Monthly Archives: February 2012

A Terrifying Side of Social Media

Posted on February 26, 2012 | 4 Comments

I’m pretty careful about what I do in the Land of Social Media. I’m careful about what sites I visit and I’m careful about what I download. If I think a site is remotely suspicious, I won’t go there.

As I was checking the news this morning via my twitter feed – which is how I get most of my news these days – a journalist that I follow alerted me to an article that appears in the January 2012 Look Smart/Live Smart feature of GQ magazine, “The Hacker is Watching.”

I opened it and read it.

And it absolutely terrified me.

It terrified me so much so that I sit here with a postage stamp sticker over my webcam. I have also made sure my teens now have one on their laptops, too. Although it’s probably slim that a hacker is going to find us and catapult into their bedrooms or my office, I don’t care. I am not taking chances. That little sticker is providing me with some reassurance.

Although this particular tale does have a happy ending, it’s still unnerving to know that there is a new type of hacker out there.

 

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Posted in Safety, Social Media

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Top 10 Social Media Tips for Teens

Posted on February 25, 2012 | 5 Comments

The world of social media seems to be moving at a ridiculous pace. It started out with just email. I can still remember the “early days” of AOL.  Now just about every middle schooler has a smartphone or blackberry attached to his or her hip and the only way teens communicate is through texting (if you really don’t believe me, take away the before mentioned smartphone or blackberry.  You can offer them the house phone  – if you still have one – but they are not going to use it).

Now we have Facebook, Twitter, YouTube  and Tumblr … among others.

And we’ve all heard the horror stories of cyber bullying and teens arranging to meet people they have met online.

So how do you keep your kids safe in this era of social media?  Here are my “Top 10 Tips for Teens”:

  1. Talk to your teen (or pre-teen) and discuss social media and its responsibilities. Most teenagers are ready for social media (as are most tweens, but kids as young as elementary school are venturing into sites like Facebook). Discuss real life examples of what can – and has – happened in the world of social media.
  2. Also discuss the longevity of social media. Questionable and inappropriate posts or videos DO live on, and you don’t want your son or daughter to suffer down the line when a college admissions counselor or potential employer discovers them (you can demonstrate this one by pulling up a few of their friends on Facebook. Undoubtedly, you will find a few that do not have their sites locked and can find some material to demonstrate). Abide by the rule:  If you aren’t proud to show it to your grandmother or in front of your whole school, then you shouldn’t have it posted.
  3. If your teen already is on social media, make sure all privacy settings are secure and set “for friends” where they can be.
  4. NEVER arrange to meet anyone you don’t know. For ANY reason.
  5. Don’t post your personal info for everyone to see.
  6. Don’t post anything when you’re mad or upset.
  7. Do not engage in angry or hurtful discussions. If it doesn’t directly affect you, don’t comment (this can lead to cyber bullying, which you can be held responsible for).
  8. Location services are cool, but do you REALLY want everyone to know where you are? Turn them OFF (You can still participate in sites like Foursquare – and earn those cool badges – but can limit those who see your location). And speaking of which, do NOT announce when you are going on vacation or leaving your house. Let people know what a great time you had AFTER you come back.  There is a site called www.pleaserobme.com which used to have a running twitter feed of those who entered tweets announcing where they were (obviously not home). They have since altered the site so now you have to put in your social media account and it will tell you if you have logged in a location.
  9. The subject of “friending family” always seems to be a touchy subject for teens. My take on this matter is that as a parent, you absolutely should be a friend of your teen. If they don’t want to friend you, that should be a red flag. For younger teens, I even recommend adding relatives, too. This is a great way for out-of-town relatives to be part of their lives, but is also an additional way to help provide safe usage on Facebook.
  10. For younger teens, the computer should be in a central location, like a living room or kitchen, so you can help monitor the sites they are visiting. As the teen gets older and more independent, this gets harder to do. I then recommend regular talks with your teen. Ask them to show you what sites they’ve been visiting, what they’ve been doing on their sites (if they have a Tumblr account) or ask them what’s the most popular YouTube video this week (they will know).

The more we can educate our teens, the more we can help them to stay safe. These are just a few of my favorite tips. What are yours?

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Posted in Parenting, Safety, Social Media

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Is Your Teen Shmacked?

Posted on February 24, 2012 | 3 Comments

I caught a very disturbing piece that was covered extensively in the news yesterday.  And no, it wasn’t Adele flipping the bird to “the suits,” although that’s a whole other issue.

What is Shmacked?

It was a story about getting “Shmacked.” For those of you who join me in not knowing what this term was until now, the Urban Dictionary defines this as “to be so drunk or so high to the point of not being able to function.”

How popular is getting Shmacked?

  • I’m Shmacking has its own Facebook page, with 15,330 likes as of tonight (when I started this story earlier yesterday, it had 500 LESS likes)
  • For $25 you can buy your own Shmack t-shirt, featuring your school’s logo (where applicable)

Isn’t Shmacked a college thing?

Apparently Shmacking is not just for college anymore.  It has found its way into two high schools in suburban Philadelphia.  Sometime this past summer, a group of teenagers from these two high schools set out to get “shmacked.”  Someone decided to capture this on video, which involved someone proudly waving a vodka bottle, a red Solo cup full of beer, another lighting up a bong and yet another holding up a bag of marijuana.  The high schoolers are shown in and around cars, breaking a window and even falling down stairs.

If you think of your teenagers, this is not what you hope they are doing on a summer evening out with their friends.

And then you know what comes next. The video gets posted to the internet.

A few days ago, the school discovered it. Letters went out to parents. The video has since been taken off the website (but at least one TV station has clips from it and you know if that’s the case, countless of others have it as well).  One TV station managed to get in touch with the videographers. They went so far as to claim that it was NOT real marijuana or booze in the video.

But There’s a The Bigger Picture

In this situation, the school’s administration has taken immediate action, notifying the parents and outlining potential consequences. Those involved in the incident may be suspended from sports or activities – even if they were simply in the run and not a participant – and also at stake are college acceptances, scholarships and reputations.

What teens may not - or fail to – understand is that what they do on social media today has ramifications that can last quite a long time.

The teens of today may view their parents as “old school”, but:

  • Those 35 and older remain a growing segment of social media users. According to eMarketer, in 2011, 46.3 percent of those using social media were 35+. Next year, the 35+ category is expected to increase to 48.1 percent as the younger generation users level off.
  • And we’re the generation who will be:
    • Processing your college application
    • Hiring you for an internship
    • Offering you your first job

Teens today should enjoy what they are doing BUT while they are doing it, they need to determine what is appropriate to be documented for the world to see. If it’s not something you’d be proud to show a potential employer – or your whole family gathered around the Thanksgiving Day table – well, then it probably isn’t safe or appropriate to post anywhere on social media.

One last note:  I’m not saying that we don’t get it. We do get it. After all, those red Solo cups were around in our days, too.  The difference is, we also understand the longevity that this new world of social media may have. And what you do TODAY may follow you around, well, for a very long time.

Just check out some of our old college photos on Facebook.

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Posted in Parenting

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Monday Musings …

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

Sometimes it’s just fun to enjoy being the mom of two teens. Today was one of those days.

On what should have been a routine trip to our local super Wal-Mart – the mecca of shopping in suburbia - my girls decided (I suppose, in the car ride over) that they would talk with a British accent for the duration of the time inside the store.

As we wandered through the cosmetics aisle, they simply went to town. I didn’t really notice at first, but then it became apparent that they were talking NON-STOP. And actually, the accent wasn’t bad.

Luckily, the store wasn’t overly crowded for President’s Day, but one grandmotherly type woman was intently searching for something in the hair products aisle, where we had been doing quite a bit of shopping.

I didn’t realize that she was actually LISTENING to my girls until she looked up at me, smiled and asked sweetly,

“Oh my, are your daughters British? They just sound so sweet.”

Sweet? Yes, yes they are…

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THON: Dancing FTK (For The Kids)

Posted on February 19, 2012 | 7 Comments

THON 2012

If you think for a second that today’s youth are misdirected, unfocused and uncaring, I need to point you to an event that happened this past weekend that may change your mind.

The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, or THON, is a stay-on-your-feet and stay awake for 46 hours, not-for-the-faint-at-heart event held each February in Happy Valley. All in a fight to find a cure for childhood cancer so that no child has to hear the words, “You have cancer.”

And after the most turbulent months in the school’s history, shaking it to its very core, this group of 700 dancers and 15,000 student volunteers pulled together to focus on what makes them unique. They danced “FTK” – For The Kids – to raise a staggering $10,686,924.83.

That is not a typo: $10.6 MILLION.  In one event.  Last year’s record was shattered by $1.1 million. And THON remains the largest student run philanthropic event in the world.

THON 2012

THON began in 1973, when 39 dancer couples participated in the first Dance Marathon and raised $2,000.  Since then, THON has outgrown two gyms and is now housed in PSU’s Bryce Jordan Center. To give you an idea of just how many people were in attendance, the facility had to close its doors three times during the 46-hour event due to capacity (15,000).

Since its beginnings, THON has raised more than $78 million for the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.   The Four Diamonds Fund pays for treatment costs that insurance will not cover, a medical team that cares for children with pediatric cancer, and funds pediatric cancer research.

For me, THON has a special place in my heart. I participated as a Morale person as well as a Dancer (when it was in White Building). I have also brought my daughters up on THON, attending the events from the time they were young (when it was in Rec Hall).  My oldest daughter was an instrumental part of her high school’s Mini-THON program, where she was the Co-Head her senior year (BTW, the Mini-THONS raised $1.3 million during 2010-2011, and that is not included what’s raised in February).  My youngest daughter is now inspired to be a pediatric oncology nurse.

Another amazing thing THON has done: while I was watching the streaming video of the final hours today (we usually try to make it to every THON lately but this year didn’t work out), the twitter feeds were announcing results of other THONS. It seems that other schools have been inspired to also host dance marathons, all benefiting pediatric cancer:  Ohio University, University of Maryland, University of Connecticut.

Unbelievable kids achieving the unbelievable.

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Posted in Parenting, Volunteering

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