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 and technical support.

Setup -

The Yoursphere Editorial Team tested the uKnowKids monitoring system with a Facebook profile, Twitter account, and Android-powered smartphone. Syncing the social networks requires you, the parent, to know your child’s usernames and passwords. Inputting this information is all you need to sync Facebook and MySpace to uKnowKids. For Twitter and Android/Blackberry smartphones, however, you will need to install an application called FamilyConnect. FamilyConnect establishes a link between the smartphone and/or Twitter account and the uKnowKids software. We delve a little more into this syncing process later in the review, but we’re fairly confident that parents won’t encounter any problems with this initial setup.

When you enter your child’s info during the setup process (name and birth date) uKnowKids does a great job of detecting any other social networks that they may be a part of. That said, with the exception of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, monitoring these other networks through the uKnowKids software isn’t an option. We’d like them, for instance, to add Yoursphere to their site monitoring mix.

Monitoring -

uKnow’s monitoring capabilities are where the software really shines. Once accounts and phones are synced up, parents can view private messages, news feeds, texts and phone call history to see who their child is friends with and who they’re talking to. No need to worry if your child normally accesses Facebook, Twitter or MySpace from a mobile device – uKnowKids monitors their profile, regardless of the device they access it on.

Depending on how you filter the information using the Notifications toolbar (shown here on the right), parents can view communication exchanges that uKnow deems suspicious or inappropriate.

Furthermore, not only can parents view “possible adult contact” when there is communication with someone who has publically indicated that they are over 18, but uKnow gives parents the ability to monitor a specific contact as well as a full exchange of communication between their child and that contact.

Communication trends are displayed on the dashboard as well. And though these trends are a better representation of the most active users in the social networks that you’re tracking, it’s still a great way to see who your child’s Facebook or Twitter friends are, the type of conversations that they’re having, and ultimately, the conversations that your child is exposed to.

In the end, all of this information allows parents to have a fully-prepared conversation with their child about their online posts, the people they consider “friends”, or perhaps a specific exchange of text messages.

For the parents who don’t have time to log in every day, uKnow sends out a daily comprehensive overview of what their child or teen did that day.

Family Locator (GPS tracking) –

The GPS locator is just another layer of monitoring that uKnow offers parents. Granted you have the FamilyConnect app installed on your child’s smartphone and their GPS turned on, uKnow can track your child’s last known physical location. From what we could tell, uKnow updates Family Locator several times a day.

Syncing -

uKnowKids is, in a lot of ways, a very reliable monitoring system that can assist parents in their daily conversations with their child. However, there is one compromising imperfection that we feel parents should know about, and it has to do with the FamilyConnect app that was mentioned earlier. On Twitter and smartphones, this app can very easily be uninstalled by your child. On a smartphone, FamilyConnect is treated like any other app, right there on the phone’s interface or application list. On Twitter, you can see what it looks like in the screenshot below.

We uninstalled the apps on both Twitter and the smartphone hoping to receive some sort of email notification from uKnow, but we received nothing, even 24 hours later.

Please note: Hiding the FamilyConnect app on Twitter or the smartphone would make uKnowKids a spyware monitoring system, which it is not. That said, our review isn’t meant to imply that the folks at uKnow should make the apps invisible to your child. Our intention is only to make it clear to parents who read this review that, like with all monitoring software, a consistent dialogue with your children is absolutely necessary when using uKnowKids. If you notice that monitoring of their Twitter account of smartphone has stopped, you can directly address the matter with your child.

Toyopa Group, LLC, the makers of Snapchat, has designed the perfect sexting app. Of course, the application’s description page doesn’t specifically say that it can be used for sexting, but the screenshots they show (below) leave little to the imagination. Furthermore, and despite receiving a 12+ rating from Apple for “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity”, Toyopa Group has no shame in marketing their app to the younger crowd, as the screenshots and kid-friendly ghost app icon suggest.

Snapchat’s main feature may be implying a false sense of security, though. Their privacy policy states that they “cannot guarantee that the message data will be deleted in every case” and “Messages, therefore are sent at the risk of the user”. So, theoretically, if a child were to send an inappropriate photo through Snapchat, the image could be floating around on their servers even after the photo has been deleted from the recipient’s phone. How do we know that we can trust Snapchat employees to respect their users’ privacy? The answer is: We can’t.

Such invasions of privacy have happened before, most notably at Google, which we covered here. Nothing’s to say it won’t happen again at a smaller, newer company with less oversight over their employees and less stringent internal privacy standards.

Parents, as you can imagine, Snapchat would allow a child or teen to send nude photos to their friends without fear of becoming the laughing stock of the school or ending up on a porn site, but we should expect more from our children. We should expect them to make good decisions for themselves, regardless of how easy technology makes it from them to do otherwise. My hope is that you will take this knowledge and use it to leverage your vigilance at home. Keep an eye out for this app on your child’s iPhone, iPod or iPad. If you see that they’ve downloaded it, chances are it’s time to sit down and have a serious conversation about the consequences of sexting.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit against the school, claiming that they violated the girls’ civil rights when they expelled them on the basis of a personal off-campus conversation. Furthermore, the ACLU claims that the girls’ remarks shouldn’t have been taken seriously as they were accompanied by emoticons (smiley faces) and online shorthand such as LOL and ROFLMAO (Rolling on the Floor Laughing My A** Off), both of which were meant to represent sarcasm. But I think it represents more than that; it represents a concerning reflection of the culture that we’re raising our children in.

The mother who brought it to the principal’s attention doesn’t find anything humorous or sarcastic about the thread, though; and honestly, if you saw your son or daughter’s name in the thread, would you? I certainly wouldn’t.

Justin Patchin, a criminal justice professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center says “…it doesn’t matter if they did use emoticons…It doesn’t matter if the intent was to joke around…If we look at the content, would we be threatened by it?”

I agree with Justin, however, the ACLU’s comments suggest that the girls’ discussion about killing classmates is moot because of the emoticons and LOLs that followed. “The legal analysis asks whether a reasonable person viewing the conversation would conclude that the girls were about to inflict imminent harm. I think the use of emoticons and other forms of Internet-speak are simply one factor demonstrating that that was not the case,” ACLU attorney Gavin Rose said in an email.

The ACLU’s focus on the school’s decision to expel the girls actually addresses a bigger balancing act that lawmakers and educators have been struggling with: creating universal cyberbullying laws and policies. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to issue a clear ruling on the boundaries of schools’ power to regulate students’ online speech.

Though the school may have overstepped its authority by penalizing students for off-campus, after-hours speech, Patchin says “It doesn’t necessarily take an actual threat for the school to get involved in disciplining the students…If the target in this case didn’t feel safe to be at school, then the school has the authority to take action.”

I’d like to get some feedback from you.

• Do you think the ACLU has a legitimate case?
• Did the school overstep their authority?
• And more importantly, have you talked to your child about the real-world consequences that can result from creating malicious Facebook pages/profiles, let alone commenting on one?

Learn how you can generate more awareness about bullying and what educators can do to help end bullying in schools by visiting www.whatdoyouchoose.org.

And while we want your feedback, if you’d like to take a proactive approach to protecting your child from becoming a potential victim of a bully, consider using the following product(s) to help you do so:

Facebook Monitoring Solutions for Parents

What you may not know is that, in my home, there are three laptops, one desktop, one iPad, two iPod Touches, two Wii’s, one Xbox 360, four smartphones, one non-smart cell phone, one Netflix account, one landline and two TVs. All of our digital devices and services are safety-enabled and family-friendly. And to top it off, all of my children have signed technology contracts.

If you’re a frequent Yoursphere for Parents reader, then you know that we’re not about saying “no” to technology; we’re about saying “yes”, but with the appropriate education, parental involvement, communication and oversight.

While it’s an absolute necessity that parents safety-enable all digital devices, and here we show you how, it’s equally important that you clearly outline the family rules for responsible technology use to your children. Clear rules, follow-through and consequences are absolutely necessary. I’ve experienced firsthand that not only do technology contracts provide you the opportunity to candidly talk to your child about what’s safe use and what’s not, they’re also a great way to create boundaries for our children.

Here’s the contract that I use with my children, and I invite you to use it with yours.  Parents, it’s important to remember that while constant communication and a mutual understanding of the contract’s “terms” are critical, nothing is as important as follow-through if the rules are broken.

Click here to download and print.

Regardless of the state you live in, texting while driving continues to be a huge safety risk to you, your teen and everyone on the road. While I or you may be hyper-aware of the risks, most teens, especially when they’ve gotten “comfortable” with their driving skills, fail to have the same awareness. Texting, checking their social media notifications and tweeting have all become such an integral part of their everyday lives, they don’t really think about where they do it or when they do it.

While your teen, like mine, may consider themselves a “safe driver” because they use their ear buds or voice commands to communicate while driving, the fact is they are still communicating, and thus distracted, while driving – even if it’s legal.

Last year a NHTSA study found that “drivers that use cell phones are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves” and “cell phone use was reported in 18% of distraction-related fatalities in America.” Read more.

Though it’s important to keep a consistent dialogue with your teen about the dangers of texting while driving, your parental guidance may only go so far. After all, ask yourself, how often do YOU pick up your phone to send a “quick” text? Probably more than you’d like to admit, and all the while, even when you know it’s wrong, you still do it.

You can rationalize to yourself that “nothing will happen to me”, but we both know no one is an exception. My question to you is: Are you willing to recognize that same truth when it comes to your teen? If you are, then there are some things you can do to make it easy for your teen to follow your safe-driving rules, and perhaps, a state law.

Here are my recommendations:

MobiLocPlus

Available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for a one-time fee of $4.99.

MobiLocPlus is an application available for both the iPhone and Android smartphones. It disables the phone from receiving texts, emails, phone calls, and application activity such as Facebook notifications and tweets when the phone’s GPS senses that it is moving faster than 10mph. Once the phone has stopped moving, the phone returns to normal with all the missed texts, emails, calls, and application activity able to be viewed as normal.

Review

Installation of the application is very simple and only took about two minutes. Once you’ve downloaded and installed MobiLocPlus, everything is ready to go. The application will start itself when the GPS system detects that the phone is moving faster than 10mph. Note: The GPS system has to be on for the application to work.

• iPhone: Settings > General > Location Services > Set to “on”
• Android: Settings > Location and security > Make sure “Use GPS satellites” is checked

We tested the application on multiple Android smartphones and it worked perfectly well on all of them. The application itself loads quickly, is fairly unobtrusive, and as long as the GPS is on it automatically activates. Like it said it would, MobiLocPlus blocked all texts, calls and Facebook messages that we sent to the phones and all the blocked activity appeared on the phone when we stopped driving. Below is a screenshot of the application’s user interface.

Are there ways for my child to disable the application? And how do I prevent that from happening?

The application relies on the phone’s GPS system in order to determine the speed at which the phone is travelling. Your child could disable the GPS on their phone, thus rendering the application useless. Or they could delete the application and simply re-download it later. On Android, you can stop them from deleting the application and re-downloading it later by setting up a PIN. And on the iPhone, you can set a restriction on the App Store to serve a similar purpose.

• Android: Open the Google Play Store > Settings > “Set or Change PIN” > Simple enter the PIN and you’re done.
• iPhone: Settings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions (or type in your pass code) > Set “Installing Apps” to the “off” position.

Unfortunately at this time there is no solution to preventing your teen from turning off the GPS function on their Android smartphone. There is, of course, you, and I highly suggest you talk to your teen about the importance of having this app, or any other app like it, on their phone.

At the end of the day this application is a great tool that can be used to help reinforce safe cell phone use while driving, but it isn’t the silver bullet that will stop your child from texting/talking while driving. Like with cyberbullying, sexting and online safety, we need to take a two-layered approach that combines constant communication about these issues with implementation of the tools that are available.

If an app doesn’t do it for you, you may want to consider looking into the options available from your wireless provider. Those options include:

T-Mobile

DriveSmart - free (Basic version), $4.99 a month (Plus version):

• DriveSmart Basic is free and limits calls, texts and application use if the phone is in a moving vehicle. The Basic version doesn’t automatically detect driving movement, requiring the application to be manually activated by the user before they start driving. If you want automatic driving detection and parental controls you’ll have to upgrade to DriveSmart Plus for 4.99 a month.

Sprint

Drive First ($2.00 a month after 15 day free trial):

• Drive First automatically detects when a phone is in a moving vehicle travelling more than 10 mph and locks the phone to prevent access to calls, text messages, and applications. Incoming calls are sent straight to voicemail and texts can be auto-replied to with a customizable message from the phone’s owner. The application will also alert parents if their children disable the application. Something T-Mobile and AT&T’s applications don’t do.

AT&T

DriveMode (Free):

• The DriveMode application has to be manually activated since there is no automatic detection feature. When the application is activated, it will limit texting, emails and phone calls. You can also set up the application so that you can send and receive calls from up to five people and access one “music” and “navigation” application.

Verizon does not currently have a safe driving application

In Melanie’s article, she calls it “the ‘me-centric’ webiverse”. She points out the overwhelming amount of negative and narcissistic social qualities that mainstream social networks like Facebook and Twitter facilitate, and how youth may be searching for something more positive to take a break from it all.

“…they risk running into cyberbullies, identity thieves, trolls lurking in the comments sections… Even on social media sites, where they’re surrounded by “friends,” they can occasionally feel harassed.”

Melanie uses the website Pinterest in her example, explaining that the social sharing site allows people to engage with each other “without the fear of flaming”.

“They come together around a shared interest — rather than self-interest — so there’s little to criticize or make fun of.”

Needless to say, I find the shift from self-involved social media to selfless social media interesting, and frankly, just in time. I think young people are beginning to realize the power of social media and how, beyond making friends and staying in touch, it can be used to spread knowledge, kindness and support for others. This is, and always has been the philosophy behind Yoursphere.

Like Pinterest, where people connect on a shared interest, Yoursphere members can create spheres (think of Groups in Facebook) around a particular interest they have. As long as it’s age-appropriate, the sphere can be about anything. And our members have really taken this feature into their own hands, creating some very unique and inspiring spheres.

• The Reasons I’m Happy Right Now
• The Best Thing That Happened to You Today

Every month, we feature a sphere on the homepage, giving its creator recognition and a moment to shine, while facilitating social engagement and encouraging others to follow suit.

I get asked all the time “How do you help keep kids from bullying each other or from posting inappropriate content in Yoursphere?” My answer is always the same and one that most people find surprising: “In addition to using a combination of technology and human oversight, our members really police themselves.” We tell members, “Yoursphere is a community of respect and positive interaction”. Reinforcement of this rule starts early and continues throughout their experience on the site. In fact, during registration we ask every child to check a box that says they understand this.

The Golden Rule is so widespread throughout the site that members have come to understand that that’s just how things work in Yoursphere. It’s not just the bad that our members bring to our attention, either. I can’t tell you how many times we have received feedback where a member shared how nice another member has been to them, or how they witnessed an inspiring act of kindness in the site.

As parents, we can help start our children off in the right direction by introducing them to a community that fosters their special interests; a community where they can share their opinions without being ridiculed by someone who has an opposing perspective; a community of positive thinkers where everyone is accepted for who they are, not who they should be. It’s time for us to drop the mindset that social networks are “one size fits all” because, frankly, they aren’t.

The football program at UNC was found to be involved in academic fraud and the distribution of improper benefits to student-athletes. The NCAA report found that the school failed to “consistently monitor the social networking activity of its student-athletes”, which would have alerted the school to the previously mentioned violations. Because of this, the athletic department has now updated its guidelines, noting that coaches and/or administrators will be regularly monitoring the student-athletes’ social media accounts. Because of these infractions, the UNC football team is banned from attending a championship bowl game in 2012 and has to forfeit 15 scholarships over a three year period.

I was glad I talked to my son about what happened to these student athletes. He had a lot of questions about what they posted and what they did, so we spent time talking about those details. I also told him I wanted to be sure he remembered this conversation and my words of advice so that he didn’t make the same mistakes these young men did: failing to think before posting.

The lesson we can all take away from this incident is that we need to be very proactive in talking to our children – no matter what their age – about what they do online and what they share on their profiles. It’s clear that social media is becoming a tool for scrutiny. It used to be that only employers would go through and “vet” their employees’ social media accounts, but now we can see that schools are increasingly using social media to keep tabs on their student-athletes.

In the end, you really don’t know who is looking at your profile, so it’s always good practice to make it as private as possible. Use our helpful guides to ensure sure your social media privacy settings are maximized. Share the information with your child, whether they’re in high school or college. For your younger children, there’s Yoursphere.com, where the default settings for a child’s profile are always set to private.

How to Clean-Up Your Social Media Accounts in 5 Easy Steps

How to Activate the New Facebook Timeline Privacy Settings

Facebook Monitoring Solutions for Parents

Thanks to Google’s new change in policy, the “what is this” was a Google+ account that was automatically created for him. While our editorial team here at Yoursphere for Parents has written about this new policy and a privacy workaround for kids, I hadn’t anticipated how difficult Google makes it to delete your account.

I felt “trapped” in the process of trying to delete his Google+ account. Many of the steps were confusing which is why I decided to create this guide.

1. Go to www.google.com then click the sign in button in the upper right hand corner and sign in using your child’s login information.

2. Click the “+You” button in the navigation bar in the upper left hand corner. This will take you to their Google+ account homepage.

3. Click the “Settings” link in the upper right hand corner.

4. Once you are in the “Settings” menu, scroll down until you see the “Disable Google+” option. Click the “here” link shown in blue.

5. That will take you to a screen that asks if you would like to delete your Google+ content or your entire Google profile. Click the “Delete Google+ content” button if you only want to delete their Google+ account. If you choose the “Delete your entire Google profile” button then all of their Google accounts will be deleted, including their YouTube account. You will not be able to undo this choice.

6. If you’ve followed the steps above then you should see a screen like the one below.

Note: If your child is over the age of 13 and just wants a YouTube account then you will have to create a Google account on YouTube then manually delete the Google+ function as shown in the directions above.

The precautionary principle that he mentions is the notion that since every current or future technology product/service could pose some theoretical risk or danger to the end user, there should be public policies in place to control those innovations until their developers can prove that the technology won’t cause any harm to users. Furthermore, advocates of the principle want a “play it safe” approach to be the default policy toward technological progress. Thierer argues that by taking this approach we would stifle technological progress and limit a young person’s ability to learn the value of privacy and online safety on their own.

Though I agree that we shouldn’t suppress the progression of Internet technology, I also strongly believe that Internet users shouldn’t all be treated the same. What I mean by that is, Internet technology developers should put safeguards in place that teach kids methods for protecting their privacy or staying safe online. Taking Thierer’s Gmail example: if a 12-year-old wants to use Gmail as their email client, they should have the option to use a youth version of Gmail that, for example, doesn’t use algorithms to deliver targeted ads to them based on email conversations. Ideally, children should be served with generic ads based on their age or gender; or better yet, not be served ads at all.

Of course, a youth-focused spin-off service like this requires the user (in this case, a child) to be honest about their age. Today, that honesty might be hard to imagine as children have been forced to lie about their age in order to receive certain benefits of a service or website (i.e. Facebook), but if this approach was implemented across the entire Internet, we could slowly begin to notice a difference in the way our children are learning to be safe online. In addition, companies like Google could use this approach to potentially lock in a lifetime user, proving that the safeguards don’t have to stifle innovation or progress. In fact, they might actually lead to more innovation as more website creators would design their sites with kids in mind.

I’m sure most parents can imagine how nice it would be if popular services like Instagram or Twitter automatically set profiles to private when a child indicated that they were under 13. Or better yet, offering additional incentives for being honest about their age! It would be a win-win situation for everyone, in my opinion.

In Thierer’s article, he makes it very clear that he’s a strong advocate for parental involvement and Internet safety education at home. Sadly, the truth is not all parents are equipped with the knowledge and tools to make this happen, which is the reason I started Yoursphere for Parents. Before parents can begin to educate their children, they need to educate and practice privacy methods themselves so that they can set a good example for their children. The important thing to keep in mind here, however, is the fact that while this education takes place, kids are becoming more and more immersed in new technology, essentially making this a never-ending game of catch-up for parents.

A great way to help lessen this pressure on parents is by giving children the option to use a youth-focused version of a particular product or service, thus allowing them to educate themselves and better understand the value of their online privacy. This really is the whole idea behind Yoursphere.com: give kids a safety-first, positive online environment where they can reap all the benefits of the Internet and social media, while also learning what it truly means to be a responsible digital citizen. When they’re old enough, or their parents feel they’re mature enough, they can graduate on to the adult versions.