Those of you who, like me, have older children know what a challenge it is to find them worthwhile safe (in my mind) and enjoyable (in their mind) activities online. Last December, I had the opportunity to review a social networking site for kids called Yoursphere.com. KitKat (13) and Necco (almost 11) were thrilled to be my testers. They LOVE Yoursphere, and I honestly feel so much better about Yoursphere than I do about having my kids on Facebook…..I’m just not quite ready for that. When I was contacted by Mom Central to be one of the Yoursphere Test Drive Moms, I agreed wholeheartedly, because we already know and love the site.
What is Yoursphere?
www.Yoursphere.com is the social network for kids and teens that puts safety first and provides a positive and age appropriate alternative to Facebook, Myspace, and other sites created by adults for adults. Yoursphere was founded by Mary Kay, a mom of 5 (I like her already!) who was concerned about her children’s safety on the internet. Here’s what Mary Kay said about the “birth” of Yoursphere:
Yoursphere was started because of my daugher (now 16) and what I went through with her when she was 12. I was in the media business and had created web sites for companies like HP, Microsoft, Intel and more. She persisted in wanting to be in social networks “where all her friends” were despite the fact that my husband and I had said “no.” I was admittedly originally driven by the fact that sex offenders plague social networks and have access to children but later found out that was just the tip of the iceberg . So after a year of a lot of “drama,” I decided I needed to figure out what the draw was to have a profile. (At that time I wasn’t blogging, nor active on MySpace, FB and of course this was pre-Twitter, so I had no idea how fun it could be.)
Suffice to say that after signing myself up for over 11 different networks all drawing in large groups of kids, I realized that none of the website operators cared about the safety and well being of our children. While our children want to join social networks to primarily be with their friends these networks were created by, and intended for, adults. As a result, the content, the culture and the people that our children are exposed to, and comes their way, was deeply concerning to me. I didn’t find a community that leveraged all the wonderful benefits of the Internet and social media: the connectivity, the creativity, the fun. I didn’t find a single community that focused on supporting the positive, age-appropriate interests of our kids. Sadly, none of them did anything to protect my daughter’s privacy or made her online safety a priority.
So I decided I needed to do something to change things for her and the rest of our kids. I knew there were parents out there who wanted what I wanted for my children.
Yoursphere offers:
- • Identity verification, predator check, and requires verifiable parental consent
• Limits participation to kids and teens through age 18. (Kids can be members until they turn 19.)
• All content is created by kids and teens for kids and teens. No worries about adult content.
• There are no ads on Yoursphere. - • The site is free to join and use.
If this sounds like a good fit for your family, I’ve got a referral code just for my readers: YSMC-0027
Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in the Yoursphere Test Drive program by Mom Central on behalf of Yoursphere. I received a free lifetime Gold membership on Yoursphere.com, Yoursphere t-shirts, and a $50 American Express gift card to facilitate my review.
© 2010, Food Fun Family. All rights reserved.
The bottom line is that if parents REALLY want to keep their kids safe online, they need to know what said kids are doing on the computer, and what is happening in their online lives. Blocks and filters are easy to get around, and talking alone will get you nowhere… (if you think your kids are going to tell you, honestly, everything they are doing online – you are a fool). Education is a great thing, and very necessary, but how can you consider yourself educated if you don’t know the simplest information – like what your kids are really doing. If you have monitoring software, like our PC Pandora (https://www.pcpandora.com), you will know everything they do and will be able to talk to them about it. If you aren’t monitoring and don’t know what they are really doing, how can you be sure they are safe? It’s not an issue of privacy (I have no idea where and when kids were granted endless privacy because they exist – in my day privacy was earned through trust and an established good behavior record), nor is it an issue of trust – it’s called being a 21st century parent. If you don’t know what your kids are doing online, you aren’t doing your job as a parent. If you aren’t monitoring what your kids do online and watch them, someone else will…
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I have an almost 15 year old who is a fb user. I would have to say 90% of her friends are on the site, and it is definitely her social network. We’ve tried to be very clear about safety, not collecting friends, and it is understood we can look at any page she has up on the screen which is in a very public area of the house. It’s not foolproof, but I will definitely check out this site. Thanks
Dana
Oh so scary what our kids can get into or who is just waiting for our kids to run into them. It is so tough!!
Hey, left you an award on my blog. Pass it on or not, either way, but I wanted you and my readers to know that you have a great blog here!!
Thanks for the info. This has always been a concern of mine since we got computers. My kids are 8 and 10. Thanks- checking it out.
alicia
.-= alicia´s last blog ..Friday Flip Offs! =-.
This sounds like a terrific site. So many parents really don’t pay enough attention to where their kids browse and what their kids are doing on the internet and it’s always pretty discouraging to me to see young kids walking around with laptops without any supervision at all on what they’re doing on those computers.
.-= Gilliauna´s last blog ..Culture and Heritage within Art =-.
That sounds like a great place for kids, way better and safer than Facebook. It’s shocking to see the numbers of children here in Indonesia that have facebook accounts. A while ago there was a case of a missing girl, 12 years old who supposedly ‘met’ a guy on facebook and went to meet him somewhere, never make it home. It’s such a heartbreaking story. Hopefully this new website will blossom and get more popular and more parents are aware of the danger of having their young ones on social networking places.
I let my children on line but not to social online places as of now..but my 10,9 do like to play games. Happy SITS saturday.
Great site! i’ve got four kids, 14 – 7 and the on-line thing is such a slippery slope!
Happy SITS Saturday!
Alyson
My oldest is 9 (almost 10) and I don’t let him use the computer. Sometimes we use it together for educational purposes/school, but I’m not ready for him to get into social networking. His 9 yo cousin is on FB, mostly to play games, but I think it’s ridiculous. I already have to limit his Wii playing time, or he’d play 24/7. For now, his social networking will consist of him going outside and playing with is friends. ;)
Happy SITS Saturday Sharefest! Have great weekend!