A lot of unusually thoughtful points about parenting in our collective, global social media environment are made in this recent New York Times article: "Cyberparenting and the Risk of T.M.I." Pamela Paul writes that, for this generation of teens, it's not Big Brother so much as Big Mother and/or Big Father. "Yes, we know contemporary parents are hyperinvolved in their children’s lives," she … [Read more...] about TMI for parents in social media – for now, anyway
parental controls
Holiday help: Parental control tools for tablets
With tablets showing up on more and more kids' holiday wish lists (littler and littler kids!), parents will appreciate any help they can get with keep tablet use safe as well as fun. And there's help over at TechHive, which reports that Amazon Kindle Fire HD, Barnes & Noble Nook HD, and Apple’s iPad, all have some built-in parental controls (e.g., FreeTime on the Kindle Fire and Restrictions … [Read more...] about Holiday help: Parental control tools for tablets
Does tracking our kids’ every move make them safer?
Reflecting on a cellphone app developer's claim, I'm thinking that tracking our kids' movements, moment by moment, isn't the best way to enhance "family awareness." Those are the words of Chris Hull, CEO of the company that developed the Life360 tracking app, in an interview for Time. Is that "awareness" as in "surveillance"? Oddly, Time interpreted Hull's reference to be "family awareness" as … [Read more...] about Does tracking our kids’ every move make them safer?
Parents & parental controls: Study
You don't hear it a lot, but – based on a new survey from the Family Online Safety Institute – parents sound pretty savvy about their kids' Net use and tech aids for keeping it constructive. The survey of 702 parents of kids 8-17 found that 93% have set rules or limits to monitor their kids' use, 87% are aware of parental-control tools, and 53% have used them. Among parents who choose not to use … [Read more...] about Parents & parental controls: Study
3 new products for monitoring online kids
Some really creative thinking has gone into kid online monitoring products lately, and the category is segmenting in interesting ways. More on that in a minute, but what they have in common, thankfully, is that at least the leaders in this space all seem to be acknowledging the importance of baking parent-child communication into product design and allowing parents to calibrate how much privacy … [Read more...] about 3 new products for monitoring online kids