New Smartphone App to Help Find Missing Children
This information will be of interest to so many parents. We are sharing a media release issued today by Australian Federal Police about a new smartphone application that would assist in locating missing children. Developed with the FBI the Australian Police Child ID application allows families to store photographs and vital information about their children on their mobile phone. In the devastating event that a child goes missing, this information can be immediately provided to authorities. Read full article
Laptop Shooting – Shaming, Naming and Parenting
…And this week a laptop shooting dad decided to use YouTube and Facebook to punish and humiliate his ungrateful 15 year old daughter for her disrespectful comments about him and his wife, and about all the chores she was expected to do … I want to briefly comment on two things: Humiliation or shaming of children …. and mainstream and influential media commentators’ comments … Read full article
Internet Addiction in Children – Is the Blame Game Helpful?
This week there have been several articles in the media about the Network for Internet Investigation and Research in Australia . The team of experts behind the website are hoping to use it to provide information and support relating to internet addiction and obsessive behaviour associated with the use of computers and computer games … Sadly, when I read the comments following the articles, the discussion was not centred on ways to develop positive computer habits and to diagnose and help those with harmful behaviours linked to internet usage. Read full article
Australian Children Exposed to Greater Risks Online than European Children
Four hundred Australian children (9 to 16 years old) and their parents, were interviewed for an Australian study about risks and safety for children on the internet. And by comparing the results of this survey with a larger European survey, it was found that Australian children are among the “youngest and most prolific users of the internet in the world.” …The following risks were identified in both the Australian Report and the European study by EU Kids Online … Read full article
Facebook is Not a Safe Playground for Children
Children as young as 8 years old are seeing psychologists. Their parents say they are suffering anxiety as a result of being on Facebook; anxious about what friends are posting about them. I say parents need to remember that Facebook firstly is not allowed for children under 13, and importantly, it’s not a safe place for children. Read full article
Winter of Our Disconnect
This is a parenting biography with a difference – 6 months in the lives of a family with three teenagers who somehow survived unplugged from technology, just. For any parent who’s ever sent a text to their child at the dinner table – or yanked the modem from its socket in a show of primal parental rage – this account of one family’s self-imposed exile from the Information Age will leave you ROFLing with recognition. But it may also challenge you to take stock of your own family connections, to create a media ecology that encourages kids – and parents – to thrive. Read full article
Teenagers on the Internet: Parents Need to Be Involved
So the research is in and it tells us that social networking can be a positive influence on teenagers’ lives … Valkenburg and Peters, from the University of Amsterdam reviewed ten years of research into Internet use by teenagers and concluded that social networking sites increased positive internet use amongst healthy teenagers and enhanced their social functioning. Read full article
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