Digital Citizenship

While shopping online has become a norm for many people, it is important to remember the risks that come with it. You are probably careful about keeping your passwords and personal information safe from hackers, but don’t forget about those who might take the opportunity to physically steal from you.  “Porch Pirates” is a new term that has been coined for those thieves who steal packages from your porch, mailbox or stoop. According to a recent report, at least 23 million Americans have had packages stolen, but there are ways to protect yourself. A new device called a Package Guard will send an alert to your phone when a package has been delivered and can be set up to sound an alarm if the package is removed before you authorize it to be. Amazon Locker is another option for deliveries from Amazon.com. Instead of being delivered to your house or apartment, the packages arrive at a nearby Amazon Locker location, where they are placed in a secure compartment. An e-mail is sent soon as the package arrives at the locker and you have three full days to pick it up. Then, you simply enter your special unlock code on the Amazon Locker touchscreen and your compartment opens, allowing you to retreive your delivery.

Stengthening passwords is a recurring theme in this blog and in the mainstream technology press. The problem with regularly changing your passwords to keep them strong is that it makes them hard to remember. Recently, several new and updated password storage apps have come out – free or otherwise inexpensive – with great features like updating passwords, built-in browsers, and the ability to store work and personal passwords separately. Ready to take the plunge or update what you are already using? Take a look at After You Strengthen Your Passwords, Here’s How to Store Them.

When it is time to get a new phone, do you consider giving your old phone away, donating, or selling it? You will want to make sure to wipe it clean of all personal data to protect yourself from fraud, but did you know that a simple “factory reset” doesn’t actually overwrite the data? To make sure you delete all traces of personal data, take a look at the step-by-step explanation offered in How to properly wipe your smartphone’s data in a recent USA Today story.

Ever wish you could unsend a text? unSend.it may be the solution! The app allows you to unsend, edit, and delete messages that have been sent, even if they were already opened by the recipient. The messages are completely encrypted, the recipients don’t need the app to receive your text, and you can download it for free.

Millennials are fact-checking the heck out of this election. According to SurveyMonkey, 55% of 18-24-year-olds and 47% of 25-34-year-olds visited a fact-checking site before or after—or before AND after—the first presidential debate. That’s far more than older generations: 70% of 55-64-year-olds and 75% of 65 and over did not look into the claims of candidates at all. Young voters have grown up in what some social scientists call the Age of Not Believing, with growing skepticism every day about the content with which they are presented. This skepticism has clearly impacted their trust in the candidates. 

Facebook users will be able to search locally for items for sale with the new Marketplace "shop" icon on Facebook's app. This new feature puts Facebook up against eBay and Craigslist with local listings that include large images and the user option of adding filters for price, location and category.

How many hours of your life have you wasted checking work email? Check out this calculator offered by The Washington Post. A new report from Adobe says that, on average, white-collar workers in the US spend 4.1 hours checking their work email each day. That’s 20.5 hours each week, more than 1,000 hours each year, and more than 47,000 hours over a career.

While kids are texting and chatting using various apps, most adults are still emailing. In fact, if you are in the business world, you may be expected to check your emails constantly. Recent studies show that not only do office workers spend 33% of their workday reading and writing email, but science now says there is a clear link between spending time on email and stress.

What can we do to reduce the amount of our valuable time spent checking emails? Jocelyn K Glei, an advocate of mindful productivity and the author of “Unsubscribe” says we first need to admit that email is an addictive game. She writes, “Productivity is no longer about keeping up, or keeping busy, or having it all. It’s about being deliberate and being focused. It’s about spending more time deciding and less time doing. It’s about getting really clear on what matters to you and letting the rest go. With email—as with everything else in life—you must say “no” to some opportunities, in order to say “yes” to your priorities.” Her book is full of suggestions on how to do just that.

Looking to refresh your kid’s app collection with some new learning apps? Check out 25 Terrific Back to School Apps for Kids on the TechwithKids site for a list sorted by age and content area. Included are creativity apps like Inventioneers, where kids tinker with everyday objects to create Rube Goldberg-like machines, and an introductory coding app called the Foos, featuring a set of clever characters who help kids learn to solve problems.

The Pew Research Center recently embarked on a mission to survey the digital readiness of the American population. They defined digital readiness as: 1) the digital skills people have for using and sharing content on the internet, 2) the trust people have that they will be able to determine the validity of information online and safeguard personal information, and 3) the degree to which people use digital tools in the course of carrying out online tasks. The results of the survey are eye opening and can provide insight onto how schools should and will be using digital technologies in the near and distant future.