Category: cell phones

Posted in cell phones, digital citizenship, online safety, online security, parents and technology, privacy

Do You Think Monitoring Will Help With Online Safety?

Posted on by Marti Weston

If you think about using some type of product to monitor your child’s online activities and safety, the Mashable blog has just published information about four digital tools that may help you understand more about these types of products. Notice I use the word “may” because on the web nothing is for sure. The services, all with monthly payments, alert parents when something questionable is discovered, so they do more than simply monitor a home network.

The blog posting, written by Sarah Kessler and originally published by MyLife Scoop blog, refers to a Yahoo family survey finding that more than 70% of parents take at least some action to manage/monitor/limit their children’s online activities and presence. Check out what Kessler has to say about these four monthly subscription  services.

  1. SafetyWeb
  2. SocialShield
  3. AOL SafeSocial
  4. GoGoStat Parental Guidance.
Posted in acceptable use, cell phones, digital citizenship, digital parenting, parents and technology

Driving? Texting? Phoning?

Posted on by Marti Weston

Read a post from the Thrive blog at Children’s Hospital Boston. In R U Ready 2 Stop Txting, Lois Lee MD, MPH, links to statistics, discusses the new Massachusetts texting law that took effect September 30, 2010, and offers suggestions about digital era parenting.

Dr. Lee directly addresses parents about virtual connections while driving.

Most of us would never drink and drive in front of our kids, race other cars, or even start the engine without buckling up first. Why then would we set a bad example for our children by texting behind the wheel? Though they may deny it, we have a much greater influence over our teens’ behavior than they let on. If you practice safe driving, there’s a far better chance your teenager will as well. ‘Do as I say, not as I text’ isn’t just hypocritical, it’s dangerous.

Posted in cell phones, parents and technology, resources to read

David Pogue’s Review of the Newest iPods

Posted on by Marti Weston

You may be ask by at least one of your children, or maybe a spouse or relative, to buy one of the new tiny and very colorful iPods.

Click to go to the Apple iPod page.

Read David Pogue’s Personal Tech post in the September 10, 2010 New York Times. His post, In Season 9, iPods Still Get High Ratings, describes the many positives of the newly released iPod model,  and he also makes a few other observations. Watch Pogue’s clever videocast as well (after the commercial).

David Pogue’s reviews are useful and even inspiring. Links on the Personal Tech site take readers the Gadgetwise blog with reviews, by a variety of reporters, on digital cameras, cell phones, camcorders, and much more.

Keep an eye out for Pogue’s other short, and very entertaining videocasts, all posted at the Times. They can also be downloaded as podcasts from iTunes.

Posted in acceptable use, Back-to-school digital reading, cell phones, digital parenting, media literacy, parent education, parents and technology, setting technology limits

Nine Back-to-School Technology Tasks

Posted on by Marti Weston
From ClipArt for Free.blogspot.com

The beginning of a school year is a good time for families to set limits, explain rules, and in general, clarify expectations about technology use. Getting started in the fall, when everyone is off to a new grade and a fresh beginning, encourages healthy technology habits.

Depending on the age of your children, you may want to accomplish some or even all of the tasks on this list, encouraging everyone to think responsibly and become committed digital citizens.

Nine Back-to-School Technology Tasks

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Posted in Back-to-school digital reading, cell phones, interesting research, parents and technology, teens and technology

Back-to-School Digital Reading Assignment, #3: Teen Cell Phones

Posted on by Marti Weston

For extra insight into the cell phone behavior of your preteen or teenager, take a few minutes to read these 2008 survey results from Harris Interactive, conducted with 2,098 teenagers in the United States. The survey was paid for by CTIA: The Wireless Association, an industry group.  The results appear to be as timely today as they were two years ago. The Marketing Charts website depicts the results with emphasis points. Another cell phone and teen research survey,  Teens, Cell Phones, and Texting, conducted more recently and published in April 2010 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, an organization independent of industry interests.

The survey results make it clear to all of us — parents and teachers — that mobile phones and smart phones continue to be influential in the world of pre-adolescents and teens and will probably become even more so in the future. These mini-gadgets are permanently anchored in their social lives — and in ours.

A few data highlights from the Harris survey are below. Check the websites for the bigger picture.

Harris Interactive Survey Highlights Include

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Posted in acceptable use, cell phones, digital citizenship, digital parenting, parents and technology, setting technology limits

Taming the Technology Gadget Obsession at Home

Posted on by Marti Weston

Today with everyone connected all of the time, families need to think about scheduling disconnect time at home. Recently I read that, before cabinet meetings at the White House, the president requires attendees to leave phones and Blackberries in a basket by the door. Without interruptions from communication devices, people can concentrate on the conversation and on the important issues. Most importantly, cabinet members are able to listen to each other without distractions.

Can your dining room be gadget-free during meals?

Families, too, need uninterrupted communication time. Parents may want to develop home guidelines that mirror cabinet meeting expectations. The Pew Internet and American Life Project offers wide-ranging information setting sensible mobile phone and texting limits.

Family meals are the perfect time to disconnect phones and Blackberries. Increasingly, pediatricians and other family researchers believe that regular, all-family mealtimes provide children with a range of advantages. To improve communication and interaction, each person can turn off the ringer and deposit his or her phone in a location away from the table, preferably in another room. Dinner table conversation can proceed uninterrupted so family members will listen more carefully to one another. Make the dining room a gadget-free zone during meal times.

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Posted in acceptable use, cell phones, digital citizenship, media literacy, online safety, parents and technology

Media in a Child’s Bedroom?

Posted on by Marti Weston

As parents, we make decisions every minute of the day — some based on things we really know. Others assumptions turn out to be based on things we have heard or believe. It’s the latter assumptions that cause us the most problems. In today’s media-centered world people make interesting decisions about the access their children have to television and computers, some of them based on what is known and some not.

Most people know about the need to limit television, understanding that too much TV viewing can lead to quality of life and health issues. The document, Setting Limits of Screen Time, posted at the Center for Media and Child Health (CMCH), provides ideas and suggestions with links to some of the published research about children and television viewing.

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