Fact: 43% of teens have texted while driving in the past three months. Fact: One of the main reasons parents call their kids is to check up on their location. Fact: 64% of teens text during class.   These days, kids are getting cellphones as young as 8-years old. If you’ve been thinking aboutRead More…

Since we’re a software company, many of us here at Safely have a bit of a nerdy side. We recently looked through some of the data we’ve collected from Safely Family Locator to figure out how parents use it to locate their kids. I thought I’d share a few of the interesting trends we’ve discovered. ParentsRead More…

A few days ago Facebook introduced a new support dashboard for reporting and tracking incidences of cyberbullying. While it’s good to see Facebook making strides towards curbing cyberbullying in their community, all the dashboard does is help parents and kids track abuse reports. It doesn’t add any extra reporting features or new methods of deterringRead More…

With the rising cost of education and a total national student debt of over $1 trillion dollars it’s not hard to see how many high school students may be looking for a low-cost alternative to a traditional college education. Recently a slew of new technology companies have cropped up to tackle that problem through providingRead More…

A couple of years ago Pew ran an extensive study on how teens use their cellphones. If you want to see a quick breakdown of what they found, check out this infographic we made about it. One interesting thing the survey found was that teens who talk on the phone a lot tend to haveRead More…

Here at Safely we’ve been working to help families keep their kids safe in the digital world for years. As part of our dedication to family safety, we’re constantly researching how technology affects families. We recently pulled some numbers from Safely Phone Controls to see how teens use their cellphones and how parents are copingRead More…

A Blast from the Past Remember WebTV and their hokey advertising from the 90s? If you don’t, check out the commercial below. That guy is really excited to see the internet on his television. Unfortunately, real customers weren’t quite as enthusiastic. Due to slow internet and lack of interesting features, WebTV never really took off.Read More…

Ten years ago, the idea of sharing photos online was strange. Today things are very different. In 2010, Consumer Reports found that 63% of people share photos of themselves on Facebook, and the numbers have only been on the rise since then. As social norms about sharing photos online have evolved, something else has beenRead More…

Popular wisdom says today’s teens don’t care about their privacy. In reality, that isn’t true. Pew reports that 55% of teens stopped themselves from posting something online because they knew it could come back to bite them later. And, over 80% of teens use privacy settings to control who can see their Facebook page. Still,Read More…

“Facebook spies on phone users’ text messages, report says” Or at least that’s what a Foxnews.com article said earlier this week. The article alleges that Facebook’s mobile app is secretly recording the contents of all your text messages. Facebook denies the charges. But still, it begs the question, are companies collecting too much data onRead More…

We calculated just how protective American parents are by looking at how often our users locate their kids’ cellphones with Family Locator. We found that parents in some cities are more protective than others. Does your home town rank in the top 15?

Safely’s Family Locator (sold as AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere) lets parents locate their kids’ mobile phones. You can also create “Schedule Checks,” which automatically check if your kids have arrived on time at locations you save like Home, School or Work. We looked at the places where people located their kidsRead More…

Much of the recent media buzz around cellphones has focused on the time teens spend texting or new apps to download for your smartphone. What you don’t hear about as often is how cellphones are changing the third world. As of March last year, there were over 500 million active cellphones in Africa. That’s upRead More…

For parents with high school seniors, the start of the new year meant more than resolutions and champagne. The 2011 college application season is now over. Since the common application was introduced, the number of college applications submitted every year has exploded. Over a quarter of students now submit applications to 7 or more differentRead More…

Wow, I can hardly believe another year flew by. But yes, it really is 2012. Did 2011 go by as quickly for you as it did for me? The new year means New Year’s resolutions—I know I’ve got quite a few. What are your 2012 New Year’s resolutions? We invite you to visit Safely onRead More…

Smart phones are hot this holiday season—the new Android and iPhone models are flying off shelves. Many parents are buying children their first cellphone as young as 8-years-old. Others getting the new iPad competitor designed for babies. Did you buy your kids any tech this holiday season? Do you think it’s right to buy kidsRead More…

For many of us the holiday season means driving to relatives’ to enjoy presents and good cheer. Here are a few tips for keeping your family safe as your travel this holiday season. Avoid Travelling on Christmas and New Years Fatal accidents due to drunk driving increase by around 12% on Christmas and New YearsRead More…

Tuesday, the government’s top road safety experts recommended a complete ban on cellphone use while driving. So, should we ban drivers from using their phones? If you look at the facts, the answer is clearly yes. Cellphones cause 1.3 million crashes each year You didn’t read that wrong—according to the National Safety Council, 1.3 millionRead More…

We all know that Facebook has become a major force in our kids’ lives. According to a Pew Survey 3 out of 4 teens use social networks. While Facebooking is a good way for kids to connect with friends, as parents, it’s sometimes worrying to let our kids go on Facebook alone. Here are aRead More…

Around 2008, a website caused quite a bit of controversy on American college campuses. Students from elite schools were posting surprisingly nasty remarks about each other Juicy Campus, an anonymous message board for student gossip. Matt Ivester, the site’s creator, was surprised at how anonymity could make people treat each other so terribly. In hisRead More…

Recently there has been a lot of noise about kids texting in school. As Max mentioned, almost two-thirds of teens text in class. And, studies have found that 75% of kids don’t think it’s wrong. As you might imagine, many teachers are fed up with kids texting while they’re supposed to be learning. Studies haveRead More…

Today we introduced the newest offering in our suite of mobile and location-based security services, Safely Phone Controls. We are first launching the service with our partner, Sprint (NYSE: S), under the name “Mobile Controls”. Safely Phone Controls is the most innovative of our Mobile Security services. The service is unparalleled in the market andRead More…

Safely is one of California State PTA’s newest sponsors and to celebrate we’re offering California State PTA members Safely Social Monitor, for FREE. Safely Social Monitor helps parents to monitor their children’s activity on Facebook. Safely Social Monitor includes easy-to-use features like: Safely Scorecard: The Safely Scorecard is an easy-to-read letter grade that lets youRead More…

I know finding kid-appropriate apps can be hard. I thought I’d share my top 5 picks. Here they are: Best picture book: PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit is an adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s classic children’s tale. The app is a modern “pop-up book,” that has a bunch ofRead More…

If you have a pre-teen they’ve probably pestered you about getting them a cellphone. While it may seem crazy to give your kid a phone before they’re in high school, these day most kids gets their first phone at age 11. Is my child old enough to get a phone? Does my child need aRead More…

A couple weeks ago we posted an infographic that revealed some hard numbers about how much teens text. Here’s a hint: it’s a lot. The average teens sends 1500 text messages a month. That’s 1 text every 20 minutes. While texting is a great way for teens to communicate, it poses a number of challengesRead More…

If you have teenaged kids, you know how “cool” smartphones have become. Are you buying a new smartphone this holiday season? At Safely, we’ve tested our products on almost every phone that’s been made. Here are our top picks for smartphones to buy your kids this holiday season. 1. The iPhone 4S: A Personal AssistantRead More…

Earlier this week, Safely’s @Max posted a Safely Spotlight infographic on how teens use their mobile phones. Statistics are all good and well, but they don’t tell the full story. A study from Pew Research asked teens how they feel about cell phones. This is what they had to say. “I never consider myself aRead More…

Ever wonder what your kids are doing on their phones all day? Check out the newest Safely Spotlight, A Day in the Life of a Mobile Teen. How do your teens text? Join the conversation on Twitter with @Safely.

Researchers at Harvard find many parents lie about their kid’s age to help them get on Facebook. Did you know kids under 13 aren’t allow to sign up for Facebook? Facebook doesn’t let kids under age 13 sign up because of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act or COPPA. COPPA sets special rules for howRead More…