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Posts Tagged ‘Computer’

Parenting your kids internet activities

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

Here’s good food for thought on the whole dangerous playground that the internet has become. This dad just turned off his Net Nanny software, in favor of more active parenting.

Despite my wife’s initial disapproval, I have removed all forms of net nanny software from the kid’s computer. They now surf unhindered by the arbitrary limits of the ambiguous cyber-morality-police. The experience has been great for all of us because they do not need my approval to visit every new variant of Disney.com or Cartoon Network.

We started out with a few basic rules and have expanded slightly on them. First and probably most important, was the speech about “bad things” on the internet. I explained that just like on TV, there are things on the Internet that children shouldn’t be watching. If they find something they don’t understand, or think is inappropriate they should click Home and go back to Webkinz.

[From Bad Dad: No Net Nanny | Geekdad from Wired.com]

This is good advice, in the main. Nothing takes the place of more involved parents who actually are watching, talking, listening, communicating. However, you have to be free and omnipresent to make this work. And, I think there are several caveats that the author, Anton Olsen, does not mention.

First, if your kids are little, little, all this talking and communication isn’t going to help them if they see something that is really way beyond their comprehension. I don’t want my eight year old (or my four year old son for that matter) to be exposed to graphic sex just because she went searching for “doll toys” on the internet. That’s why we use a separate account for her on our home computer. She can only visit and add sites (in her Safari browser) as we see fit, and then can switch easily between Webkinz, Club Penguin or SeaPals to her hearts content.

Second, place the family computer, or the child’s computer, in a place where everyone can see and the community becomes the monitor. If your child strays, there is a good chance that nanny, brother, mom or dad might see.

That said, this is a good discussion on an approach for allowing 12+ kids to use the internet for free browsing, school research, and fun, without using software that takes the place of good old-fashioned parenting.

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Tags: Computer, Health, Safety, and Medical, Technology and computers, Websites
Posted in Health, Safety, and Medical | 1 Comment »

This video will change your life – Inbox Zero

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

I really like the website 43Folders. It’s jam-packed with ways to make yourself more productive. I try to avoid the anti-productive temptation to spend a lot of time there reading and watching videos, but one caught my eye the other day when I was Google-searching for answers on email troubleshooting. I found this great video on how to manage your inbox. If you’re reading this, you likely spend time on a computer, and like, most of us, spend time wading through emails. This video helps you gain control of your inbox so that you manage your mail rather than letting it manage you.

One of the first things Merlin Mann, the speaker and founder of 43Folders, says, is to turn off alerts for new mail and only check your email every hour. Most of us grew up on email and that little bell drives a Pavlovian response we learned in the early days when email meant news from a friend or maybe even a love letter. Today, the little ping, or heaven forbid, “you’ve got mail,” just means more spam, a directive from a co-worker or boss, or another sappy powerpoint filled with cute kittens. So, first thing is to turn off that little bell. It’s really hard to do. I argued with my worser self for a while on this: “what if I’m waiting for a VERY important email? How would I know it’s arrived. If it’s that important, turn the bell back on, or start at the screen until you see it appear.

Not checking email until the top of the hour is even harder, but luckily the computer has a way to notify you every 60 minutes, so you can quit clock-watching and focus on your work.

The video is funny, engaging, and has some other email productivity tips on archiving and folders. For dads trying to save time so they can get home and see the kids, this is worth a watch. Your co-workers might thank you as well.