Study: Social Media Making People Anti-Social, Jealous

Contrary to popular belief, studies show that social media often hampers effective communication and may lead to jealousy and unhappiness.

Humblebragging: The New Status Symbol

A new study from Harvard University describes ‘humblebragging’ - boasting about one's hectic life as a way to prove they are 'in demand' - as a new social phenomenon.

Pope tells young to resist 'false' reality of social media

Pope Francis has urged young people to resist the false images of reality that are presented by social media, and to seek authenticity rather than superficiality.

Google adds tool to flag 'offensive' search results

Google has added a new category called "upsetting-offensive" for flagging search results. While flagging something doesn't directly affect the search results themselves, it does...

Losing smartphone is almost as stressful as terror threat

The Physiological Society, an organization of more than 3,500 scientists from over 60 countries, reports that the loss of a smartphone is perceived to be almost as stressful as a terrorist threat....

Smartphone-obsessed Finns rank tops in screen time

AFP Relax News reported that Finland ranks top on the internet usage on mobile devices. The Finnish market offers lots of unlimited data plans making fast internet connections affordable to the...

Broadband Providers Will Need Permission to Collect Private Data

Cecilia Kang fro the New York Times reports that the Federal Communications Committee approved new privacy rules. Currently, the broadband providers can track users unless those individuals tell...

Privacy groups target kids advertising disguised as YouTube content

Grant Gross from IDG News Service reported that marketing companies are targeting children on YouTube with advertising disguised as other content. The marketing videos, often not labeled as...

What's the Right Age for a Child to Get a Smartphone?

Brian X. Chen from The New York Times, investigates the topic of what is the right age for a child to get a smartphone. As children get smartphone at a very young age, the risk of exposure to...

Everything You Need to Know About Parental Controls

Keeping our children safe when using the Internet, can be a challenging task for every parent. Our partners Common Sense Media recently released a quick guide to parental controls, to help parents...

Starbucks and McDonald's move to block porn from their Wi-Fi networks

Chris Isidore from CNNMoney reports that anti-pornography groups have succeeded in their efforts to get Starbucks and McDonald's to block porn on the chains' Wi-Fi networks. The anonymity...

Parents, Teens and Digital Monitoring

Pew Research Center released a report about the methods parents use to monitor their teen’s online lives and how they encourage their child to use technology in an appropriate and responsible...

Nicole Lovell's killing raises question of how to keep kids safe on social media

Many parents are feeling frightened that they do know posses the knowledge and technical skills to keep kids safe on social media. Kelly Wallace of CNN is showing how parents should interact with...

Facebook drives Internet safety in Africa

On February 9 2016, Facebook hosted a Women’s Safety roundtable in Kenya to highlight how the community can work together to create a harassment-free environment so that everyone feels safe to...

13 Essential Rules for Staying Safe on the Internet

The Safer Internet Day is observed on the second Tuesday of February in more than 120 countries. This day is used by cyber-advocates to remind people to be careful when browsing on the internet...

Apple opposes judge's order to hack San Bernardino shooter's iPhone

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook signed a public letter opposing a judge's order for Apple to help the FBI break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, calling the directive...

6 tips to keep your Facebook clean, secure and private

The large number of friends in users Facebook accounts and the fact that many applications and sites allow to log in using the Facebook user name and password can weaken or even jeopardize peoples...

Why Snapchat is better than Facebook

Sonali Seth editorial director of USC's Daily Trojan, commented on CNBC's social media on campus series “ What social media platforms are hot?” According to the commentary, the use of...

What parents need to know when kids are on social media

It can be difficult for parents to keep up with the social networking apps children and teens are using. Not only new apps come along, but also the existing ones continuously add features and this...

Barna Group Study: Teens and Young Adults Use Porn More than Anyone Else

Barna Group interviewed American teens, young adults and older adults about their views on and use of pornography. Among many notable findings, researchers discovered that teens and young adults...

For Parental Controls, iPhones Beat Androids

Brian X. Chen from The New York Times reports that many parents bought smartphones as holiday gifts for their children. In light of the recent revelation in a Colorado high school of the widespread...

Secret hashtags help teens share dangerous habits

Lisa Rapaport from Reuters reports that a new study of secret social media hashtags like #selfharmmm suggests that new technology is helping kids share dangerous behaviors more easily than ever...

USCCB Issues Pastoral Response to Pornography

At their November 2015 General Assembly, the U.S. Catholic Bishops approved the formal statement "Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography" with an almost unanimous...

Catholic Bishops To Vote On Formal Statement On Pornography At November General Assembly

October 30, 2015  WASHINGTON—The U.S. bishops will vote on a proposed formal statement, "Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography," at the annual Fall...

American Teens Use an Average of 9 Hours of Media Daily

Common Sense Media released a new report The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens. According to this report, teens use an average of nine hours of entertainment media per day, and...

Social Media Usage: 2005-2015

Pew Research Center released a report about the changes on the usage of networking sites, since 2005, by American adults.
According to this report, the social networking use has shot up in the...

Parents and Social Media

Pew Research Center reports that about 75% of parents rely on social media to find information and social support in parenting issues they are dealing with. This report documents the variety of...

Instagram Tightens Guidelines to Curb Pornography and Harassment

Wall Street Journal is reporting that the photo- and video-sharing app unveiled a more-detailed standard for images, aimed at curbing pornography and harassment.
The number of Instagram’s...

Wannabe Hackers Using YouTube to Access Webcams Remotely

CNN Is reporting that the Digital Citizens Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group, has uncovered thousands of YouTube videos teaching wannabe hackers how to gain access to victims' webcams...

Seven Ways Parents Can Help 13-Year-Olds Start Their Social Media Lives Right

Many of today’s thirteen-year-olds begin their involvement with social media and have a new window on the lives of their friends and how their friends may see / feel about them. According to KJ...

Some Millenials, Unhappy with their Selfies, seek Surgery to Enhance their Photos

For Millennials, posting selfies provides a dose of personal
celebrity. Some Millennials who are unhappy with their selfies are
seeking surgery to enhance their photos.

Compulsive Texting Takes Toll on Teenagers

Roni Caryn Rabin of The New York Times is reporting that teenagers use text messaging more than any other mode of communication and that many of them may have a compulsive texters. This is...

Porn industry’s billion-dollar new frontier

Marketwatch.com is reporting Piper Jaffray estimates that by 2025, virtual reality adult content is forecast to be a $1 billion business, the third-biggest virtual-reality sector, after...

Microsoft launches tool to rid Internet of child porn

CNN Money is reporting that the biggest social media sites have been using Microsoft technology to combat child pornography. Now, Microsoft is giving that tool away-- for free.

Days of Our Digital Lives

The New York Times is reporting that so far, the Google data that analysts have worked with has been daily, weekly or annual, but Google recently released the same anonymous, aggregate data down to...

Facebook's Suicide Prevention Tools Connect Friends, Test Privacy

NPR is reporting that people who struggle with suicidal thoughts will often reach out to friends and family first. But when our social circle lives online these days, the biggest social media...

Apple's Cook Takes Rivals To Task Over Data Privacy

NPR is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook made headlines this week when he lashed out at rival tech companies for selling people's personal data. He didn't mention Google, Facebook or...

Google cracks down on 'revenge porn' under new nudity policy

The Associated Press is reporting that Google plans to censor unauthorized nude photos from its influential Internet search engine in a policy change aimed at cracking down on a malicious...

Introducing Moments: A Private Way to Share Photos With Friends

Facebook has introduced a new standalone app called Moments to help share photos friends took during big or small social life events -- a small trip, a night out, a wedding.

Now users no...

Letting Your Kids Play in the Social Media Sandbox

Nick Bilton of The New York Times asked the question on whether we should let children about the age of 10 to join social networks and how we can protect the their privacy and shield them from...

Phone Carriers Tight-Lipped On How They Will Comply With New Surveillance Law

NPR is reporting that the new USA Freedom Act prevents the bulk collection of phone call metadata by the NSA. AT&T, Verizon and other carriers will keep phone call metadata on their servers,...

Net neutrality is here. What it means for you

CNN Money is reporting that net neutrality started on Friday.

A federal judge on Thursday rejected cable and phone companies' attempts to stop net neutrality in its tracks. That...

When the Cyberbully Is You

Nick Bilton from The New York Times asks the question "Why are people so mean on the Internet? It’s a question we have been trying to answer for more than a decade, but the matter seems to be...

Pope offers 'Stone Age' tips to youth for living the digital world well

Whether you still stick to books or magazines or get everything online, Pope Francis said all media should encourage and edify -- not enslave.

Instagram Announces Plans to Expand Advertising

Instagram is cranking up its money machine, and that means a lot more ads in your photo feed.

Facebook Messenger tracks your location by default

If you use Facebook Messenger on an Android phone you might want to check your settings. The app tracks and sends your location to everyone you chat with -- by default.

You can turn off...

Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015

24% of teens go online “almost constantly,” facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones.

Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially...

Verizon Wireless Customers Can Now Opt Out of ‘Supercookies’

Verizon Wireless customers now have the ability to completely opt out of the phone carrier’s controversial ad-targeting program that tagged users with undeletable tracking codes, which critics...

7 big changes coming to Facebook

Get ready for more big changes to Facebook.

The social media company announced several new products and features that will launch on its platform soon -- all are designed to make it...

10 facts about technology use in the emerging world

The Pew Research Center surveyed thousands of people across 32 emerging and developing nations about their technology use and how the rising influence of the internet affects their daily lives. But...

The Health Concerns in Wearable Tech

In 1946, a new advertising campaign appeared in magazines with a picture of a doctor in a lab coat holding a cigarette and the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” No, this...

The secret your cellphone company doesn't want you to know

Recently, AT&T surprised everyone when it added a new option to its GigaPower fiber Internet service: privacy. Yes, for just $29 more a month, AT&T promises it WON'T sell your search...

Former MLB Pitcher Curt Schilling Defends Daughter on Social Media

Retired Major League Baseball pitcher, Curt Schilling, fought back when a congratulatory tweet for his daughter's college decision garnered abusive tweets and threats of sexual assault....

Washington Post: FCC approves strong net neutrality rules

The Washington Post has published an article on the ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that for first time classified Internet providers as public utilities Thursday....

FCC Adopts Rules for Open Internet: Classifies Broadband as a Utility

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday voted in favor by a 3-to-2 decision to enforce net neutrality rules that it claims will help protect freedom of...

From telegrams to Instagram, a look at presidents and technology

President Barack Obama’s recent interviews with Buzzfeed and Vox attracted considerable attention and comment — both as signs that those digital-media companies are emerging as significant...

5 facts about online video, for YouTube’s 10th birthday

On Valentine’s Day 10 years ago, a group of former PayPal employees founded YouTube as an easy way to find and share videos. Today it’s one of the most visited websites in the world and is widely...

6 Adult Dating Apps Teens Are Using Too

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/6-adult-dating-apps-teens-are-using-too

Apps That Could Be Dangerous for Children

Do you know all of the apps the children in your life are using? USAToday.com offers a look at five apps that they may be using--and why they could be dangerous.  Read the full...

The Dos and Don'ts of Laptop Security

OnGuardOnline.gov offers tips for keeping your laptop--and its contents--safe and secure.  Read the full article here >>

Study Suggests Wi-Fi Exposure More Dangerous To Kids Than Previously Thought

Most parents would be concerned if their children had significant exposure to lead, chloroform, gasoline fumes, or the pesticide DDT. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRIC), part...

5 Myths and Truths About Kids' Internet Safety

Help keep your kids' online experiences positive and productive by learning the truth (and ignoring the rumors) about what really makes them safe.

Social Media Update 2014

In a new survey conducted in September 2014, the Pew Research Center finds that Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site. While its growth has slowed, the level of user engagement...

Data Security Gaps in an Industry Student Privacy Pledge

On the eve of a congressional hearing to explore the use of new technology in classrooms nationwide, a software engineer has found significant gaps in an industry effort to bolster student data...

Revenge Porn Is Becoming a Criminal Offense in U.K.

Revenge porn is becoming a criminal offense in the U.K.

Parliament has passed legislation that says anyone who distributes sexual images without the subject’s consent – and with...

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: This Is How We Will Ensure Net Neutrality

After more than a decade of debate and a record-setting proceeding that attracted nearly 4 million public comments, the time to settle the Net Neutrality question has arrived. This week, I will...

Apple's health technology takes early lead among top hospitals

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's healthcare technology is spreading quickly among major U.S. hospitals, showing early promise as a way for doctors to monitor patients remotely and lower...

FCC raises threshold for high-speed internet as service providers cry foul

New benchmark means 55 million Americans currently lack broadband access after chairman derides internet companies’ advertisement claims

6 Timely Tips for Using Apps with Kids

Do your kids or grandkids use apps on your phone, tablet or e-reader? Of course they do. Many apps are fun, educational and engaging. But before you hand over your mobile device to a...

Privacy and Wearable Devices

CSO talks about the potential privacy and legal implications of wearable technology devices, which are used to track physical activity, location, and, in the case of Google Glass, take photos and...

Half of online Americans don’t know what a privacy policy is

What is a privacy policy?

When Pew Research Center asked about this on a recent survey measuring public knowledge of technology and the web, we found that it was one that many Americans...

What Internet Users Know about Technology and the Web

American internet users’ knowledge of the modern technology landscape varies widely across a range of topics, according to a new knowledge quiz conducted by the Pew Research Center as part of its...

New Study by FOSI Finds Parents Feel Kids Benefit from Technology Use

A new study conducted by the Family Online Safety Institue (FOSI) find that most parent believe there are more benefits than disadvantages to their child's use of technology.

Can Ello — or Any Social Network — Take on Facebook?

Facebook's latest controversy over a requirement that account holders use their real names has angered many individuals who want to be known by aliases. In the midst of this privacy...

Faith and Safety in Fast Company Magazine

Faith and Safety has been mentioned in Fast Company in  this article  that looks at the Catholic Church's digital revolution.  Read the full article here >>

Toward a Childproof Internet

    Ole Vidar Hestås, one of Kuddle's founders and its chief executive, said that he got the idea for the service when his youngest son, then 6, asked to sign up for...

ConnectSafely’s new ‘A Parents’ Guide to Mobile Phones’

We are pleased to say that we have now developed a partnership with ConnectSafely.org , an excellent resource for keeping kids safe online.  Connect Safely has many excellent guides...

Google spells out how to be 'forgotten' in search

Google has launched a new online form that allows people in Europe to request that links about them be removed from search results if the content is outdated, inappropriate or irrelevant.

California Urges Websites to Disclose Online Tracking

Every major Internet browser has a feature that lets you tell a website that you don’t want it to collect personal information about you when you visit.

And virtually every website...

Is Social Media Causing A ‘Distancing Phenomena’ To Take Place

CBS DC reports that with over 73 percent of online adults now using a social networking site, social media has dramatically impacted the world in both positive and negative ways. It has left many...

Apple Addresses Unauthorized Purchases by Minors

Apple has sent an email to iTunes account holders notifying them that Apple has improved controls for parents to improve what their kids purchase and is also outlining a process for families to...

Doctors Raise Red Flag: Young Children Should Avoid Using Tablets

Tablets and toddlers: A warning for parents of tech-savvy children. The American Academy of Pediatrics says children under two should avoid all screen time.

Sharing, With a Safety Net

Kids. The reckless rants and pictures they post online can often get them in trouble, by compromising their chances of getting into a good college or even landing them in jail. What to do about...

Instagram users will start seeing advertisements

Instagram, the fledgling photo-sharing site will soon be introducting advertising to users.

Over 60 Percent of Devices Talk to Google Each Day

Internet tracking firm, Deepfield, is reporting that on average about 62 percent of all connected devices — be they smartphones, game consoles, or desktop computers — sent traffic to...

White House Issues New Plan to Curb Piracy

Variety.com is reporting that the White House will encourage search engines, cyberlockers and domain name registrars to come up with voluntary agreements with Hollywood and other industries to curb...

One way Google+ could overtake Facebook

The Washington Post is reporting about a new study commissioned by Janrain shows that, of the people who use social networks to log in to other websites, almost half (46 percent) use Facebook....

There are more eyes on your Facebook posts than you can even imagine

Fast Company is noting that a recent report from Stanford University and Facebook suggests we consistently underestimate the size of our audience on social media. The article states that whether...

How Your iPhone Weakens Your Will

Fast Company is reporting that  new research suggests  not only are our smart devices  snuffing our creativity -- they're also  stifling our drive .   ...

How To Stop People From Snooping On You With Facebook's Graph Search

Caitlyn Becker reports on the Huffington Post that Facebook officially rolled out Graph Search to everyone on the social network. The new search engine, originally accessible to only a select...

Snapchat targets future users with new service for kids under 13

Many of the big social networks have decided not to court kids, because it’s laborious to make their services legally compliant for that demographic. But Snapchat is rolling out a...

Children's Media Usage Skyrockets During Past Year

Mashanle is reporting that Ofcom’s latest annual report on children’s media habits shows that those ages 12-15 are averaging 193 text messages each week, more than double last year's average...

Young Parents Don't Stress Over Kids' Media Use: Survey

US News & World Report is reporting that because they have grown up with gadgets galore, young parents aren't as worried about the potentially corrosive effects of too much screen time on...

Google to spend $7 Million to help eradicate child pornography online

Google says it will spend $5 million on an effort to wipe pictures of child sexual abuse from the Web and another $2 million to research more effective ways to find, report and eradicate the...

CNN: When Bullying Goes High-Tech

CNN reports that as many as 25% of teenagers have experienced cyberbullying at some point. Surveys of 15,000 middle and high school students throughout the United States have found that about 10%...

New York Times: What You Didn’t Post, Facebook May Still Know

In shaping its targeted advertising strategy, it is no longer relying solely on what Facebook users reveal about themselves. Instead, it is tapping into outside sources of data to learn even more...

The Atlantic: The Internet 'Narcissism Epidemic'

The Atlantic talks about The Internet 'Narcissism Epidemic'. We are in the midst of a "narcissism epidemic," concluded psychologists Jean M. Twnege and W. Keith Campbell in...

The Atlantic: What Teens Get About the Internet That Parents Don't

The Atlantic has published an article highlighting that parents more often than not have a negative view of the role of the Internet in learning, and young people almost always have a positive one.

Pew Research Center Publishes Study on Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy

Most parents of teenagers are concerned about what their teenage children do online and how their behavior could be monitored by others. Some parents are taking steps to observe, discuss, and check...

Study: After Giving Birth, New Moms Spend More Time on Facebook

From The Atlantic: Researchers led by Mitchell K. Bartholomew surveyed 154 mothers and 150 fathers, most of whom were white and highly educated, nine months after their child's birth about...

New York Times: Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media

The New York Times has an interesting article on how some elementary schools and universities are using Twitter-like microblogging platforms to setup up what is known as a "backchannel"...