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Out of Your Hands is creating a 2012 campaign to raise the profile of mobile phone crime and to reduce the number of young people from becoming victims. We would like your pupils/students to design a slogan and simple graphic or logo which will alert people and remind them to be aware of the mobile phone crime risks at public events.
Mobile phone industry initiative to combat crime
Part of Common Sense Media's excellent resources about Sexting - see it all at http://bit.ly/hRtrf9
Interesting article about the risks moving to mobile devices.
Have a look at the Parents Choice Foundation site for reviews of some mobile apps http://www.parents-choice.org/award.cfm?thePage=mobile&p_code=p_sof
A wide range of resources intended to help parents feel more confortable with technology around the home featuring guides about, Social Networking, Gaming, Mobile phones, wireless and more...
How to Have a Safe iPod Touch and a Happy Kid
The number one thing that my 10-year-old son wanted for his birthday this year was an iPod Touch. My husband and I haven’t allowed him a cell phone just yet, and won’t for quite a while, so we figured that this would be a good way to see how responsible he’d be with the technology. We also wanted him to understand that there were rules he had to follow and consequences if he didn’t. These rules were clearly outlined and spelled out to him; that said we went ahead and got it for him (with co-funding help from the grandparents.) But prior to putting it in his hands, I wanted to make sure that I installed and set up all of the necessary safety features that would allow him to have a safe, but fun, experience with his iPod Touch.
read Mary Kay's full guide here http://internet-safety.yoursphere.com/2010/11/how-to-have-a-safe-ipod-touch-a...
There are so many great apps in the Apple iTunes app store that are fun for the kids to play. Apple does a good job with its app store policies to make the applications that are listed in the kids sections as games and applications that will not be inappropriate for your kid to use.
Nice article on child friendly apps - have a look if you own Apple stuff and have younger kids
Here is a step-by-step guide to setup parental control restrictions on the iPhone or iPod Touch with OS 3.0. This is a follow-up Knol to the hugely popular How To Setup Parental Controls on iPhone & iPod Touch (OS 2.2.1 edition) by the same author. Though this page is long, the steps are generally intuitive and easy to follow.
Do your kids have use of either an iPhone or an iPod touch? Did you know that you can restrict their access to apps, music and the web? Find out how...
While smartphones and interactive services are all the rage, their potential to become a tether is where I become a troubled parent. An electronic tether may result in a completely transparent child-parent relationship, or one built on the assumption of constant surveillance. For all the potential benefits, an undercurrent of surveillance can erode the foundation of any meaningful relationship: trust. It may also create paranoia and prevent growth and independence.
Smartphones are a whole new area of digital parenting that require some consideration and ground rules. What to do about it is hardly being discussed. This is a great into.
Parent Tips
- Carefully evaluate whether or not your kids need texting on their cellphones. Just because other kids in their class have it doesn't mean your child needs it.
- If your kids do text, get an unlimited texting plan. Otherwise the charges mount up swiftly.
- Make rules around when and where. No texting during meals, during class, on family outings. Oh, and turn the phone OFF at night!
- Establish consequences for misuse. Cheating, inappropriate messages, sexual communication. These are all no-go's. Want to make your point? Take a kid's phone away for a week.
- Watch your own behavior. Parents are still kids' playbooks for right and wrong. If you text your kid during class and then turn around and tell that child that he or she can't do that, we send mixed messages.
- If you suspect your kids aren't texting appropriately, you can always look at their messages. Yes, it feels like snooping, but our first job as parents is to ensure our kids use powerful technologies safely and responsibly.
Have a look at the whole article for some background to the issue of text messaging
