Instagram – Is It Okay for Kids? What Parents Need to Know
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 [...]
Amazing Mentor! Spotlight Interview with Jeff Sutphen
Note from Mary Kay – Amazing Kids! is a non-profit organization that does a wonderful job of focusing on all the great things that kids can do, are doing and are capable of doing. I particularly like that they shine a spotlight on young artists, writers and philanthropists. I’m appreciative that Jeff [...]
Google’s New Privacy Policy – a Safety Workaround for You and Your Teen
Taking a page from Facebook, Google has now lowered the minimum age required to join Google+ from 18 to 13. They claim that opening Google+ to younger kids will help educate them about social networking. If you’re a regular reader of Yoursphere for Parents or follow any of the work I do in the Internet-safety [...]
Online Gaming Safety Information for Parents
First and foremost, it’s important to understand that, one, there are safety controls available on gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and two, that there are a number of other safety precautions that both you and your child can take to help protect their safety and privacy on said consoles—most of which [...]
Safety Tips for Social Networking
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have become extremely popular in recent years. They’re a great way to keep family and friends updated on your life and connect with colleagues and communities that share your interests. You can use social networks to build a positive online reputation. The first step is STOP. [...]
Stickam – A Very Dangerous Site for Kids
I’ve written and talked at length about the challenges that webcams create for parents, as well as the safety and privacy risks that they can create for our children. You may have heard of some of the more headline-grabbing sites, like TinyChat and Chatroulette, but have you heard of Stickam? Like the former two, Stickam [...]
Screen Retriever Review and Installation Guide
As a parent, I always want to know where my children are, who they’re hanging out with, and what they’re doing. I like to try and give them a balance between freedom and safety, let them grow and mature yet still make sure they don’t do anything that has the potential to harm them. This [...]
The Value Social Networking Provides Our Children
Five Reasons Why You Should Encourage Your Child to Be Online Yes, you read that right: encourage your kids to be online and join a social network! As a mom of five, I know how busy our children’s lives can be between school, homework, after-school activities and friends. So you might wonder “when” I’d suggest [...]
Cyberbullying and Online Gaming: How to Protect Your Child
First let me say that, just as I am not OK with it offline, I am not okay with the idea of my children talking to strangers online. But that’s exactly what happens in online gaming services like Xbox Live and Playstation Network. As soon as your child logs onto their profile or joins an [...]
Five Internet-Safety Resolutions for the New Year
When the New Year comes around we make resolutions to lose weight, spend more time with friends and family, or simply get more organized. These resolutions, however, have the tendency to fall off soon after we start as they require a huge time investment and sometimes a change in lifestyle. A desire to be safer [...]
A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Sure Your Child’s Holiday Technology Gifts Are Safety-Enabled And Family-Friendly Ready
If you plan on buying your child one of the many fun and engaging technology gifts available this holiday season, know that there are a few simple things you can do to make sure their gifts are family-friendly ready and safety-enabled. Here are some things you’ll need to consider before buying, and what you’ll need [...]
Your Guide to the New Facebook Timeline Privacy Settings
The Timeline feature that Mark Zuckerberg announced in September is now available to all Facebook users. If you’ve already activated Timeline for your own profile, you’re probably in the midst of adjusting to the new layout and testing out the new features. But what you might have overlooked are the minor additions to your Privacy [...]
VINCI Tab: The Perfect Tablet for Your Toddler or Preschooler
Leveraging technology to be used as an educational tool can be tricky with so many missing standard safeguards. But if any piece of entertainment technology has proven to be useful, from an educational standpoint, in schools and in homes, it’s the tablet PC. Enter Dr. Dan D. Yang. Dr. Yang has capitalized on this potential [...]
Why Apple Products Make the Best Tech Gifts for Your Child
Whether it’s a smartphone or a tablet, we want the latest and greatest digital devices—and so do our kids. Researchers at Gartner really drove this point home with a recent study that found that young adults ages 18-24 actually prefer a new cell phone over a new car. Yes, we live in a different world. [...]
Making Chrome and Firefox Safe for Your Family
Though Internet Explorer is still the market leader when it comes to web browsers, its steady decline shows that more and more people are leaning towards Chrome or Firefox as their go-to browser. When it comes to using content filtering tools as a way to create a safe, age-appropriate browsing experience, I always recommend Internet [...]
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 [...]
Mary Kay is a nationally-recognized Internet safety expert and the founder of 
