Here is a guest post about Twitter from Chelsea, over at Diamonds, Dogtags and Diapers. Read on to see how she uses twitter for many aspects of her life, and visit her blog when you are done!
Digital Besties -- Tweeing as a professional, parent and friend
To tweet or not to tweet? Hashtags (#) have invaded our favorite television shows and even places where they don’t belong – like Facebook and text messages.
Parents are often ignorant about some of the dangers that stem from social media. Although many children and teenagers view social media as a fun place to connect with friends, it can be very dangerous depending on what they are doing online. Here are some Parental Intelligence issues that you should think about as your child uses social media websites.
- Think about the future
Social media accounts are not private, even if you select private settings for the accounts. Someone can also find a way to gain access to them. Although your children are still underage, a potential employer or even college may decide to view their social media account.
This article was originally posted on November 23, 2012 by Serena Gordon of HealthDay Reporter
When kids have academic problems, report cards make that clear to parents. And if a kid skins a knee or breaks a bone, parents know what to do.
But detecting that a child is being bullied, and then knowing how to react, may not be so clear-cut.
Kids often are reluctant to tell their parents they're being bullied or cyberbullied, making it difficult to know that they're having trouble with other kids at school or online.
This original article was posted by Pat Etheridge , Special to CNN.com:
Many teens learn the hard way that once they hit "send," there is no such thing as an "erase" button.
Editor's note: Former CNN correspondent Pat Etheridge is a journalist specializing in children's health and family issues. She previously hosted CNN's "Parenting Today."
(CNN) -- They're called "Generation M2": highly tech-savvy children ages 8 to 18, whose lives are immersed in electronic media.
Now, the nation's top pediatric organization is mobilizing efforts around their well-being.
A growing trend in the online world is cyberbullying. As a natural result of the wealth of social networks and technology-based communication platforms, cyberbullying has taken center stage for many children dealing with its effects. Catching this at an early stage is integral to protecting children from dangerous consequences.
Unfortunately, the news has demonstrated the darker side of online bullying. Much attention has been given to teen Amanda Todd, who committed suicide after being harassed by online bullies. Jon Ferry adds that a U.S. study found that cyberbullying victims are twice as likely to commit suicide as those that haven’t experienced this type of treatment. In Canada, it is being studied by the government and could attract its own law.
While some of these stories are extreme, they paint a picture of the potential severity of cyberbullying. And even in smaller doses, it is clear that cyberbullying can have a significant detriment to those that
Bullying is a really hot-button word, guaranteed to grab you (especially if you have kids of your own) by the collar and make you pay attention. I'll admit that headlines with the word “cyberbully” almost always catch my notice. Bullying both scares parents and mystifies them. Let's clear things up a little.
Parents – myself included – are apt to shrug off cyberbullying as just another iteration of the bullying you or I might have endured as kids. We turned out all right in spite of it, didn't we? But the truth is that cyberbullying is very different from anything we knew.
When it comes to kids and their online activities, the term parental controls has been replaced by parental monitoring. Children are more technologically savvy than ever before, and they can easily get around most of the controls that you put in place. If they have Internet access, all they have to do is Google something for more information. Furthermore, YouTube is becoming more popular each day for its entertaining content and for the fact that it often has step-by-step, how-to videos on virtually anything.
Young kids also know not only how to make cell phone calls and send text messages, they can download and use most smart phone applications. Overall, developing technical skills and gaining independence is beneficial to kids. However, as the saying goes, greater freedom comes with greater responsibility.
Your teens know how to use the Internet. They've been using it since they were old enough to talk. But do they know how to use it responsibly, without compromising their safety or just plain being rude or irritating to others? If your teens are online, which they undoubtedly are, they need to be aware of committing these 10 Internet faux pas.
Twitter is gaining popularity among teens, and it's different from other social networks in a lot of significant ways. If Facebook is like an after-school hangout, then Twitter is like scanning all of their favorite newspapers and magazines – as well as picking up the latest school gossip. Here are 9 things parents should know about teenage Twitter use.
There is no minimum age to sign up for Twitter.
Out of every one hundred tweens and teens, how many do you think are cyberbullied? Twenty? Forty? Sixty? Actually, new research suggests that the actual figure may be much lower than we think.
A new presentation of the results of two studies to the American Psychological Association this week shows that only 15% of kids were actually cyberbullied. The two studies surveyed a total of 5,000 teens.
Most of you reading this will think this is an impossibly low figure. We hear about cyberbullying every single day. It is all over our schools and in the news. How can a 15% figure be realistic at all?
Tweet Tweet! It’s that time again…Twitter party time! We are happy to announce that our next party is this Thursday August 23 at 3PM EST. The entire hour is going to be dedicated to cyberbullying due to the number of Olympic athletes that were bullied in London. Our hosts @timwoda and @stevewoda will be offering helpful tips to parents to ensure child safety this year and are available to answer questions.
With only two days left, make sure you RSVP for our #bk2school Twitter Party! Our host, Tim Woda, will be giving back to school tips to parents and discussing hot topics including cyberbullying, sexting, and SWAT-ting. We are also giving away cash prizes. The person who refers the most followers will receive a $100 gift card to Staples.
British Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington is swearing off Twitter during this year's London Olympics because she “doesn't need the stress” of people who post rude, insensitive, or cyberbullying comments.
In her own words, Adlington describes how “most things that I read about myself are not swimming related. They are to do with how I look, which has nothing to do with my performance in the pool.”
She enjoys the supportive messages, but the inevitable odd comments makes the whole Twitter scene not worth it for her when she needs to focus 100% on her swimming in the Olympic games.
Anybody can be the victim of a cyberbullying. Even an Olympic athlete.
Eighteen-year-old Zoe Smith's Olympic event hasn't occurred yet, but a handful of cyberbullying comments on Twitter put her in the spotlight recently.
A Twitter user going by the name of Infidel1978 sent cyberbullying messages to the teen Olympic weightlifter and some of her teammates after they were featured in a BBC documentary called “Girl Power: Going for the Gold.”
uKnow.com is very excited about throwing our first Twitter party! Since children are going back to school in a month we thought it would be the perfect time to get adults to start talking about how we can ensure kids safety this year. Our host, Internet safety and mobile expert, Tim Woda will provide tips that will help parents stay engaged and discuss current topics including sexting and cyberbullying. In addition to coming to a fabulous virtual party, we are giving away $275 in gift cards to Staples!
Founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has become an increasingly popular social networking site. It is used in almost every country and is currently available in 20 languages. If used properly, it is a great networking tool that can be quite helpful. Twitter allows celebrities and “regular” people to interact with one another, businesses to make announcements to the public, and friends to chat with one another. I would like to emphasize the word “properly” because many people don’t. Sadly, it has become another conduit for teens to bully each other.
Due to the emotional and impulsive nature of teenagers today, many fail to understand that when they publish something on twitter it’s out there and can’t be taken back. I know you might be thinking how much damage can 140 characters really do? The answer is a lot of damage! Teen suicide is becoming a major issue because of cyberbullying.
Social networking is on the rise, and so is parental monitoring. The good news is that most parents actively enforce rules regarding Internet safety and engage in various types of monitoring to ensure their child's safety on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.
The bad news is that many kids try to get around parental monitoring by creating a “dummy” profile, and many parents are none the wiser about it.
Most teenagers use social-media sites and parents are wise to it, "friending" their kids and monitoring which sites they visit at an increased rate, according to a study presented at an educators conference today.
Seventy-six percent of teens are on social-media sites, with most -- 93 percent -- of them on Facebook, according to the Pew Internet study that examined the behavior of teens online.
And the usage increases with age -- a sign that parents are sticking tight to a rule that only teens 13-years-old and up can go on social-media sites, something such sites have been dinged for failing to police in the past.
Do you think you have a pretty good idea of what your child is doing online? You may even have parental controls or parental monitoring software. Despite all the effort you go through to monitor your teen's Internet activity, your kids may still be pulling the wool over your eyes in more ways than one, a new study reveals.
The 2012 Teen Internet Behavior Study from McAfee took a closer look at the ways kids 13-17 hide their Internet activity from their parents. Teens reported that their top 10 methods included:
Clearing the browser history (53%)
Closing/minimizing browser windows when parent walked in (46%)
Hiding or deleting IMs or videos (34%)
With the sprawling number of cyberbullying, sexting, and faculty/predator scandals of late the Arlington County School Board is Considering a Social Media Policy applying to teachers and staff. As reported by Whitney Wild of WJLA below:
"In the wake of scandals involving inappropriate student-teacher conduct, Arlington public schools are re-evaluating how teachers can use social media to interact with students.
