Considering Holiday Gifts

Monday, December 28, 2009

The holiday season is upon us. Christmas is now over and New Years Eve is just days away. This year went by quickly. 2009 was a monumental year in the tech world where major online social networking sites gained millions of participants. Facebook started out as a site for students. Soon, pre-teens and adults learned of its rising popularity and hopped on too. However, as we’ve seen, not all adults are welcome in this space…which brings me to think about the gifts that our kids may be asking for this year.

Many of our teens have asked for gifts, such as notebooks/ laptops, and personal computers. While here is no doubt that by having a computer, this will give teens the necessary freedom and access to complete schoolwork. However, it also takes away the opportunity to have a computer in a centralized location which can inhibit monitoring. And while it’s important to give some rope to our kids…give them some freedom, it’s also important to understand that not every teenager is ready for that type of freedom. By installing a PC solution like Mcgruff Safeguard, parents will be able to ensure their kids safety and continue to provide them advice and guidance as their parents.

I have seen teens in small towns have thousands of friends, most of whom they don’t know. It is a typical practice for teens on social networking sites to “friend” someone without having a clue who they are or where they’re from. This then gives the “friend” access to all information provided from the teenager, from hometown and high school they go to, to things they share with their best friends on the walls they write on. That is the danger of online predators. They’re sneaky and can pose to be anyone or anything in order to get in.

As the population of social networking sites grows, so do the hidden dangers many people take for granted. Just last week, a major story that broke out was about the 18-year-old U.S. student who had been accused of posing as a girl on Facebook. He tricked at least 31 male classmates into sending him naked photos of themselves, blackmailing some for sex acts.

You never know who is out there intending to do harmful acts to your kids and teens. As you consider the holiday gifts you gave your family, consider protecting them with McGruff Safeguard. Help us help you keep your family safe.

Labels: Aol News, Facebook, gifts, holiday season, McGruff Safeguard

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posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 6:55 AM Link to this Article 0 Comments

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What would you do?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

There was a story yesterday on AOLnews about a woman who turned her husband of just three months, into the authorities because she found child pornography on his computer. As a result of her phone call, Christopher Scott Norman, 42, was sentenced to a three to five year prison term.
The wife is now saying she would have taken it back because her life has “fallen apart.”

This makes me wonder about other cases. Then it makes me wonder what other people would do in the same situation. Would women hide the fact that their husbands had child pornography in order to keep themselves in the “comfort zone” they’ve been in?

What would you do if your own family members possessed child pornography? Would you be able to turn them in? Would you send them to counseling? Would you ask quesions?

I was looking back at some of the major stories from 2009 when it comes to child pornography. This is not just a US thing. This is a global issue. I know we’ve spoke about it in previous posts but it keeps coming up. So the question I pose is: What would you do?

Labels: Aol News, child pornography

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posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 6:13 PM Link to this Article 0 Comments

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Recent stats in the news

Monday, December 21, 2009

McGruff Safeguard has been writing about the online habits of our teens for the past five months or so. We’ve been keeping you up-to-date on new research, new predators caught, and have mentioned folks who have been monumental in the capture of online sexual predators. But that’s not all. We’ve really been attempting to open up the eyes of parents and talking about what kids/teenagers are doing and/or struggling with.

The online habits and phone habits of teens is becoming quite the talk. There have been multiple stories out this week on this subject. What are kids into these days? The popular online social media guide site, Mashable, just reported that “Porn” was among the top search for kids. Here is the actual table provided in the article:

AOL last week wrote a story about one girl’s battle with cyber bullying, which was spawned over a Facebook comment being left about the popular “Twilight” novels. Here is an interesting piece which came from the article.

According to a new study by Nielsen Mobile, the average cell-phone-carrying teen
in the United States now sends 2,899 text messages every month. That's up 566
percent from just two years ago. Another recent survey by The Associated Press
and MTV found that one-third of teens and young adults age 14 to 24 engaged in
"sexting," the practice of sending sexually explicit messages or pictures via
text message. And a poll conducted by Common Sense Media found that nearly a
quarter of all teens who belong to Facebook check their page more than 10 times
each day. "This generation is consumed by technology from birth," said Larry
Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez
Hills, and the author of "Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation."

Speaking of sexting, Mashable also had some statistics:

According to the study, 4 percent of teens 12-17 who own cell phones have sent
nude or nearly nude photos of themselves to others via text, and 15 percent
admit that they have received these scandalous snaps. And in a country in which
58 percent of 12-year-olds and 83 percent of 17-year-olds own cell phones —
that’s a lot of flesh flashing across iPhone screens.

When I think about these articles, it leads me to believe two things.

1. Teens and pre-teens are not thinking about the consequences of their actions and the long-term effects they could have.

2. Parents are not having the right kind of conversations with their kids.

I'd like to hear from you. What are some of the conversations you have?

Do you talk to your teens about nude photos, porn, and sexting?

Granted, these are certainly not easy subjects to broach, and kids may not be as receptive as we may hope. But if you've had some success with reaching out, please let us know.

Labels: Aol News, Mashable, McGruff Safeguard, nude photos, pornography, sexting