NEW! Making Space for Grace (Teresa Peterson, Diocese of St. Petersburg) A series of blog posts and radio segments that offer lessons and reflections for navigating our media environment so that it doesn’t harm our faith and family life.
Protecting Children's Online Privacy(Legal Studies Programs) As a parent, how worried are you that your child with that smart phone might be somehow manipulated or worse that a hacker might be accessing the phone? This article on a website that features programs for legal studies provides a great deal of practical information for parents. The information is not legal advice to be clear but would be helpful to that worried parent.
Digital Citizenship (Common Sense Media) Common Sense Media offers a wide variety of activities and helpful guidance for young people of all ages levels on how to be a good digital citizen. Understanding the pitfalls and real dangers of social media access and usage is vital while using power of social media platforms. Thank you Common Sense Media.
5 Lessons for Parenting in the Digital Age How much screen time is too much? How should parents decide when and why to limit technology use for their children? At what point is it unhealthy for children to use technology? Read this blog and related stories by Soren Gordhamer
Texting Acronyms Every Parent Should Know (USA Today) As a parent, do you know what PAL or MOS mean in a text your son or daughter might send a friend? It turns out that young people use many acronyms that they may not want parents to understand. MOS means "Mother Over Shoulder." PAL means "Parents Are Listening." This article from USA Today offers a list of these acronyms and gives their meanings. YouTube Kids App YouTube is going to release a Kids App that will only show video clips suitable for young children to help parents control what their kids are watching on the internet.
Faith and Safety: Technology Safety Through the Eyes of Faith The Communications Department of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) have launched a resource for adults to help children safely navigate online. The website and complementary social media channels (https://twitter.com/faithandsafety and https://facebook.com/faithandsafety) address safe use of the Internet, mobile devices and other technology, emphasizing the positive use of technology to support children's faith.
Coping with Online Dangers (Covenant Eyes) A very helpful resource to aid parents in dealing with the variety of online dangers that maybe be finding their way into a child or adolescent's computer tablet or phone.
Taking Back Facebook Are you concerned about Facebook and other internet outlets? The amount time that young people spend on Facebook and where it might lead them can be alarming to parents. Check out this article on how to limit the use of the internet with your children and even how to use Facebook to your advantage. Also the Common Sense Media website is a great resource for help in making sure the internet is a positive influence in your child's life.
How to Use Technology(Jonathan Sullivan) Often parish leaders find it difficult to make use of technology to communicate, evangelize and catechize the people in and beyond their parish. How does one get started? What are the best resources? How do I get into this without spending a great deal of time? Is it worth the effort? A good resource for parishes is the website of Jonathan Sullivan. He offers free webinars to help you get started.