Family on the Phone

Last week in my article “Cell Phone Spying“, I discussed options that parents have to help protect their children by monitoring their cell phone use. Today, I am presenting a related article that shows how technology like this can be used in a very bad way.

First, read this article. It gives some basic information on what kinds of things can be done by unscrupulous people who either just want to harass or who might really want to hurt someone. The article also lists some clues that might indicate your cell phone is being monitored without your knowledge.

With all the research I have been doing over the past couple of weeks for my internship here at “Family on the Phone”, I have seen the term “Android” plastered all over the internet in relation to some new cell phone technology.

For Sci-fi enthusiasts like me, the term “android” brings to mind characters such as Mr. Data on Star Trek. In fact, according to Wikipedia, “An android is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human.” So, what in the world does that have to do with cell phones? I decided to find out.

Here it is in a nutshell. Android is not a new phone or network or handy-dandy app. It is a completely new, Linux based, and   free) open source operating system for mobile devices.

If you use a cell phone, you may have heard the terms GSM and CDMA. Have you ever wondered what those terms meant?

Here’s just a brief overview of these terms and what they mean to you practically as a cell phone customer. If you are interested in all the technicalities, I am including some links for additional information.

In the world of mobile phone networks, there are two major players. CDMA and GSM.

CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) This network technology was developed by Qualcomm in the United States. It is currently the dominant type of network in North America.

GSM: Global System for Mobile communications This type of network technology was invented in 1987 by the GSM Association. This international organization has dedicated itself  to developing the GSM standard worldwide.

If you do not know which type of network your current cell phone provider utilizes, you can go to this page on Wikipedia to find out.

In case you missed any of my posts this past week, I just wanted to re-cap some of the things I mentioned and give you a few more resources to follow up with.

• First – I asked the question, “Are your kids ready for cell phones?” and gave you some suggestions to help you make that big decision.
• Second – I mentioned the availability of cell phone monitoring software and discussed some of the considerations necessary when making the choice to “spy” on your kids in this manner.
• Third – I mentioned various GPS tracking options available with and without the use of a cell phone.
• Fourth – I gave you some fun resources to learn the lingo of text messaging so you can understand what your kids are talking about.

Here are a couple of additional sites you might like to visit for related information

• This is an older article but it offers some good insight and advise on kids and their digital lifestyle
• This is an article addressing the issue of parental control and “spying” on kids.
• This article tells about a Colorado policeman who uses monitoring software to catch cyber-crooks

Thanks for reading my series this week! I hope you enjoyed it and learned something useful. Please leave a comment and let me know what you did or did not like.

Reading blogs has been a part of my daily diet for quite some time. When I found Google reader I was elated because now I could indulge myself without anything falling off my plate. There have been a few blogs added to my plate since joining the internship.

I would like to share a few of them with you.

• Scott Beale is a social genius in my mind. He mixes the utterly ridiculous in with the completely earth shattering. One of his latest post over at Laughing Squid is on the Bionic Eye app for the iPhone.

• Gizmodo has numerous writers and would be a technology newspaper 20 years ago. I love this blog for all that’s tech. Check out this new series on the hot topic driving while texting.

• Foodscanner is a new app on the iPhone highlighted on Lifehacker. This app is so cool it scans the bar code and keeps track of the calories.

There are a plethora of tech blogs and wading through them can be overwhelming. These 3 are few I have found to be consistently worth the read.

Oh my – do you know anyone like this???

Have a great weekend and use your phone wisely!

Well, we have covered some pretty heavy topics this week so I thought I’d end up on a bit of a lighter note.

According to what I hear from my friends, their kids actually use text messaging more than they make voice calls on their cell phones. So, I thought learning some texting acronyms might be handy to parents like me who are clueless when it comes to the lingo their kids use these days.

Below are some sites where you can learn more about texting shorthand. You could even try some of these out the next time you send your child a text message. They will either think you are cool or they will sigh and roll their eyes. Either way, you’ll have their attention at least for the moment.

This week, I have been writing about various topics concerning cell phones and kids. So far, I have addressed the topics of whether your child is ready for a phone and cell phone monitoring software.  Today, I’m going to address a related topic, GPS tracking.

Cell phones and GPS

Perhaps you are not interested in tracking all cell phone activities of your child but you would like to know where they are or how fast they are driving in their car.  These days, many phones come equiped with a GPS tracking ability. This makes it possible for cell phone companies to offer services for parents to be able to track their child’s whereabouts.

idk w@ yr rsAyn?= I don’t know what you are saying? Reading text messages can get confusing. There are iPhone apps available to translate English in to Text lingo. You can either sound cool or decode a message.

• Text message Translator gives you the key to remember which texting phrases have which meanings. It costs $0.99 and is updated from time to time with new abbreviations. The 2 page version may be a little difficult to read for some.

• Networds SMS and IM dictionary is a handy translator to over 1800 terms that kids and teenagers are texting. Did you know that “420″ refers to marijuana or “POS” is parent over shoulder?  These and other current slang texting phrases are included in this app.

• Sky Text is a scrolling texting tool. It allows you to scroll what you want to text. Now you can be the cool texter. Know more will you be shown up by your teenager and there is no mistake in what  your are texting because the tool tells you. it also makes it easier for you text by scrolling as opposed to typing.

hu knw txtn cud B so fun?

In my post yesterday, I mentioned some of the potential hazards of our kids’ use of cell phones. I also offered some suggestions and resources  to consider as you make a decision about when and why to allow your child to have a phone of their own.

Today, I’d like to bring up a rather controversial topic – cell phone monitoring.

Some parents and privacy advocates insist that attempts to monitor or control kids actions are degrading and are harmful to the parent/child relationship. Others argue that it is a parent’s right and responsibility to be aware of the actions of their minor children.

This is another  area where only you can decide what is right for you and your family. There are valid concerns on both sides of the argument and every child is different.

Many kids today consider their cell phone to be their main lifeline allowing them to keep in touch with their friends. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. However, the anonymity provided by technologies such as texting, e-mail, and online chat can sometimes be problematic. Cyber-bullying and “sexting” are just some examples of the real dangers brought about by cell phone technology. Also, children are starting to use cell phones at an increasingly younger age and they may simply not be mature enough to know how to handle the responsibilities of cell phone use.