How to Stay Cyber Safe While Social-Distancing
Do you find yourself working from home these days? Kids off school too? Then your daily life is set to change super-fast. Yes, there is so much to organise to implement this essential ‘social distancing’ strategy. But in the flurry to get everyone set up, it’s essential that we don’t ...
Safer Internet Day 2020
What Can You Do To Make The Internet a Better Place In 2020, you’d be hard-pressed to find an Aussie teen who doesn’t spend a fair whack of their time online. And while many of us parents don’t always love the time our offspring spend glued to screens, most of ...
Spotting Fake News: Teaching Kids to be Responsible Online Publishers
Editor’s note: This is part II in a series on Fake News. Read part I, here. Kids today are not equipped to deal with the barrage of digital information coming at them every day. Add to that, the bulk of information that may be fake, misleading, or even malicious. So ...
Lessons Learned: A Decade of Digital Parenting
Give yourself a high-five, parents. Pour yourself a cup of coffee or your favorite celebratory drink and sip it slow — real slow. Savor the wins. Let go of the misses. Appreciate the lessons learned. You’ve come a long way in the last decade of raising digital kids, and not ...
7 Tips to Make Sure Your Smartphone Use Doesn’t Ruin Holiday Gatherings
The gravy wasn’t the only thing steaming at the Thanksgiving table this year. Grandma wasn’t happy. It turns out that those shapes that looked like socks draped over the living room furniture were actually teenagers glued to their smartphones — teenagers Grandma had repeatedly asked to set the table. And ...
Could Your Child be Sexting? Signs to Look for and Ways to Respond
Oh, what we wouldn’t do to travel back in time to the days before smartphones kid-jacked our families, right? But here we are. Our kids are forever connected. And, it’s up to parents to help them navigate the risks — one of which is sexting. Ouch. Even reading the word ...
5 Digitally-Rich Terms to Define, Discuss with Your Kids
Over the years, I’ve been the star of a number of sub-stellar parenting moments. More than once, I found myself reprimanding my kids for doing things that kids do — things I never stopped to teach them otherwise. Like the time I reprimanded my son for not thanking his friend’s ...
5 Hidden Hashtag Risks Every Parent Needs Know
Adding hashtags to a social post has become second nature. In fact, it’s so common, few of us stop to consider that as fun and useful as hashtags can be, they can also have consequences if we misuse them. But hashtags are more than add-ons to a post, they are ...
Are Cash Transfer Apps Safe to Use? Here’s What Your Family Needs to Know
I can’t recall the last time I gave my teenage daughter cash for anything. If she needs money for gas, I Venmo it. A Taco Bell study break with the roommates? No problem. With one click, I transfer money from my Venmo account to hers. She uses a Venmo credit ...
Attention Facebook Users: Here’s What You Need to Know About the Recent Breach
With over 2.4 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide. And with so many users come tons of data, including some personal information that may now potentially be exposed. According to TechCrunch, a security researcher found an online database exposing 419 million user phone numbers linked ...
