Archive for November, 2011
Family-Safe Black Friday Deals Under $100
There are hundreds of amazing deals on electronics this Black Friday, as there are every year. Most of us tend to go after the best deals on the hottest items just because they’re the best deals on the hottest item. But do you know which ones are safe for your children? Then again, how do [...]
Digital Maturity – Are We Headed In the Right Direction?
This past week I was invited to AVG’s Digital Maturity event in San Francisco. I sat at the table with about a dozen or so child advocates and online safety experts. We discussed a number of topics related to children online, as well as the current level of parental involvement and education in the US [...]
How to Set Up Yahoo and Bing Safe Search
Googling something has sort of become the typical way of getting your questions answered. We say “Google it!” and leave it up to the Internet to tell us the correct answer or point us in the right direction. However, we as adults know how to filter through the results, determining which result works best for [...]
Security Software is Getting Smarter—So Should We
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. This common phrase is most often credited to 18th century English poet Alexander Pope, but it still holds true today—especially when it comes to technology. Three decades into the personal computer revolution, many people are still better at getting into trouble with their machines than preventing it. Despite [...]
Yoursphere.com Survey among Kids and Teens Reveals Online Safety Education Works
I want to share some very encouraging research results that really shine a light on the difference online-safety education can make. At Yoursphere Media, Inc., we conducted a survey among our membership at our kids-only social network Yoursphere.com. Members that participated in the October 2011 survey were between the ages of 9 and 15 years [...]
Does Your Daughter Use a Computer with a Webcam? She May Be “Jailbait” for Online Predators
Video chatting is obviously the direction that we’re headed in when it comes to digital communication: Skype has taken the world by storm, cell phones and tablet PCs are being built with front-facing cameras and video game consoles are video-chat ready. All-in-all, video chatting is a tool that people love, especially our children. My feelings [...]
Five Tips for Safe Holiday Shopping Online
1. Shop Securely with HTTPS: Have you ever noticed that some websites have HTTPS versus HTTP in their URL? Sometimes it’s accompanied by a little padlock icon. The added on “S” stands for Secure. What this means is, the site is, for the most part, safer because all the private information you send to [...]
Mary Kay is a nationally-recognized Internet safety expert and the founder of 
