children

Parents Be Warned! Ask.fm is a Dangerous & Deadly Social Site for Teens & Tweens

by Michael Sheehan on June 5, 2013

in Family, General, How To, HTD Tech Tip, Opinion, Parenting, Safety, Security, Social Media, Social Networking

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Back in 2012, I wrote about some potential dangers surrounding the Instagram and Kik Messenger combination. By now, hopefully many parents know what to look for and how to combat this social danger. Recently, I started to investigate a new social danger for kids, specifically Ask.fm which actually has a few documented teen suicides attributed to the service. Interestingly, it was my teenager and my wife that introduced me to Ask.fm. My teen wanted to join and my wife said absolutely not!

Before I go into this social danger, I do want to point out that I am an avid Instagram user and do like the service. I allow my kids to use it, with some guidance, and my wife and I feel pretty comfortable with how it is being used by them. In both this case (with Ask.fm) and with Kik Messenger, the linkage (literally) is via Instagram. With Kik, many tween and teen Instagram users were putting their Kik Messenger user name in their Instagram profiles or picture messages (e.g., “Kik me at…”). The linkage with Ask.fm is similar – tweens and teens are putting their Ask.fm profile links in their Instagram profile. That’s the only connection with Instagram…it’s a springboard to these other dangerous social sites. But Ask.fm is prevalent in many other social media sites (so just to be clear, I’m not picking on just Instagram).

Ask.fm Danger

Ask.fm Danger

So what is Ask.fm? It is a social site where users can ask other users questions, and responses are limited to 300 characters. The questions can be from a named user, or completely anonymously asked. It is unmoderated (unless a user reports something), has no parental controls, and is an over-seas company (based in Latvia). If you look at their Terms of Service (TOS), it says “Terms of use are governed by Latvian laws and disputes are solved in Latvian courts.” Now THAT’S comforting.

The concept seems harmless enough. You register, create a profile, and ask/answer questions that are posted to you. The problem is around the anonymity of the messaging. While in the settings, you do have the ability to block anonymous questions, from what I have seen, most users do not do this. You do have the ability to blacklist users, assuming you know who they are. The TOS does say that you need to be 13 years old or older to join the site, but that is something that I’m sure is bypassed regularly.

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Staples Provides Tools for the Next Great American Novel

by Michael Sheehan on May 31, 2013

in Consumer Electronics, Family, Gadgets, General, Hardware, Opinion, Review

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A few weeks ago, I was asked if I wanted to get some products from Staples to write about. Sure, I said, thinking it would be a box of paper or a crate of paper clips or an assortment of binders. Traditionally, when I thought about Staples, visions of boring office supplies came to mind. How wrong I was. While they do have all of the necessary essentials to keep your business or home office running, they also stock a wide variety of other products that are a bit more exciting, at least to me. Think furniture, HDTVs, Coffee Makers and even eco-conscious categorized products. As luck would have it, one of the items I was offered to write about was a Toshiba laptop. Who could say “no” to that type of a product offer?

Toshiba Laptop front

Obviously, I’m no strangers to technology in the family. All members of my family (with the exception of my dog) have smartphones and access to tablets (my kids tend to stick to their iPhones though). We also have numerous laptops and netbooks available for fun and homework, but there is often a land-grab when it comes to who gets what laptop. And since my youngest daughter’s homework requirements don’t typically require much computer time, she has been trudging along without her “own” laptop. The netbook she had was a bit “too small and slow” according to her. So, when I received the Toshiba laptop courtesy of Staples, I made sure that I set it up with my youngest in mind.

And I was simply amazed at what transpired after that!

The Toshiba C855D-S5196 laptop arrived quickly in Staples packaging. When I opened the box, it wasn’t the laptop that actually got my kids’ attention at first, it was the big red button that had the word “easy” written across it. That red button disappeared into my kids’ room and I kept hearing the voice “that was easy” over and over again.

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Remember the Evil. Embrace the Good. Talk with your Kids.

by Michael Sheehan on April 17, 2013

in Family, General, Opinion, Parenting

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Take a bucket full of water. Pour some oil into it, not too much, but enough so that is forms a small blob floating on the surface. Now find a large rock and drop it into the water and oil. What happens? Obviously there is a splash. And if you look down in the bucket, you see lots of smaller blobs of oil. Now sit back and wait. Eventually, the blobs will all coalesce into one big blob again.

Water Splash

This week, society was once again marred by evil at the Boston Marathon. As of this writing, we do not know if it was the evil acts of one individual or many. A big rock was dropped into a bucket of oil and water. A single, violent, tragic event tore apart the calm. But watch, in the horror, stories of survival and heroics emerge. And society joins together to condemn these evil acts, prays for those effected and strengthens as a whole to become better.

Is the World Evil?

When I talked to my oldest daughter about the events in Boston, she was shocked. Hearing the bombs go off on the radio gave us both chills and prickly goose bumps. I really wasn’t sure what to say. One never really does. As a parent, our duty in life is to protect, nurture, educate and love. It is difficult yet incredibly rewarding. But when that rock is thrown and the water is splashed and the oil separated, how do you talk about this with your children.

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Social Media Policy for Families

by Michael Sheehan on April 10, 2013

in Family, General, Opinion, Parenting, Social Media, Social Networking

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Quite a few years ago, I came up with some Social Media Guidelines, primarily geared towards businesses. I realized I also seem to write a lot of tips and recommendations for parents on how they can help their kids with social media. That got me thinking. Perhaps, I should come up with a social media policy for families (kids and their parents).

Social Media Policy for Families

Social Media Policy for Families

Below are some ideas, rules and discussion points that you might want to implement with your children as they embark down the path of social media. Of course, you can and should pick the ones that are the most appropriate for you and craft some that are specific to your family values (e.g., “you will not do social media at all until you have your own job and even then, I will be watching”).

These “policies,” guidelines and promises are divided between parents and children. There is some overlap. And honestly, I feel sometimes the best way to approach this is with some humor!

Social Media Policy & Guidelines for Families

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5 Reasons Why Social Media Might Actually Be Good for your Child

March 25, 2013
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WARNING: The repeated use of Social Media can be dangerous to your child’s well-being. Should we have a Surgeon General’s warning label slapped onto each and every social media site out there? What about some sort of age rating system like we have for movies, music and video games? No, of course not. The Internet [...]

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Reacting To and Remembering the Tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary – Cast of Dads Podcast #55

December 21, 2012
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A week ago today, innocent children, students and educators were horrifically gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I don’t believe that anyone will fully understand the “why” but all of us have been struggling to comprehend it as well as be able to talk about this event with other adults as well as our [...]

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The Loss of Innocence

December 14, 2012
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Innocence was lost today, not just in Connecticut but across the world. Our future was tragically and horrifically gunned down in yet another act of senseless violence. After 9/11, our nation changed. We became paranoid, more careful and we thought, safer. Today’s events prove otherwise. Violence can come from anywhere, from strangers or from people [...]

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Get Your Game On with the PlayMG, an Android-based Gaming Device (#Giveaway Too!)

November 12, 2012
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I would be surprised to find a kid that doesn’t play games on some sort of an hand-held device. They are either borrowing their parents smartphones or tablets and playing game apps there, have their own smartphone or hand-held gaming device devoted purely to gaming, or using some sort of other gaming outlet like a [...]

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