Author Archives: Renata Rowe

About Renata Rowe

Deputy Head of Campus/Head of Secondary, Ivanhoe Grammar School, Plenty Campus This blog is the School's way of helping our parents and teachers understand and experience the cyber world that their children live in. We post stories about the latest cyber safety issues, and the latest social mediums that their children and teens might be using. We believe that teaching children and teens to be good Digital Citizen from a young age will protect them and their reputations. Our parents have been delighted and have subscribed so that they can receive our updates - we post about once or twice a week. So subscribe - its easy to do, just enter your email address in the box in the top righthand corner of the home page and posts will automatically be delivered to you.

Teens Deserting Facebook For Tumblr

Posted on 16/06/2013

It is happening!  Facebook is being parked by teens.  By what and why, you ask?  Quite simply because we (old, boring mums - sorry I am speaking for myself!) are on it!  Teens are over being watched (sometimes stalked ever so sweetly) by Mum, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, cybersafety, cybersmart, Dangers, Digital Citizenship, Digital Reputation, Parental Controls, Parents, Social Media, Social Networking, Teens, Tumblr | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Prevent your child from downloading Kik, Instagram, Keek, Hatr, Snapchat, Tumblr……..

Posted on 09/06/2013

Adjust your App Rating restrictions, for iPod, iPad and iPhone to stop your child downloading adult-oriented apps. Many of the Apps that can be purchased from the App Store have age restrictions on them.  Some are 12+ such as Instagram, and Keek others … Continue reading →

Posted in Apps for Teens and Tweens, Cyber Safety, cybersafety, cybersmart, Instagram, iphone settings, Keek, Kik, Kik Messenger, Parental Controls, Parents, Snapchat, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dear Parents, Kik Users must be 17+ now! Read the Reviews!

Posted on 09/06/2013

Should I say yes or no to Kik? How many tweens and teens have begged their parents: ‘Can I pleeeeze get Kik?  A telling change to the recent Kik update is that it asks you to verify that you are 17+ before downloading … Continue reading →

Posted in Apps for Teens and Tweens, Cyber Safety, cyberbullying, cybersafety, Dangers, Instagram, Kik, Kik Messenger, Parental Controls, Parents, Social Media, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mean Games Girls Play on Boys

Posted on 31/05/2013

Guest blogger, parent and teacher Damien Atkinson-Buck writes: As a parent of a toddler, I’m fortunate that I don’t have to worry about his adventures in the cyber world for now, but I do have nieces and nephews in their early … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Bullying, Cyber Safety, cyberbullying, cybersafety, Dangers, Digital Citizenship, Digital Reputation, Facebook, Internet safety, Parental Controls, Parents, Social Media, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is Ask.fm? Parents and Teachers warned: Website linked to Cyberbullying

Posted on 29/05/2013

Teens and Anonymity – they are not a good mix! I encourage parents of young teens in particular, to join this website, ask.fm and search for the names of your children. Or ask your child if they know about it. If your teen … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Bullying, Cyber Safety, cyberbullying, cybersafety, cybersmart, Parental Controls, Parents, Social Media, Social Networking, Teens | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Video Proof your Teen Must See!

Posted on 28/05/2013

Hot on the trail of my last post one of our Dad’s  (bless him) has just let me know that a self named ‘geek’ in the US has posted  video proof on Youtube that shows that Snapchats are even less destructible. digitaltrends reports that … Continue reading →

Posted in Apps for Teens and Tweens, Cyber Safety, cybersafety, cybersmart, Dangers, Digital Citizenship, Digital Reputation, Parents, Phones, Sexting, Snapchat, Teens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Surprise, surprise, Snapchat Pics Don’t Delete!

Posted on 28/05/2013

Teens think Snapchat is fun and many use it just for that. But do those who use it to sext, (and that is a well known use of it!) know that Snapchat’s promised ”self-deleting” images do not actually disappear!  This is not the … Continue reading →

Posted in Apps for Teens and Tweens, Cyber Safety, cybersafety, cybersmart, Dangers, Digital Reputation, iphone settings, Parental Controls, Parents, Phones, Sexting, Snapchat, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Texting While Driving Kills: Show your Teens this Screenshot!

Posted on 24/05/2013

Charlie White, senior editor for mashable, posted the photo above as a graphic reminder of the consequences of texting while driving.  He notes, the unfinished text, that was never sent, was typed by 22-year-old Alexander Heit as he was driving through … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, cybersafety, Dangers, Parents, Teens, Texting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Sexting v Child Pornography

Posted on 22/05/2013

When three US high school students from Virginia made mobile phone videos of drunken sex acts with fellow teens and shared them among themselves, they ended up in court last week facing charges usually reserved for adult predators: child pornography, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, cybersafety, cybersmart, Dangers, Digital Reputation, Parental Controls, Parents, Sexting, Snapchat, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Secret Life of Teens – Keeping you in the Picture

Posted on 30/04/2013

A 2012 Report conducted by independent research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres, and commissioned by mcafeecybered.com   found that almost 80% of parents said they are having conversations with their teens about their online activities however… 66.5% of teens said their parents … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, cyberbullying, cybersafety, cybersmart, Dangers, Facebook, Parental Controls, Parents, Social Media, Social Networking, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rate Me Instagram! Instant Online Beauty Contests.

Posted on 29/04/2013

According to the Washington Post, the latest craze involves young girls around the ages of  12 to 13 posting photos of themselves and asking the sadly popular Internet question: “Hot or not?” The Post goes on to say that, ‘A quick look at … Continue reading →

Posted in Apps for Teens and Tweens, Cyber Safety, Digital Reputation, Instagram, Parental Controls, Parents, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Boy who Saw too Much

Posted on 28/04/2013

When her 11 year-old son was exposed to a violent porn video online, Lizi Patch was left to explain adult concepts to a confused child. “Faced with hideous new information my son simply didn’t know where to file it.” Click … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, Dangers, Google, Google settings, iphone settings, Parental Controls, Parents, Tweens, Youtube | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Have you Googled your Child’s Name?

Posted on 27/04/2013

Not many know that as well as teaching Literature I also dabble in teaching Year 7 Multimedia. One lesson I teach is a Digital Reputation class.  I start by ‘googling’ my own name and showing the class what is on the internet about me.  We talk about how they … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, cybersafety, Digital Citizenship, Digital Reputation, Facebook, Google, Parental Controls, Parents, Social Media, Social Networking, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Grrr….Now Facebook has Invaded the Dinner Table!

Posted on 20/04/2013

And you, like I, thought the family dinner table was sacrosanct!  Surely the dinner table is the last bastion of family togetherness and now Facebook is challenging even that! While the family sit around at dinner table chatting about their day, a teen obsessively checks her … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Safety, Facebook, Parental Controls, Parents, Phones, Social Media, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Mirror Mirror on the Wall – The Selfie and the Psychological Impact on our Teens

Posted on 14/04/2013

The urbandictionary defines a Selfie as: ‘A picture taken of yourself and uploaded to Facebook, or other social media sites. You can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy or duck face or … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber Bullying, Cyber Safety, Dangers, Facebook, Parental Controls, Parents, Teens, Tweens | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments