August 20, 2014
Q: My 6 year-old daughter’s class is opening a Facebook account. They are spinning it as an “exciting new way to expose 1st graders to social media” and to help them learn to use it responsibly at a young age. The class will post photos, news, and videos of the children, and parents and relatives can read […]
August 22, 2013
Q: My 15-year-old son has taken it upon himself to secretly open up social media accounts, one of which is Snapchat. We found out about these sites because we do go through his ipod and computer from time to time. He knows that we have the passwords to all his online accounts for which we have […]
July 12, 2013
Q: I was on Facebook the other day and noticed that my friend’s teens had Facebook profiles. I could see the entire profile of one (pictures, information, posts, etc.), while I only had limited access to the other (basically just her name and one picture). This made me wonder, what are the privacy options on […]
April 30, 2013
Q:The Manti Te’o “catfish” story makes me wonder how I can best prepare my teens for future online friendships. My teens say that kids meet through friends-of-friends online and off, but online they just lie about personal information. I’ve always thought that practicing strong communication skills, honesty, integrity, and trust would help my kids grow […]
March 21, 2013
Q: I am trying to monitor my 12-year-old daughter’s use of Instagram and am wondering if there is a way to find any ‘secret storage’ spaces on her smartphone. I am not too concerned right now, but in the future I would like to know how to access it. Instagram is the only social media platform […]
January 10, 2013
Q: At the therapeutic day school where I work, we’ve been encountering a number of internet and social media issues with our students (all kids with emotional/behavioral special needs). I would love to get your thoughts and ideas on how to best educate our kids and their parents on how to understand and appropriately use […]
December 10, 2012
Q: My 14-year-old daughter has been begging to get ‘Snapchat’ on her iPod Touch. I searched for information and I wasn’t initially impressed. I am tech savvy and know screen shots can easily be saved, but also, if she loses her device and someone else sends something, she could be held responsible. I don’t like […]
September 28, 2012
The Mediatrician® contributed to the following post on A Platform for Good, the Family Online Safety Institute's resource page and blog. Last winter, a father read an angry letter his 15-year-old daughter had posted on Facebook. In response, he put nine bullets into her laptop and posted the video online. Within weeks, it had garnered millions […]
July 31, 2012
Q: We have stopped our 17-year-old daughter from using Facebook a number of times due to angry and inappropriate postings. We put unrecognizable passwords in, but she keeps creating or restarting Facebook pages. I believe she has one now, and I can’t find it. She has probably blocked me. Is there any way of totally […]
February 21, 2012
Q: I am a new mom, and I’m not sure how I feel about posting pictures of my baby on Facebook. Nearly all of my friends do it. I can understand the need to remain connected to family and friends and to show off your beautiful child, but this makes me uneasy. As we know, […]
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