September 13th, 2023
It’s become a staple of our social media feeds: the back-to-school photo. Often the kids in the pictures—smiling on a front step, full of excitement—are holding a sign showing their name, grade, and school. It’s a milestone moment, worthy of a photo, and invariably sweet.
Posting these pics is understandable, but it’s also risky. In an age of mass data-collection and tracking (and less often but more alarming, cyber-stalking), these posts offer up… Continue reading >
August 31st, 2023
Do you use Venmo to pay the babysitter? Do your kids use it to buy snacks or payback their friends? Then check your privacy settings. According to a recent article in the New York Times, Venmo is notorious for gathering your personal information and sharing it far and wide. Your contact lists, past purchases, and lots else, are scooped up and made available for just about anyone on the app to see. The reporter who wrote the… Continue reading >
August 23rd, 2023
In what really should not be a surprise to anyone, it turns out ads on YouTube videos intended for kids may have allowed tech companies to track those kids “across the internet.” That’s not supposed to happen. A recent article in the New York Times reports that lawmakers are asking questions of Google, YouTube’s parent company, and trying to find out whether the tech giant violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. “This behavior by YouTube… Continue reading >
July 19th, 2023
Threads, the new Twitter-like social media app from the makers of Instagram, racked up 100 million users within five days of launching. Obviously, it’s popular (though engagement is waning). But it’s also worrisome, as it presents new concerns about privacy and safety and appears to be “gobbling data.”
Produced by
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Threads allows users to
connect with the people on their Instagram “close friends” list. You can post
messages,… Continue reading >
July 12th, 2023
Snapchat’s My AI is aptly named, in that its use is very much not in your interest. Presented by the company as an in-app feature to help users find everything from trivia answers to gift ideas, it’s riddled with privacy and safety concerns. If you—or your kids—are going to use it, here are some concerns to think about.
First, the privacy issues. For My AI to work as intended, you have to give… Continue reading >
June 21st, 2023
There was a time when creating a phony image required at least a bit of skill. That time has passed. With the help of AI, just about anyone can fake a photo—and a fairly convincing one at that. Photoshop, which takes considerable study to master, is incorporating AI technology that will make it and its many capabilities accessible to just about anyone with a laptop and an imagination. It might be fun! (See the fish in the… Continue reading >
June 14th, 2023
Thanks to your phone, your web-browsing, and the rest of your e-habits, the government knows a whole lot about you and can track your clicks (and steps) without much trouble. Your whereabouts, who you hang out with, your search history—that’s all data that’s compiled and packaged for sale. Can you guess who’s buying it? Law enforcement and intelligence agencies, for starters. And they don’t need a warrant. Most of us have nothing to hide from the… Continue reading >
June 7th, 2023
Parents, to help your kids stay safe online, to help them make good decisions as they scroll, click, and tap, talk to them. Establish an open and honest line of communication with them about how and when they use their devices. And now is a good time to begin that conversation. The school year is ending, summer vacation is approaching, and the devices are beckoning. To get started, ask your kids to join you in taking our… Continue reading >
June 6th, 2023
Social media has a hold on us. Not many of us can resist the urge to check our phones for the latest post, especially when we hear that notification “ding” from one of our social media accounts. There’s a good reason for that, and it’s not just a taste for gossip. It’s dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure and reward in our brains.
When a social media notification sounds, a dopamine-induced loop is… Continue reading >
June 2nd, 2023
Here’s an encouraging story from the New York Times: The Metaverse is kind of flopping. In a new story about Apple finally entering the Meta-scene, the Times reports that, so far, investments in the Metaverse have, largely, been a bust, costing Meta (nee Facebook), Microsoft, and others many billions of dollars. And what do they have to show for it? A whole lot of nothing. For those of us with a preference for the real world,… Continue reading >