School Family

Spent last week in New York (as part of an Advisory Council for Symantec’s new efforts around internet safety) focusing on how technology has become such a central part of our kids’ experiences these days. My take: where there used to be two different discussions — one about internet safety and one about parenting – today it’s really just parenting.  The web and connectivity (chat, text, social media) are that integrated into our kids lives.

It’s also why I was interested in this blog post describing one mom’s experience with her daughter and how her studying and web socializing are merging.  Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing?  Or just reality? How are you keeping up with this stuff?

I’ve been playing with this new Internet Safety program from Norton for a while now, and I really like it.  I’ve got a decent techy brain (I can figure things out if I have to), but I prefer simple, and that’s where Norton’s new product does its best work.  I don’t have to load a whole bunch of software and then remember to download updates and reconfigure and all that stuff i never do.  Instead, after a fairly easy set-up, I can use the system (and tweak preferences) easily and issues (son #1 trying to visit wrong websites or the like) are emailed directly to my wife and me.

As a parent who doesn’t want to be a spy or the secret police, i like the spirit of this program. It’s an open conversation between your child and you and then a system to keep that conversation going when it needs to be going.

Late notice, but I’ll be talking about back-to-school habits for parents tomorrow morning on Fox 25 in Boston.  Believe we’re set to go live at about 8:20 AM.  Will try and get the clip on here later this week, provided it’s not in HD (face made for radio — or at least lo-def!).