion is [...]
People love to see likes, tweets and diggs on the updates, pictures and videos they post on their blog or social network profile. Even more so, it’s always a nice surprise to see that you have comments on whatever you posted. The nice comments can put a smile on your face, while the not-so-nice ones [...]
uKnowKids is a new web-based monitoring system for your child’s smartphone and social network accounts. For testing purposes, our team used the “Premier” subscription which provides comprehensive monitoring on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, as well as Android-powered smartphones and Blackberry devices. Subscription prices vary depending on how many children you want to monitor, extra features [...]
A new photo-sharing application called Snapchat has just been released for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Snapchat is an app that allows users to take a photo and share it with someone for up to 10 seconds. When the allotted time is up, the photo is permanently deleted. If the recipient tries to take [...]
Three Indiana girls were expelled from Griffith Public School last week after a concerned mother provided the school principal with a copy of a malicious Facebook thread about her daughter and other students at the school. In the thread, the three girls discussed different ways to kill their classmates, including putting someone in a bathtub [...]
If you know me or visit this website regularly, you already know that I’m a mom of five. I speak to you from a standpoint of practicality, experience and expertise. You know that the editorial team here at Yoursphere Media, Inc. is dedicated to providing practical, easy-to-understand, family-friendly solutions that allow the entire family to [...]
The recent and tragic case of the 17-year-old young man from Northern California who, while texting and driving, plowed into a family of three while they were riding bikes, killing the father and 9-year-old daughter, left me hyper-aware. Hyper-aware because that young man could’ve been one of my own sons; hyper-aware because in the bicycle-friendly [...]
Despite the challenges that we face in the area of safe social networking for kids, I absolutely love and support everything that my company is doing to create a safer, more positive online experience for children. After reading Melanie Schreffler’s piece in YPulse titled The New Millennial Mindset: Positive is as Positive Does, I couldn’t [...]
My two younger boys, who are still in middle school, are intently focused on playing collegiate sports. When I read about the recent news of the NCAA sanctions against the University of North Carolina’s football program (due to what was found on student athletes social media profiles), I immediately shared the story with my 13-year [...]
The other day my son asked if he could have a YouTube account of his own. He enjoys listening to music and watching the sports videos on the site. He’s 13 now so I said yes. While the intention was for me to help him create his account, he jumped right in and suddenly he [...]
The other day I read an interesting column on Forbes.com called “Avoiding a Precautionary Principle for the Internet”. In the article, Adam Thierer voices his concern with adopting a “precautionary principle” as it relates to the progression of Internet technologies. The precautionary principle that he mentions is the notion that since every current or future [...]
If you’re like most parents, the first time you heard of Internet cookies you probably wondered to yourself, ‘what the heck are cookies?’ Well, simply put, cookies are small, often encrypted (protected) text-only files that reside on your web browser or computer’s memory. In a nutshell, cookies are used to make your web-browsing experience a [...]
The idea of ad companies and marketing firms having an “online profile” of your child based on their web browsing habits is of definite concern. Unfortunately, this isn’t just an idea; it’s a reality. In fact, it’s how companies like Google and Yahoo! make money. One of the key methods used to collect this data [...]
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Mary Kay is a nationally-recognized Internet safety expert, and the founder of Yoursphere.com.
You can learn more about her work at marykayhoal.com.
