Tag Archives: tech gadgets

parenting, tech gadgets, Uncategorized

Are you spying on your teens?

 

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spying

Last Sunday I was listening to a radio talk show on IT and a mom called in with a horror story about her teenage son. She was asleep in bed one night while her son was staying with her ex-husband. About 1am her phone beeped and Skype opened. She saw a conversation between her son (who had apparently loaded Skype on her phone without her knowledge) and an adult male. When she chimed in and asked him who he was, he asked who she was and told her to butt out of the conversation. As she was calling the police, the man asked her son where he lived, how old he was and started initiating a face-to-face meeting. Needless to say, she was shocked. The radio host told her she should be “spying” on her son so this doesn’t happen again.

Keeping your teens safe

Spying on your teens may seem a bit harsh and our kids would certainly rebel if we used that word. But parents need to be aware that threats are real and just because you feel technologically challenged, that’s not an excuse to put your kids at risk. The good news is that help is out there. According to Stacy Ross on  The Online Mom:

I suggest that those of us who are Baby Boomers or Generation X-ers, who weren’t raised with a bottle in one hand and an iPad in the other, are learning the “language of the land online” so to speak, right alongside our offspring. That dynamic is a compelling one, worthy of its own bit of tender loving care.

We need time to foster a relationship with our kids that establishes a system of communication and guidelines for this world, which seems so natural to them but is still so novel to many of us old fogies! We are helping our kids navigate in a new online language and culture, while at the same time assuming roles as strong parental figures. As we do this, we are wise to bookmark resources and find mentors that can help. Entrusting kids with adult-like privileges such as e-mail accounts, smartphones, social media platforms, etc. is no small endeavor.

Most of us weren’t raised with a smartphone or an iPad but our kids and grandkids have been. The concept of pay phones, dial up internet and television with no more than three channels seems unfathomable to them.

An overwhelming task

As if parents don’t have enough responsibility already, we’re faced with policing our kids online activity. Call it spying. Call it being nosey. I prefer to call it smart parenting. And while we’re at it, what about limiting their time with these gadgets. I see kids watching iPhones while in their strollers, and families at restaurants not communicating with one another because every kid is either on an iPhone, texting, or watching a movie on an iPad. Teens are the worst–their whole lives are wrapped around their smartphones and other technology. The more time they are online, the more risk they will be targeted.

Where can you get help?

What’s the solution?

  • Stay informed on security issues and tools to monitor their tech usage. The Online Mom is a great resource for this.
  • Set limits and guidelines for time spent with these devices. Think this is hard? You bet it is. But if you’re feeling frustrated, Fern Weiss, a parent coaching expert, is conducting a FREE teleseminar to help: Teens and Screens.
  • Don’t ignore the issue. Tech gadgets aren’t going away and parents need to stay informed and be proactive.

Watch this video to see how important it is to pay attention to your teen’s online behavior.

college planning, file storage, organization, parenting

Necessary tech gadgets for students going to college

 

The days of being able to pass your classes with only a pen and a notebook have long passed.  Today, many colleges mandate that you need to have certain materials like laptop computers in order to just sign up for courses.  There are five necessary tech gadgets that you have to have if you want to graduate on time with good grades.

Laptop Computers

tech gadgetsWith many courses taking place online in today’s universities, it is more important than ever to be connected with your class and classmates.  Laptop computers not only allow you to connect to online databases like the popular Blackboard system, but also to email teachers and other students in order to get information about the next class assignment or the big final.  If you need to work in a team on a project, you will have to coordinate schedules and make plans for each step of the way.

Some courses require using specific software: a foreign language class, for instance, will require that you download the voice tools and letter commands in order to complete assignments in a different tongue.  With a good deal of research taking place online, furthermore, access to the Internet at all times is crucial, especially when partaking in an online degree .

Laser Printer

It used to be possible to turn in assignments on scratch paper or by a living hall’s typewriter.  Today, however, each student needs to have the ability to print out materials in color.  Complex graphics may be necessary for a PowerPoint presentation or from a picture taken off the Internet.  Having a standard printer may not be satisfactory for an assignment.  Spending a lot of money on the university printers, furthermore (who may charge as much as a quarter per page) means that buying a printer will soon allow the purchase to pay for itself.

Flash Drives

Whether you need to transfer notes or entire papers to and from, a flash drive allows you to convert digital into physical and back again.  Once you have an assignment, put it on your flash drive and you can have a reliable backup or share it with classmates.  In the event that a computer crashes, is corrupted, or is even stolen, you will be able to keep all the vital information on a flash drive and turn in that assignment without having to re-type dozens of pages.  In addition to papers or PowerPoint slides, you can move movies and music on a flash drive to better impress your friends.

Smart Phone

A text-only phone may be a bit cheaper, but will leave you well behind if there are specific applications that can help you achieve success in your class.  With a smart phone, you can take pictures, connect to the Internet, check email, and quickly look up saved information — as well as talk and text with your connections.  Whether a course updates information on Twitter or whether there is a physics app that will help you through intense calculations, a smart phone is a crucial tool for surviving the rigors of college.

LiveScribe

For those who still want or need to take notes the old fashioned way, LiveScribe is the modern version of shorthand.  You can put down information with the pen and then connect it to a computer.  The system automatically transcribes written words into digital documents, so that you can email your notes or check them against a textbook.  Better still, the audio record system will let you compare the notes that you have written against what the professor actually said in lecture class so that there is no worry about missing the small details that come up on tests.

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Author Bio

Ryan Ayers is a writer who creates informative articles in relation to education. In this article, he describes a few gadgets for college students and aims to encourage further study with an Online Masters of Education.

college planning, file storage, organization

Tech essentials for your college-bound student’s dorm room

images-2When you send your student off to college, you will no doubt equip him with the tech essentials you assume he needs. A decent PC or Mac setup for his dorm room is a must so that he can do homework and write papers, and a printer goes along with the package. Of course, you probably also want to provide him with a webcam so that you can stay in touch via video chats on Skype. And for these basic purposes a laptop will work just as well with the added bonus of portability. Plus, your student can save some space by storing it in a drawer when not in use.

But while this type of hardware is certainly handy, it won’t come close to providing for the many technological needs of the modern student. So here are just a few other crucial pieces of tech you might want to consider sending along with your child when he leaves for college.

  1. Clocky Robotic Alarm. If your teen has trouble waking up even when you’re shaking him and pulling off the covers, then you might be a bit nervous about his chances of getting to class on time, making a good impression on his professors, and soaking up all the information he needs to pass his classes. But there is a solution out there that could help: the Clocky Robotic Alarm. This ingenious and dastardly invention is meant to get users up and moving, and it does so by running away with the alarm going off so that anyone who wants it to stop blaring must get up and chase it. Thanks to two wheels and the ability to change direction, this device should help even the deepest of sleepers to get up on time.
  2. Portable hard drive. Most kids are media hounds, soaking up music, books, movies, and TV shows, and since you don’t want them cluttering up their computer hard drive with anything besides classwork, a portable hard drive could provide the solution that lets your student store his favorite movies, his music collection, and even his textbooks in one place for easy recall.
  3. Noise cancelling headphones. Living in close quarters with another student will be made no easier by a roommate that snores or refuses to turn down the volume on a movie. So if your student wants to preserve the peace and catch a few zees in the process, noise cancelling headphones are essential to his sanity.
  4. Smartphone. Aside from the ability to call home, smartphones can provide students with a slew of mobile solutions. This general usefulness could manifest through the ability to set up a WiFi hotspot from anywhere. But students are more likely to enjoy the many amazing apps that allow them to access files saved in cloud storage (like Dropbox), take notes in class (Evernote), and manage their schedule (iStudiez Pro), just for example.
  5. Tablet. There’s really no better tech tool on the market today for the average college student than a tablet. It can act as a multimedia device, allowing your student to download and access movies, music, and even textbooks. It can handle the many tasks associated with computing (file creation, email, even faxes via a service like www.onlinefaxservice.com). And of course, front and rear-facing cameras will let him talk with you face-to-face, as well as capture his time on campus through pictures and videos that will jog his memory in years to come.