WHAT IS FORTNITE Fortnite was released by Epic Games in July 2017. Fortnite is undoubtedly the hottest game in the world. Fortnite has 8.3 million concurrent players. That means that 8.3 million people played Fortnite every day for an entire year. Its closest competitor, PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds) has about 1 million concurrent players. … Continue reading
Filed under Keeping Kids Safe Online …
LURED: ONLINE GAMING
Outside of my full-time job, I speak to parents about keeping their kids safe online. Not too long ago I spoke at a local Catholic school. Based on the number of parents that came up to me after the presentation, a certain topic hit home. Many of the parents did not think about online gaming … Continue reading
The Blue Whale Challenge – Is Your Teen Doing It?
[NOTE: Since researching this game, several websites (snopes.com, netfamilynews.org, and webwise.ie) are suggesting that this game may be the result of fake news. Fake or not, the more teens that read about it, some may actually start doing it. I do know one thing for sure. The daughter of a friend started playing this game a … Continue reading
YELLOW IS GETTING HOT
There is an app called Yellow that is increasing in popularity. There are many that call Yellow “Tinder for kids.” For those that don’t know what Tinder is, it is a dating app that adults use to primarily locate hook-ups. WHAT IS YELLOW Yellow helps you find and make new friends on Snapchat and … Continue reading
Fake Social Media?
This week, 13-year-old Malachi Hemphill lost his life. He was videotaping himself on Instagram Live while he was handling a gun. The gun accidentally went off. He was rushed to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. His mother said that 10 to 15 kids showed up at her house after the accident … Continue reading
APPS & YOUR TEENAGER
I recently spoke to a group of parents, teachers and administrators at my daughter’s school. The general topic was online safety and what parents can do to keep their kids safe(r) online. The specific topics were: Digital Natives Inappropriate Communications Oversharing Hiding Apps Cyberbullying Predators Sexting Popular Apps How to protect your child today and … Continue reading
KEEPING KIDS SAFE(R) ONLINE – KNOWING IS PART OF THE PLAN
Is there a rampant problem with kids getting into trouble online? I would say no, but it does happen. As I recently learned with a child very close to me, depending on the problem, getting into trouble one time because of poor online choices can be one time too many. Yes, technology changes rapidly. Yes, … Continue reading
uMentioned – The Latest Anonymous App
Last Monday my phone rang at 7:30am. I thought it was my mother calling to gently remind me (again) that I need to do a better job of calling her every day. To my surprise it was a middle school counselor I worked with over a year ago. He called to ask me if I … Continue reading
Cyberbullying – STOPit
A relatively new anti-cyberbullying app has been created by Todd Schobel called STOPit. He got the idea when he heard about 15-year old Amanda Todd. Amanda killed herself in 2012 after years of enduring bullying. The app is designed to give kids a way to report cyberbullying. Of course there is no app that … Continue reading
What Happens on Yik Yak Stays On Yik Yak
“Parents need to … beware of what their children are doing that means checking their Facebook, checking their phone, checking their texts. It’s too late to find out when your child has made an anonymous threat that could subject them to a lengthy sentence,” Juvenile Judge Edmond Naman Yik Yak is the latest in a … Continue reading
