AOL has developed a new website called Play Savvy (www.playsavvy.com) that helps moms learn about video games. It takes some of the mystery out of gaming so that moms can see (as many dads already know) that gaming can be a really fun family activity, instead of something to be feared and disapproved of.

Play Savvy Helps Moms Learn About Video Games

NetSmartz is a projected of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They have developed some very simple, downloadable, age-appropriate internet and “real life” safety contracts for your family to use. Each contract sets guidelines and boundaries for children to follow to maintain their own safety.

Select the contract that is right for your situation and download it at:

http://www.netsmartz.org/resources/pledge.htm#

(BSM Media published this press release on December 30, 2008.) Today’s time-starved, multi-tasking mothers are using more than band-aids and paper-based calendars to manage their hectic lifestyles and growing families. Mothers, now more than ever, are using technology such as video, blogs and wireless devices to multi-task through their busy days, using more than 5 separate technologies daily. 2009 stands to produce a record number of tech-savvy mothers bridging devices together to create everyday solutions.

According to research released by industry expert Maria Bailey in her new book, Mom 3.0: Marketing with Today’s Mothers by Leveraging New Media & Technology, a mom’s primary objective in using technology is to stay in touch with her busy family and manage their schedules effectively. In 2009, Moms will delve even deeper into the world of technology as they discover new functionalities of the tools they are already using.

Five technology trends to watch for in 2009 in the mom market cited by Bailey include:

1. The Emergence of Mom 3.0

They may be living in a 2.0 world but today’s moms are creating their own systems of solutions to operate on a 3.0 level. According to research by Bailey’s marketing to moms firm, BSM Media, www.bsmmedia.com, the majority of moms (65%) utilize 5 or more forms of technology every day. These moms are turning to devices such as computers, cell phones and mp3 players, as well as communication forums like blogs and instant messaging, to stay connected with their families, deliver useful content to their peers and manage their fast-paced worlds.

“Mom 3.0 is a powerful consumer who not only purchases products, but influences the decision making process of her peers through the use of new media, technology and content that is relevant and intuitive,” said Bailey. “She is the living, breathing personification of what Internet trend analysts foresee in the emergence of Web 3.0.”

2. Vlogs Become the New Blogs

Bailey predicts that Mom vloggers will outnumber Mommy bloggers by the end of 2009, as moms begin to see the ease of distributing and consuming information through video. Research conducted by BSM Media points to online video as the next preferred media among Moms. In fact, 82% of moms have watched 2 or more videos in the last week, versus 35% who have read blogs in the last week.

According to 64% of moms, video is an appealing format because it’s adaptable to their lifestyles. Vlogs allow Moms to learn and share with other Moms — all while stirring macaroni and cheese and answering homework questions. And the emergence of convenient, handheld camcorders, such as the Flip Video, makes shooting and uploading home videos easy and accessible. Currently Newbaby.com, www.newbaby.com , has built the largest network of Mommy Vloggers who review products and chronicle their journeys through parenthood.

3. The Return of Podcasts

In 2009, a decade after the buzzword was coined, podcasts will make a comeback. Back in 1999, when podcasts first emerged on the technology landscape, only 20% of moms owned some form of mp3 player. However, today, over 80% of moms have a means to listen to a podcast, whether through computer downloads or popular mp3 players like the iPod and Zune. Whatever listening device Moms choose, podcasts are a perfect fit for an on-the-go lifestyle. Moms can download specialized talk radio, shows and music and take entertainment and relevant content with them throughout their day, whether they are driving carpool in a minivan or jogging behind a double stroller.

With 80% of the market having the right tools in hand, it’s time for this medium to experience the growth it deserves.

4. Twitter, Micro blogging, Instant Messaging Expands In Functionality For Moms

Moms have contributed to the growth of the social media phenomenon because interacting virtually with their peers allows them to nurture relationships in a simpler way. Joining social networking sites allows Moms to share product recommendations and parenting advice with like-minded Moms across the country. Recent statistics show that more than 40% of American mothers have Facebook profiles.

And now that these multi-tasking Moms have grown comfortable using these platforms to share with their peers, they are starting to use them to fulfill another core motivator — staying in touch with their families. Just as many mothers have found texting to be an effective form of communication with their kids in 2008, in 2009 Moms will be tweeting, instant messaging and creating profiles on sites such as Facebook and MySpace to keep up with their adolescents and tweens.

5. Digital Photography and Video Sharing Leaves the Laptop

With the popularity of the Nintendo Wii among moms, Bailey hypothesizes that they will soon discover the functionalities of sharing photos over the game system and move their memory sharing from online to their living room. By inserting her camera’s memory card into her Wii, a mom can create an interactive photo slideshow that can be shown in her home, as the perfect backdrop to a party, or shared virtually with other moms or family members that have access to the game system.
Since many moms will be resolving to actually get their photos off of their cameras this New Year, digital photo frames will grow in popularity. Most of these widely available and easy-to-use devices allow Moms to store and display over 4,000 images in an attractive setting that fits in with any decor.

The above research was conducted by BSM Media in conjunction with the release of Mom 3.0. Over 3,000 Moms across the United States were surveyed in June 2008 and these statistics are just a small sample of the plethora of Mom Market research that can be found in Mom 3.0. Filled with ideas, insights and creative programs to help you update your current strategies, as well as input from real-world Moms, Mom 3.0 will help prepare any brand for the future of Mom Marketing. To learn more or to purchase a copy of Mom 3.0, visit www.marketingtomoms.com .

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Maria T. Bailey is the foremost authority on marketing to moms. Her company, BSM Media, specializes solely in marketing to mothers. In addition to Mom 3.0, she is the author of “Marketing to Moms: Getting Your Share of the Trillion Dollar Market” and “Trillion Dollar Moms: Marketing to a New Generation of Mothers

Recent research conducted for the National Crime Prevention Council found that 43 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 were victims of cyberbullying in the last year. Cyberbullying, the act of using the Internet via computers, cell phones or PDAs to be cruel and harmful to others, has become more frequent among young people due to the increasing popularity of social networking sites, blogging and microblogging.

To address the growing issue of cyberbullying, the Qwest Foundation(R) will host top educators from several states to present a first-of-its-kind cyberbullying prevention curriculum funded by the Qwest Foundation and created by Mike Donlin, project manager for prevention-intervention and technology services at Seattle Public Schools. Donlin and educators from Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Oregon and Washington, as well as key Qwest executives, will gather at Hamilton International Middle School in Seattle on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 10 a.m. to review and discuss the program, which was implemented in Seattle middle schools this fall.

At the event, Donlin will also offer tips for implementing the curriculum and will share his experience in working with teachers who have incorporated the course into their curriculum. A guide complete with key learnings from the curriculum and suggestions for building a standards-based curriculum at their schools will be distributed at the event. This guide is also available for free download at www.IncredibleInternet.com .

“Kids become cyberbullies because of the power and anonymity they are afforded by the Internet,” said Donlin, a member of Qwest’s Online Safety Coalition in Washington. “Because cyberbullying can impede a child’s ability to succeed in school, it must be addressed at home and in the classroom.”

Download Cyberbullying Guide >>>

Teachers’ Top Five Tips for Getting Started

• Understand cyberbullying – cyberbullying is defined as willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.
• Talk to your kids – encourage students to speak up, empower students to overcome hurtful activity, eliminate the “code of silence” and remove cyberbullying as a harmful barrier to education.
• Review school policies – many school districts have anti-bullying rules and policies to address cyberbullying.
• Set and discuss boundaries – actively teach safety, set a good example and monitor online activity for signs of cyberbullying.
• Recognize the signs – when students are bullied in real life and online, involvement in school activities may diminish. Grades may slip. Before long, the student may dread going to school.

Because of his participation in the Qwest Online Safety Coalition, Donlin turned to the Qwest Foundation for financial support to develop the curriculum in response to new state legislation mandating the production of materials for parents on the prevention of cyberbullying and electronic harassment. With a $20,000 grant from the Qwest Foundation, Donlin developed the curriculum and is working with Qwest to help make it available to other educators. In addition to Washington, a number of states have passed or are considering legislation that would address cyberbullying and online safety for children.

“Qwest and the Qwest Foundation realize that families and children are doing more online than ever – from keeping up with friends on social networks to researching for class projects – and we’re committed to equipping them with the education that will keep them surfing safely,” said Steve Davis, senior vice president of Public Policy for Qwest. “Thanks to his cyberbullying prevention curriculum and how-to guide, Mike Donlin, Qwest and the Qwest Foundation are now bringing that education directly to the classroom.”

___________________________

About the Incredible Internet Program
Qwest and the Qwest Foundation have a long-standing commitment to online safety education. The Qwest Foundation has been working to combat the online victimization of youth since 2003. Qwest also created an online safety resource at www.IncredibleInternet.com to provide parents, guardians and educators with necessary resources to learn how to help keep their families and children safer on the Internet. Qwest works with key community leaders in education and government to raise online safety awareness. These efforts have reached more than 250 million individuals since 2003.

About the Qwest Foundation
The Qwest Foundation’s core principle is that investing in education provides lasting value for the future. The Qwest Foundation awards grants to community-based programs that generate high-impact and measurable results, focusing on pre-K through grade-12 education.

Bullying on the college campus may not be a big issue for a majority of students recently surveyed, yet many of those same students point to one gossip Web site www.juicycampus.com as a potential source of problems.

“It is fairly unusual to talk about bullying in a university or campus environment,” said Elaine Johannes, an assistant professor of family studies and human service at Kansas State University.

That’s why in November she and Judy Lynch, director of K-State’s Academic Assistance Center, surveyed freshmen enrolled in Lynch’s university experience classes about their own run-ins with bullying. Lynch and Johannes’ objective is for the results to inform anti-bullying efforts not only on campuses but also in K-12 schools and youth organizations that can thwart bullying before it comes to college.

Both researchers said they were happy that the surveys showed a majority of the K-State freshmen feeling comfortable on campus and trusting faculty and administrators to help, even if they’re not exactly sure how that happens. The survey also shows that those students who do think bullying is an issue are prepared to take action to stop or prevent it.

“What I get out of the whole survey is that we have a lot of students who would do the right thing,” Lynch said.

“I think that reflects K-State’s reputation as a friendly and student-centered university,” Johannes said.

Both Johannes and Lynch think this inclination to help also suggests that the next step in addressing bullying might be educating bystanders about healthy and effective ways to intervene when someone is being bullied.

Lynch and Johannes said that college students who feel bullied should contact their student life office, student health or counseling center, or if they live on campus, a residence hall assistant.

Most of the K-State freshmen who were surveyed didn’t report cyberbullying being a major problem, but when it does happen they said it’s most often through cell phone calls or text messages. Lynch and Johannes were surprised to find how many students fingered one Web site, Juicy Campus, as a source of cyberbullying.

“The younger set seems to be moving away from Facebook and MySpace because older people have joined those networks,” Johannes said. “If we faculty and administrators don’t know what Juicy Campus is and what’s going on, we need to.”

Johannes said the reasons for bullying and cyberbullying change with age. Where students in middle school and early in high school may bully someone out of boredom or for fun, the survey indicates that upperclassmen and college students’ reasons center mainly on relationships and jealousy, she said.

To probe the roots of college bullying, Lynch and Johannes asked the freshmen about bullying experiences in high school and anti-bullying programs in those schools. The researchers will share responses from in-state students with the Kansas Department of Education to help monitor and guide anti-bullying programs that Kansas students may encounter before they come to college.

The researchers surveyed 216 students, which is 6 percent of enrolled freshmen. Johannes and Lynch said that this group represents a fairly good snapshot of the university’s student body, although there are proportionally more female and out-of-state students in Lynch’s classes than in the university as a whole. Lynch said this could be because women may be more likely to recognize how the university experience class could help them, and out-of-state students could feel like they need that extra opportunity to adjust to K-State.

Regardless, the researchers said the university experiences classes provided a good group to survey. One reason is because these students, most between 18 and 20 years old, are still familiar with bullying experiences.

“We’re surveying them at the roughest part of the year,” Johannes said. “The newness of K-State has worn off. Maybe they’re figuring out who their friends are and who they aren’t.”

“They haven’t necessarily made those connections yet with faculty, counselors or other people in a position to help,” Lynch said.

The researchers plan to survey each year’s freshmen and would like to survey another Kansas campus to compare results.

Here is an interesting example of how many parents are afraid of kid oriented technology via too much negative media hype and not enough first hand experience. What They Play: The Parents Guide To Video Games surveyed parents and discovered that the majority of parents are more concerned about kids playing video games than they are about kids drinking or seeing porn. Their objection to games was based on the preponderance of publicity surrounding games that feature drugs, violence, swearing and sex.

Mike Goodman, of the Yankee Group, an independent technology research firm, says, “Gamers know the truth, but non-gamers are influenced by what they see on the news, and they think video games are corrupting the morals of our youth.”

The publication of this survey highlights the importance of parents to try to understand gaming from a kid’s perspective. It can only be fun for parents to get into gaming with kids who are already interested in it. It will help parents get a firsthand look at what kinds of games their kids like and will probably put their minds at ease about what gaming is all about. There are many games that are intended to stimulate imagination and critical thinking, they are typically widely played, and with a broad age base. Myst is one popular example.

There is a wonderful podcast episode for parents to listen to that was produced by Tech Talk For Families. In Episode 37 “Grand Theft Childhood”, host Dale interviews Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson, co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media and co-authors of Grand Theft Childhood. They talk about their study of kids and video games and their conclusions that most of what you’ve heard about violent video games and kids is wrong. They talk about what to avoid and what to watch out for. They also touch on the positive benefits of gaming for kids who have ADHD. Listen here>>

This is a guest post by Alex Steed who at 25 years old, is a product of the net generation. Since his teens, Alex has used writing to explore global social change movements and youth engagement. He is executive editor of MakeSomethingHappen.net, where he writes about online organizing and the power of collective action.

Paranoia is futile. Because I trust the network that helped raise me, as archaic as we will remember it in ten years time, I am excited, not scared, for a new generation of kids raised online.

Sure, my hyper-connected upbringing wasn’t perfect, and once in a while I am surprised I survived it. I had a couple of internet relationships that turned into ill-fated face-to-face meetings that were poignant learning experiences about meeting people online. Despite these sketchy experiences, I am still excited for all young people engaged online. The internet has the power to positively engage youth on a global level.

When I got my first computer, my father, then in his 60s and freshly divorced from my mother, figured the computer was like a school in a box. The hours a day I spent online was time devoted to education. He had no idea how to double click and he sure as hell had no idea that the glowing box was a portal to the outside world. The aforementioned “incidents” did not happen because he was was careless; they happened because he trusted the all-knowing education machine I was glued to nearly ever minute of every day. He wasn’t all wrong.

My father’s belief in the computer as an education hub wasn’t as misguided as it could have been. Having dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to fight in the Korean War, he was often of little help with matters relating to school. Challenged with an essay contest during my sophomore year, I turned to an Internet message board community for help with the editing my submission and with that essay I won a scholarship to go to a state leadership camp. There, I learned about engagement and volunteerism. Afterward, I re-prioritized my recreational activities; I stopped shop-lifting and smoking pot and I put my effort into fundraising and volunteering. That camp—and that message board—changed the direction of my life for the better.

Empowered by my experience offline, I took my newfound confidence online. I learned about politics that were contrary to those native to the rural area I grew up in and found talking points to use against the white supremacists I worked with at a local restaurant. I had email exchanges with political activists I had met in the nearest cities and they helped me form more open opinions. With the eventual advent of music sharing (I could download a 3 minute punk song in a short 25 minutes!), I would hear music impossible to find on the radio, thus exposing myself to cultures unfamiliar to a kid from the country. I learned about straight-edge culture, something wholly alien at my high school, when I was most susceptible to getting into the drunk driving accidents/fights common among my peer group. I became cultured and worldly in a pre-9/11 world.

It is for this reason that I am excited for these millennials, whose activities I both study and am endlessly inspired by, who have the world at their finger-tips. At its most hyped and unattended, the Internet can be exactly what I took it for: an unmonitored and unregulated Pandora’s Box. At its best, it is all-empowering and all-engaging—a distraction from its own alternative shady allure. The same way positively preoccupied youths have less time or incentive to do drugs or have risky sex, teens busy with fundraising for Myanmar, rallying for Tibet, fundraising for the church, or informing about issues close to their hearts, have less time or incentive to engage with the monstrous, wild-eyed perverts we’re all sort-of scared are praying on the youth. With a little more direction from my parents, I might have had less dark experiences and engaged in ones that were more constructive, but who really knew back then? We were all experimenting, readying the plane for the next batch.

Now we have some sort of idea what teenagers are capable of and it is in all of our best interests to positively engage them and to step back a bit, so as to not let our outmoded ideas of what change is or how it functions, or our over-hyped concerns and paranoia, stand in the way of their potential. If we challenge them on their own terms, checking in and answering and asking questions from time to time, not only will we have less reason to worry, we might learn a thing or two for ourselves.

___

Alex Steed is a freelance journalist, Internet communication consultant, and activist based in Boston, Massachusetts. He currently serves as executive editor of MakeSomethingHappen.net, where he writes about online organizing and the power of collective action. Since his teens, Alex has used writing to explore global social change movements and youth engagement. He has directed or worked with youth media projects including Blunt Youth Radio, Just Naive Enough, Angioplasty Media, and Hip Hop Without Borders. In the past several years, he has enjoyed varying levels of involvement with the Northwestern Global Engagement Summit and Maine Youth Leadership. He is presently in the process of developing a cross-country study of millennial-activism. He can be found at: http://alexsteed.com/

Got a minute? Since that’s about all the free time you have, here’s one minute of audio information about “Cyber-Bullying Terms” from Vanessa Van Petten

Listen now…

To find out more about Vanessa Van Petten, her books about parenting teens, and her blog “On Teens Today” go to:
www.OnTeensToday.com

Although we know that the American child abduction rate is way over hyped (see The Momstyle News post “There are only 115 kidnappings per year“) it is still a parent’s responsibility to teach a child how to negotiate safety situations. Parents can probably go off the high blood pressure medication they’ve been prescribed for their worry over child safety, but they still are the primary educators of their children and have to deal with some level of stranger-danger education. Throughout life kids are going to encounter wierdos and an important life skill is being able to recognize and deal with them.

The internet does put children, especially teens, in the path of malevolent strangers. Don’t let this worry you too much. Your kids are smart and with your guidance they can develop a healthy level of cynicism that will give them good judgement about situations that could lead them into trouble. The challenge for many parents is, when it comes to the internet, they don’t know where to start.

Here is one option. Web Wise Kids has a series of educational computer games, for parents, kids, teachers and law enforcements officers, that teach internet safety. The parent education program is called “Wired With Wisdom” and it walks even the most un-tech-savvy parent through social networking, e-mail, cell phone use, instant messaging, and general internet safety issues. The kid games are designed for tweens and teens. They are actual computer games that take kids through the experience of being hood-winked by internet predators, so that they can learn to recognize the signs and avoid the real thing.

The games cost between $20 and $40 each. You can preview videos of the game content at the website www.WebWiseKids.org

“Dirt E-Secrets Of An Internet Kid” is the title of Vanessa VanPetten’s new e-book. She is a 22-year-old blogger and published author who writes about parenting from a teen perspective. In this book Vanessa succinctly details the various ways kids use and abuse the internet. And like a socially responsible critic, she also supplies practical solutions for how parents can deal with the challenges that come with raising an internet kid.

The book includes practical advice and tools for you to use when establishing rules for technology for your child. She also explains some of the dangers to kids in the online world and how to teach your children to deal with challenges like: online gossip, cyber bullying, predators, and identity theft. Vanessa claims that her golden nugget is her explanation of how kids know how to trick parents so they can’t track their activities online. But I think the golden nugget is the opportunity it gives parents to enter this internet world with their children and continue to parent kids in what could be the equivalent of “Lord of the Flies” in cyberspace.

Internet kids are already “global citizens” and are practicing public writing techniques that in previous generations were only required of published authors. Kids’ experience with the internet provides parents with a marvelous opportunity to be a positive influence on the building of a child’s online reputation that will follow them for the rest of their lives.

I have had the pleasure of reading this e-book cover to cover and think it is a must read for any parent whose child is showing interest in the internet. It is a quick and easy read and I feel that no matter how much you think you know about the internet, there will be tips in this book that will help you be a better parent to your budding cyber-citizen.

The e-book is $10 and can be downloaded at www.OnTeensToday.com