Kids Safety
Apple has been granted a patent for technology that automatically censors songs
Apple’s Beats 1 Radio already plays non-explicit radio edits of songs, but the company is taking further steps that could make Apple Music a family friendly streaming service. The company has been granted a patent for new technology that automatically censors streamed content.
Ben Kaye, consequenceofsound.net/
Half of school kids admit viewing unsuitable online content
Half of schoolchildren admit they have seen sexual, violent and other adult material on social media sites, apps and games. And 78 per cent of children say they had joined social media sites before reaching the minimum age of 13, as is a requirement on most sites.
Teens flirting with danger in under-18 Tinder app
Thousands of teenagers as young as 13, are using controversial dating app Tinder, putting themselves in danger of meeting online sex predators.
Kids and cellphones: 8 rules to live by
Once my daughter Kennedy was old enough to stay home alone, the question of getting her a cellphone also came up. Suddenly, I was thrown into unfamiliar territory. Parenting is a challenge when the problem takes on weighty, almost absurd levels of symbolic meaning. And in today’s world, few things carry more power than the glowing screen of a phone — destroyer of innocence, bane of ambition and the ruin of many a teenager.
David Hopkins, Chicago Tribune
Teens Addicted to Social Media
I attended an interview with Nancy Jo Sales about her book American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, at the 2016 Woodstock Writers’ Festival. Her research, based on conversations with over 200 teen girls from across the country representing all different demographics, painted a very disturbing picture of the world our teenage girls are living in…
U.S. Suicide Rate Increases, Highest Among Young Girls
Social media, mental illness, and contagious nature of suicides may explain threefold increase in suicides among young girls.
A holiday, a car and a massive iTunes splurge: What kids have bought when their parents weren’t looking
MOST parents of teenagers will be used to demands for flashy iPads and concert tickets and the latest sneakers, but these little champions took things a step further.
Their parents briefly turned their backs, only to be left with bills for a holiday, car, huge bag of rice and a massive iTunes bill. What’s more, these kids haven’t even hit double figures yet.
PSA: Kids easily targeted by sexual predators online
Attention parents: Some crafty criminals are using the internet to prey on our kids, and a new PSA not only shows how they do it, but also how parents can stop them.
The PSA is in the form of a video created as part of a collaboration between the U.S Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Kid-friendly Kik app gives predators direct online access to children
Within minutes of downloading Kik, a popular messaging app, 13-year-old Alicia started getting random texts from strangers wanting to know about her sexual fantasies.
“I’m 29 and I want to be your boyfriend,” read one of the first messages appearing on the smartphone.
