Social media is scary – do you realize your kids have access to things outside of your control with social media and technology?  Teaching social media and technology safety is an essential parenting skill in 2013. Without these skills, kids are vulnerable to online predators and to harassing behavior from peers and other adults. In teaching social media and online safety, here are things to consider:

1. Don’t allow your child to put their phone number or location on a social media profile or “check in” at a location that will be displayed on social media.  You may know where your child is, but do you want everyone else to know, too?

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Vine has become extremely popular with adults and kids alike, however is it safe for kids?

If you aren’t familiar with Vine, it’s time to get your education on.  Vine, launched by Twitter,  is the mobile app that allows you to create, share and watch 6 second or less looping videos. It seems kind of harmless right?  Well with all good things come a few drawbacks.

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 I wanted to do an experiment. I was curious about not only the real life sexual dangers of socializing via social networking but also the ease at which our kids could have access to potential negative sexual situations online.

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“That’s not fair!”

I think every parent of a teen has heard this exclamation. “That’s not fair!” seems to be a broken record in my household these days. “I’m sorry, Sue, but you lost computer privileges. You know you are not allowed on that site.” “That’s not fair!” I am so tired of hearing this response to all that goes wrong in my teen’s life. I WANT to come back with “well, life isn’t fair” but we all know that is just as successful as, “because I said so”.

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A new trend on Instagram is enough to make some parents want to barricade the doors, disconnect their child’s cell phones, and scream at the top of their lungs.    Thousands of girls, (20,401 when I hashtagged hotornot) some no older than 12 or 13, are submitting photographs of themselves for other Instagram users to vote on.

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In the social word of online gaming, your kids will play alongside poor sports and bullies. Gamers call these players “trolls”. The MO of the troll is to sabotage the work of others or to target certain players for public ridicule in online game forums.

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Surprisingly enough,  by far the most read article in this site the last weeks, is this . Shortly after Reading this article, I was stunned to discover that my naive 12 daughter is very much familiar with Omegle, and I am daily,  since then, amazed to see the endless “Omegle” search terms leading readers to Parents-space.com.

Well my dear parents, wherever you may be:

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Lately I’ve come  to understanding that I’m not very good at adapting to my new role – a tween parent. My daughter is twelve, and I find myself overwhelmed daily, being exposed to her world, which is soooo very different from my world at 12.

Take Omegle dangers, for example:

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If you read my MOMmentaryonGames blog, you may know what a fan I am of Amanita Design‘s Machinarium (I’m a massive fan). On April 19, 2012, Amanita Design released a lovely game called, Botanicula — the only game I’ve ever played from start to finish.

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My 16-year-old daughter brought Omegle to my attention a few months ago.  She spent the night with a friend of hers and this friend had the app on her cell phone and started randomly having conversations with strangers.  Omegle is used for talking to strangers with video chat.  Is Omegle safe? Are you okay with your kids talking to strangers?  I’m not, and I’m going to guess you probably aren’t either.  After all, it’s the exact opposite of everything we were taught not to do when we were little and the very thing that we, as parents, prohibit our children to do today.

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Research is in and you might not believe — or like — what you’re about to read, but read on. According to Lydia Denworth, violent video games make us smarter.

My son (aka GamerDude) has been beside himself since he learned the topic of this blog post. Like a political campaign manager, he’s all about optimizing information to further his agenda — playing Call of Duty

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             My two oldest girls have an Instagram account and are complete social butterflies.  They take pictures of themselves, their friends, and food; you name it and they share it with their friends.  I’m able to monitor their accounts because I see every picture they post so it never really dawned on me of the dangers that lurked on what seemed like a fun and innocent enough app.  After all, I also share my life, on occasion, through pictures via the site.

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Social media and the internet are part of every child’s world.  As an educational counseling professional, I’m no longer shocked at how many young students have smart phones and access to harmful content in social media and the internet.  While many parents monitor what their children look at and what apps they have, parents cannot be with their children all the time.  

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The latest craze with my teen and tween daughters is the smartphone app that’s become a runaway hit among many of their peers: Snapchat. With this free app, they share a photo or video with a desired friend and it will disappear within seconds after being viewed.  Warning, this app is addicting!

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Decided to have children? Good for you! To deal with the challenges waiting for you, you’d better become a computer savvy.

It seems that there’s no need to discuss the online challenges awaiting.

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