Category: Sexting
Kik – What It Is and What Parents Need to Know
Parents are concerned about sexting – and rightfully so. But as a result of that concern, I believe there’s also a heightened sense of awareness among parents. I get emails from parents every day, asking how to prevent their child from downloading certain apps, and what’s the best way to monitor what their child is [...]
Sexting Reflects Sexual Activity among Teens
In regards to sexting, parents have been swamped with a range of statistics from several different studies over the years. In 2009, the Pew Research Center found that 4% of teens ages 12-17 say they have engaged in sexting, while 15% say they have received a sext from someone they know (read more). Then in 2010, Sameer [...]
eBLASTER Mobile – Smartphone Monitoring at its Finest
Monitoring your child’s mobile device and computer doesn’t make you a helicopter parent; it makes you a responsible parent. eBLASTER Mobile ($99.95) is a monitoring software solution for Android and Blackberry smartphones. It monitors your child’s text messages, call logs, geo-location and web browsing history. And much like eBLASTER, parents only need to assign an [...]
Snapchat Makes Sexting Easy
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 [...]
Two Solutions to Help You Detect Cyberbullying on Your Child’s Smartphone
I’ve said it time and time again: face-to-face communication with your child or teen about issues like cyberbullying and sexting, and the consequences of such actions, is the key to helping them make the smartest digital decisions. Of course, not all teens are willing to listen, let alone talk about the issues, and most young [...]
How to Disable FaceTime on Your Child’s iDevice or Macbook
Simply put, my 10-year-old son was heartbroken when he dropped and cracked his iPod Touch earlier this year. He took it rough. After all, he couldn’t play his favorite mobile games and he couldn’t listen to his music—I know, tragic for a 10-year old. Last week I figured he had endured this pain long enough, [...]
11 Mobile Parental Controls from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint & T-Mobile
Finding a mobile plan that’s right for your family can be tough. And I’m not talking about deciding which texting or minutes plan to get, I am talking about parental control plans that help you manage your children’s texting, talking and mobile web browsing usage. The four main providers—Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile—all offer very [...]
An Easy Way to Introduce and Teach Your Children Responsible Texting
Update 1/23/2013: The Text Free application now allows for picture messaging. I recommend that parents keep a close look at the content of their children’s texts just to make sure they’re talking about age-appropriate content. At what age is it OK for your child to have a cell phone? Better yet, a smartphone? If your [...]
Twitter – A Revolutionary Way for Kids to Text for Free, Cyberbully and More
Everyone uses Twitter—or at least it seems that way. Major news companies use it to engage audiences from all over the world; politicians use it to leverage their outreach, and celebrities use it to let their followers know what kind of dressing is on their salad. But, you probably already know all of this. What [...]
Sexting – The Digital Hickey?
For tweens and teens today, their cell phone is the ultimate, all-in-one method of communication. In fact, it’s more than that—it’s their connection to their friends, their relationships, their social status, and every little change or comment that may or may not have an effect on it. To give you an idea of just how [...]
The “Statistically Insignificant” Sex Offender Reappears
As serious as cyberbullying, sexting and privacy are, there’s one Internet safety issue that tends to get overlooked or avoided—Internet pedophilia. I was so glad to see Linda Criddle’s post, Operation Rescue Bust Online Pedophile Ring with 70,000 Members, wherein she brings such an important topic back to the surface where it belongs. Based on [...]
Sexting Goes Mainstream
Sexting is no secret to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the last five years. It’s becoming more problematic every day as more and more kids are given smart phones but not the education and rules that should come with it. Today, you can turn on your TV and see that sexting [...]
Apple’s Anti-Sexting Application Has Potential, but Can’t Replace Parents
You may have heard of Apple’s recent patent on a technology that will allow the company to censor incoming and outgoing “sext” messages on the iPhone. And though it’s only an idea at this point, it’s a noteworthy one considering the exponential effect it can have, granted that it works the way that Apple intends [...]
Sexting – The Slippery Slope
How slippery? Slippery enough that lawmakers from all over the country are unsure about what kind of laws they should have to govern sexting. Some states label it as illegal and even put it in the same category as child pornography (20 states); while other states feel that the punishment shouldn’t be nearly as harsh. [...]
Parent-Child Conversations: The Forgotten Topic
So, I thought I was being a good parent by proactively talking to my kids about what I often blog about: being kind online to others; discussing what online bullying is; how to help others that may be bullied, and how not to be a bully. I’ve talked a lot about sexting, (all at age-appropriate [...]
Sexting 101
Under the umbrella that is cyberbullying is another form of technological misuse–sexting. Sexting is something that anyone who owns a cell phone with a camera, can engage in if they choose. The term “sexting” is wordplay on exactly what it entails, sending sexual images via text-messaging services from one person to another. The viral affect [...]
FCC Broadband Plan Looking Out For The Younger Generation
Good news coming out of the FCC. Parents might have something to look forward to with the FCC’s push to provide more monetary support for universal Internet access. The underlying goal behind this financial push is to form an “interagency government task force” in an effort to promote digital literacy among children who don’t have [...]
What is Sexting? It’s a Wake Up Call That Says Parents Need To Get Involved
In text speak GIN = Get Involved Now WUP = Wake Up Parents Please….. I don’t write for a research firm or study youth social behavior as a scientist for a living. I write and share from the concerned parent perspective. I’ve written on the topic of sexting before. Judging from what seems to be [...]
Sexting in the News
Institutions such as schools and local and state governments are beginning to tune in to the threat that sexting poses to America’s youth. As reported by Switched.com, one Vermont teenager will serve 90 days of a two year prison sentence for committing a prohibited act for lewd and lascivious conduct. The 18 year-old, who told [...]
18 and a Sex Offender: How Easily This Could Have Happened To My Son…Or Yours
A young man my son’s age, 18 year old Phillip Alpert, is serving five years probation for the crime of transmitting child pornography after emailing nude photos of his former 16-year-old girlfriend to 70 people. He is now a registered sex offender for the next 43 years. This could happen to any of our children. [...]
The “My Strip Generation”.
Yoursphere.com was recently referred to by Reader’s Digest as “Wanted: Peace of Mind” in the article, ”Parent Alert: Teens and Porn”. The article focused on how porn has gone interactive and our children are at risk. The writer, Judith Newman, writes about how her seven year old son can’t spell, yet there’s one word he can spell perfectly: boob. [...]
Mary Kay is a nationally-recognized Internet safety expert and the founder of 
