A new trend in Instagram is user generated beauty contests and it has to be one of the most concerning trends of 2013. Within a short space of time, Instagram has become so much more than a platform for sharing harmless snapshots of pets and holidays. Now there are online beauty contests that encourage teen Read more…
Just like in the offline world, you leave a virtual paper trail behind you on the web. Information about the websites you’ve visited and information you’ve entered on those sites is captured and used by many parties – from web advertisers to social media platforms (for instance, when Facebook recommends people you may know) to Read more…
In a fantasy world, children (of all ages) would tell their parents everything. “I am not really sick today – I really just want to catch up on some TV!” “Erica isn’t just my study mate – she is my girlfriend and we have been together for 6 months!’ “I know I am only 12 Read more…
Many of you as parents may think, “not much” when asked this question. But in reality, it’s probably a lot more than you think. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that McAfee’s 2013 study, Digital Deception: Exploring the Online Disconnect between Parents and Kids, which examines the online habits and interests of tweens, Read more…
Cybercriminals are adopting complex and powerful techniques to “hack,” or take control of online accounts belonging to other people or organizations. Often, they do this by identifying the passwords belonging to an account user. This used to be a complicated task, but, as The Atlantic notes, discovering passwords today can be as simple as running Read more…
Last year McAfee undertook some quite revealing research into the online behaviour of Aussie teens. Entitled ‘The Secret Life of Teens ‘ this research report taught us that 95% of our teens are accessing Facebook daily, 31% have broken the law through piracy and a shocking 6% have met up with a stranger they met Read more…
Communicating with tweens and teens can be super challenging. Some prefer to simply grunt, others go with the monosyllabic strategy and the rest will only speak if it’s about food! I find that I really only have a few minutes a day to share ‘key agenda items’ with my teen boys and it is usually Read more…
Like all doting daughters, I adore my mother. However, I have to confess – I haven’t yet purchased her well-deserved Mother’s Day gift. But I am not short of gift suggestions, no way. In fact, I have an inbox full of emails offering me fabulous gift options from knives to nighties. So all is well, Read more…
Get out your diary, there is another day that you have to work into the schedule – Change Your Password Day! And no – there is no obligation to buy a flower, pin or a wristband – not that I ever have a problem with purchasing them! Tuesday 7 May 2013 is Change Your Password Read more…
Our crazy dog Harley is such an important part of our family. He holidays with us, eats with us and has even been sprung sleeping on the boys’ beds! Shocking, I know! Harley was a spontaneous purchase from a local pet shop about 5 years ago, however the ‘times they are a-changin’. Many families now Read more…