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 digital parenting, online safety, online security, parents and technology

Help Your Family Avoid Online Scams

Posted on by Marti Weston

Every minute of every day people are victims of online scams — most often they arrive via e-mail. Some experts estimate that one person every 10 seconds is a victim of some type of scam or identity theft, and often the theft of personal information is easier because the victim unwittingly provides personal data. Families with multiple computers are especially vulnerable because people are working on many different online tasks. Children are susceptible to scams with animals, sick children, and the hardships of disasters. Kids need to be reminded – frequently – not to hit the reply button, no matter how good the cause.

Click here to go to SCAMFINDER.

The consumer affairs reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sheryl Harris, has developed Scamfinder, an extensive database to help people identify questionable e-mail or phone calls.

While most of us are familiar with the unrelenting e-mails from Nigeria, many other online scams, usually delivered by e-mail, are realistic and unnerving because they hit so close to home — for instance a charity soliciting around the time of a natural catastrophe or a seemingly thoughtful person writing to ask for contributions to police or victims of abuse. Sheryl Harris is often featured on the Market Place radio program, most recently on September 6, 2010. Scamfinder categories include:

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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 acceptable use, digital parenting, home computer security, online security, parents and technology

Back-to-School Digital Reading Assignment #4: Online Safety Software Doesn’t Do It All

Posted on by Marti Weston

To Install or Not to Install — That is the Question!

When people ask me whether a family should install protection or filtering software at home, I always have one response. Protective software programs are fine, but limited. Yes, they keep a certain amount of inappropriate content away from children, but the problem of access to inappropriate content is not solved by simply protecting home computers and networks with software. Over the course of a day or week a child encounters many other connections to the world wide web — on laptops, smartphones, iPads, computers, in other people’s homes, and maybe even at a parent’s office. And many children simply figure out how to work around or even outwit the software.

Protecting children from bad content is critical, but they also need to know what to do and what strategies to use when confronted by the bad stuff. Does your child remember your expectations?  Will he or she know what to do?

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Posted in digital parenting, home computer security, online security, parents and technology, urban legends

3 Sites to Help You With E-mail Hoaxes

Posted on by Marti Weston

… so please don’t forward the e-mails!

Use these web sites to verify strange stories that you receive via e-mail or view on web sites. Verify before you forward these stories to others — always — even if a story feels like it has to be true. Most of the time these stories are false, and sometimes they carry malicious code.

These sites cover the real story behind urban legends, hoaxes, myths or rumors.

Posted in digital parenting, online safety, online security, parents and technology, privacy

Disable or Limit Facebook Places: Eight Resources to Help

Posted on by Marti Weston

Just when we think we have a handle on a social networking, along comes another virtual gimmick to figure out. In this case Places is a Facebook mobile phone application designed to follow you around using the phone’s GPS, let people know where you are, and significantly reduce your privacy. Keeping a tight lid on anything tweens and younger adolescents do with Places will be a priority for parents this fall. A couple of suggestions…

  • Make Facebook Places a discussion topic and figure out a good time to talk with your family. Privacy is a concern, so don’t delay. With the start of the school year only a few weeks off, children with mobile smart phones will most likely try to make Places a part of their Facebook activities.
  • Think about the general Facebook and specific Places guidelines that you want to set for students in your family. Do this now, before Places becomes ingrained in the adolescent culture.

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Posted in cultural changes, parents and technology, technology changes

Beloit College Mindset List 2010

Posted on by Marti Weston

Each year I pass along the Beloit College Mindset list to just about everyone I know. Compiled by Professor Tom McBride and colleague Ron Nief at Beloit College, the list is a set of observations about the entering freshman class — designed to help the Beloit faculty understand a bit more about the thinking and the experiences of their new students. This year’s entering students are in the class of 2014.

According to the Mindset List introduction, “The college class of 2014 reminds us, once again, that a generation comes and goes in the blink of our eyes, which are, like the rest of us, getting older and older.”  Read about the history and background of the Mindset List which Professor McBride has been compiling since 1998.

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