This weekend at the big family BBQ, some cousins came who I haven't seen in years. It was amazing to see that the boys were now 17 and 13. Really nice kids who seem to have their stuff together. At one point, I let them know that downstairs we have a Wii, PS2, XBOX and 100 games for them to play if they wanted. They went downstairs with the rest of the boys to play. At that time, but my brother-in-law said to their father. Sure, go ahead and melt your brains, in a very jokingly way. It was that at that point, my cousin said something that made perfect sense to me in this day and age. He said, "You know, they could be going out drinking or doing drugs with their friends at this age. Instead, they are at home safe playing video games with their friends." Although maybe no ideal, I really like this better than the latter which seems to be happening more and more. It got me thinking about teens and computer use.
My son will be 12 in October and already knows enough about the internet to be dangerous. He doesn't chat online. He emails his friends occasionally. For the most part, he is doing some homework research, and playing games. You Tube is starting to pick these days too.
For some reason, I am really comfortable about him and computer use. I haven't installed any of that parental control software. Personally I think it's worthless. Having tracked hackers for a few years at previous jobs, I know for a fact that predators and hackers are one step ahead. The parental control software is pretty much to keep the stupid people from getting to your kids. That's fine and dandy, but the stupid people wouldn't be able to carry a conversation with your kids anyway, so they wouldn't get through. So why do people purchase this type of software?
Parents purchase control software for their own piece of mind. I think that it's a lazy way out. Not saying that there parents are lazy, because it's quite the opposite. They care quite a bit, but they just don't know or take the time to know enough about the internet in order to protect their child. As a parent, I feel that if anyone in your family uses the internet, it is your duty to become an expert.
You need to be able to learn how to search Google and search well. There is much more to just typing in a word. There are different phrases and parameters that narrow your search to exactly what you want. Find out what sites people are going to. Go to Alexa and find out what the top 100 sites are. Visit them and see what they are about. You could probably throw out the shopping sites, but check the social networking sites closely. Visit some pages to see what kids are doing and saying. You will be amazed. Check out YouTube and other video sites to see what kids are recording and posting. Once again, you will be amazed. Figure out how chat programs work. Get an ID yourself and Chat/IM with your kids. Go to the celebrity gossip sites. After you puke, understand who your children are using as role models. You need to be hip with the young folk. So what does this do for you to help protect your child? Nothing by itself but with the most basic of things, it becomes the most important thing you will ever do.
Plain and Simple. You should not let your child have a computer in their room. Especially one that is connected to the internet. Their computer should be in a public location in the house. A place where there is heavy traffic and where you hang out. This serves multiple purposes. The first being that if anything wrong pops up or happens on the computer, you will be able to see it out of the corner of your eye and ask a question. You will have been familiar of this stuff from your research that you've done. Secondly and very important is that if your child/teen is doing homework and needs to search something. You will have all the knowledge they need to help them with the search. Teach them a few things and then you can pretend to know more than they do on the computer. That prevents them from trying to pull one over on you in "Their Own Turf"
So my take on how to raise computer safe kids, do the following:
1. Learn everything about the internet. No exception here!
2. Put your computer in a public place. School Laptops should have tracking software on them, but only allow use in a public place where you can view stuff out of the corner of your eyes.
3. Offer help on doing research via the internet. Show your child a few things or two. They will be amazed and realize that you aren't so oblivious.
4. Parental Control Software. Although I bashed it up above, it's not entirely a bad idea. Anything helps, I just think that it's highly overrated.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Pinger
So as I begin to start doing my own personal review of products, I couldn't think of a better one to review besides the product that support, Pinger. So a disclaimer here is that I work for the company. For those who know me, know that I will not work for a company that delivers crap. Plain and simple, I live to make changes to everyone's life and I try to do it in a positive way. Pinger is a product that for the first time in a long time, believe will change a lot of our lives for good.
Pinger is a "Text Messaging for Your Voice" according to the official verbiage on our website. While it's true, it is simply much more than that. I use Pinger so much everyday that I'm to the point where I don't see myself living without it, unless I was banned from using it.
It's simple to get started. Just dial (858) 2PINGER or go to Pinger and sign up. It really is a piece of cake. Once signed up, you can upload your contacts and then use your voice to address anybody in your contact list. I was initially amazed by the voice recognition stuff. Now I take it for granted.
After addressing your Pinger, you simply speak your message and hang up. It's that easy.
Receiving a message is just as easy. When a person receives a Pinger Notification on their phone, they simply dial the number listed on the notification to immediately listen to their message. On my phone, I just click Send twice to listen to the message. After you listen to it, you can quickly reply by pressing 1 or your can forward by pressing 4.
Another benefit of Pinger is that it doesn't matter what carrier you are on. As long as it's a US carrier, you can send messages pretty much to everyone who has a mobile phone.
They have special software for Treo and Blackberry Users. There is a nice Web 2.0 interface for changing your options, uploading contacts, downloading messages and even sending new ones.
Another benefit of this service that I enjoy is that you don't have to deal with the annoying prompts that come with voicemail. I can't tell you how much I dislike those things. I just want to get the message.
I use Pinger for most everything, but here are some basic examples of how:
Communicating with My Wife.
We both are talkers and have really strong personalities. There are many times I just need to get a message to her and not have a long drawn out conversation. (i.e. "I'm on my way home now, don't forget to pick up some bread"). A phone conversation may end up with her shopping for the rest of the week, me getting dinner started and figuring out what we are doing this weekend. For me, that's face time type of conversation. We just need bread.
One Message to Many People
My step-son is fortunate, or unfortunate, to have 2 sets of parents. We all want to know when he rides his bike to school that he has made it there safely. He was calling everyone individually and letting them know that he made it safely. This was seriously cutting into his valuable recess time. Upon giving him his new cell phone for his 11th birthday, I clued him into what it is I do and he's been hooked. Every morning when he got to school, he sent a Pinger to all 4 of us and we knew he was alright. Except for the time he ran into a pole with his bike, but that's a different story.
Another 1-to-Many Story
My father's been ill and anytime one of us kids visited dad in the hospital a message was sent to the other two. We could all three take our turn and have a conversation via Pinger. It was really helpful and everyone heard each others voices without any interpetation.
Communicating with Teens
I absolutely hate to text message or texting as the kids call it. It takes to flippin long to get a message across. I could call, but that defeats the purpose of a text. Pinger rocks for this. Teens don't have to feel that they aren't cool by talking to their parents on the phone. They can just leave a message and you can just respond. I send Pinger's to my neices all the time.
Traffic Problems
One example of this is when I was driving the family to our middle sons T-Ball game. The main intersection to the ballpark was blocked and I knew that there were 12 other families trying to get to the game. I sent a Pinger to all of the team members parents and they were able to drive around the blockage.
ADD or Whatever They Call What's Wrong With Me
So I have this problem or "Feature" where my mind doesn't sit still, not even for a second. I'm always thinking up new ideas, problems, next steps or just bringing past memories. Some of these things I want to capture so I don't forget. I quickly call Pinger and say what's on my mind so I can always go back and have a listen and try to sort out things later.
Pinger is a "Text Messaging for Your Voice" according to the official verbiage on our website. While it's true, it is simply much more than that. I use Pinger so much everyday that I'm to the point where I don't see myself living without it, unless I was banned from using it.
It's simple to get started. Just dial (858) 2PINGER or go to Pinger and sign up. It really is a piece of cake. Once signed up, you can upload your contacts and then use your voice to address anybody in your contact list. I was initially amazed by the voice recognition stuff. Now I take it for granted.
After addressing your Pinger, you simply speak your message and hang up. It's that easy.
Receiving a message is just as easy. When a person receives a Pinger Notification on their phone, they simply dial the number listed on the notification to immediately listen to their message. On my phone, I just click Send twice to listen to the message. After you listen to it, you can quickly reply by pressing 1 or your can forward by pressing 4.
Another benefit of Pinger is that it doesn't matter what carrier you are on. As long as it's a US carrier, you can send messages pretty much to everyone who has a mobile phone.
They have special software for Treo and Blackberry Users. There is a nice Web 2.0 interface for changing your options, uploading contacts, downloading messages and even sending new ones.
Another benefit of this service that I enjoy is that you don't have to deal with the annoying prompts that come with voicemail. I can't tell you how much I dislike those things. I just want to get the message.
I use Pinger for most everything, but here are some basic examples of how:
Communicating with My Wife.
We both are talkers and have really strong personalities. There are many times I just need to get a message to her and not have a long drawn out conversation. (i.e. "I'm on my way home now, don't forget to pick up some bread"). A phone conversation may end up with her shopping for the rest of the week, me getting dinner started and figuring out what we are doing this weekend. For me, that's face time type of conversation. We just need bread.
One Message to Many People
My step-son is fortunate, or unfortunate, to have 2 sets of parents. We all want to know when he rides his bike to school that he has made it there safely. He was calling everyone individually and letting them know that he made it safely. This was seriously cutting into his valuable recess time. Upon giving him his new cell phone for his 11th birthday, I clued him into what it is I do and he's been hooked. Every morning when he got to school, he sent a Pinger to all 4 of us and we knew he was alright. Except for the time he ran into a pole with his bike, but that's a different story.
Another 1-to-Many Story
My father's been ill and anytime one of us kids visited dad in the hospital a message was sent to the other two. We could all three take our turn and have a conversation via Pinger. It was really helpful and everyone heard each others voices without any interpetation.
Communicating with Teens
I absolutely hate to text message or texting as the kids call it. It takes to flippin long to get a message across. I could call, but that defeats the purpose of a text. Pinger rocks for this. Teens don't have to feel that they aren't cool by talking to their parents on the phone. They can just leave a message and you can just respond. I send Pinger's to my neices all the time.
Traffic Problems
One example of this is when I was driving the family to our middle sons T-Ball game. The main intersection to the ballpark was blocked and I knew that there were 12 other families trying to get to the game. I sent a Pinger to all of the team members parents and they were able to drive around the blockage.
ADD or Whatever They Call What's Wrong With Me
So I have this problem or "Feature" where my mind doesn't sit still, not even for a second. I'm always thinking up new ideas, problems, next steps or just bringing past memories. Some of these things I want to capture so I don't forget. I quickly call Pinger and say what's on my mind so I can always go back and have a listen and try to sort out things later.
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