Research shows that our brains are changeable, over our entire lifetime. Without going into the neurological explanations, we can make the leap to the implications of this fact and safely assume that what we do, has an effect on our brains. And, in turn, what we do A LOT, can have a profound effect on our brains.

So when you compare a child that grows up with no exposure to the Internet to a child who grows up Read the rest of this entry »

More and more, human interactions are shifting from the real and personal world and over  to the virtual world. It started with shopping and the invention of e-commerce. While once we had to walk into a store and interact with sales people and other customers and cashiers, today we can buy anything online – even groceries for tonight’s dinner. Read the rest of this entry »

If the average high school student spends 9 hours per week on Facebook and 1 hour per week studying, how about finding ways to integrate quality content and activities into social networking that young people can relate to and benefit from?

That’s today’s average – 9 hours of time spent connected to technology every day. Teens and older children are spending the same amount of time online as their parents spend at work . . . and sometimes much more. For a young brain that is not fully developed, this amount of activity will undoubtedly have an impact Read the rest of this entry »

A Dr. Pepper Facebook campaign in the UK severely backfired when the Coca Cola owned brand started an edgy campaign to attract the attention of young customers.

The campaign got Facebook users to allow the advertiser to take over their Facebook status – Read the rest of this entry »

Putting morality and religious issues aside is there a real reason that the average person should make an effort to block porn from their computers?

Yes! Read the rest of this entry »

It was not long ago that parents beamed with pride when their children showed enthusiasm and interest in using the computer. There was a sense that it meant that they were bright and advanced. Manufacturers even developed special keyboards for toddlers and infants. But all that has come full circle and parents are more and more frustrated and concerned about the increasing amount of time that their children are spending at the computer. Read the rest of this entry »

Many parents are under the impression that parental control  software is software you install on a young child’s computer just to make sure no pornography inadvertently pops up. For older children or teens, there is often an assumption that installing parental controls would be an invasion of privacy or an indication that the parent does not trust the teen to be responsible.  Read the rest of this entry »

Today, the homepage of CNN boasted the results of a new study claiming that children who play video games on average of 2 hours per day suffer more than their peers who play less or not at all, from attention problems.
While we use such studies to help us understand the dangers we face in overusing technology and not being involved enough in our children’s daily lives, I can not help but to be amazed that we need such studies. I mean duh! Why would anyone think it is good that a kid sit in front of a monitor alone for a few hours EVERY day? How did we get here? Read the rest of this entry »

There is a lot of information offered online about treatment to stop gambling, advice for gamblers that want to quit, gamblers anonymous , stop gambling forums, etc. Ironically,you will find many articles that offer advice to people who want to quit gambling on actual gambling and betting websites.

Unfortunately, this is nothing more than a cynical use of Internet marketing techniques to attract relevant traffic to gambling sites. The casinos know that if someone is addicted to gambling and he lands on their website, he is more likely to gamble on their site than other visitors. Further, when someone is looking for a solution to their gambling problem, they are weak and vulnerable. They are seeking help because they are desperate, but at the same time, all it might take for them to start gambling at that moment is a trigger – like landing on a site where they can gamble.

Don’t be fooled. It’s not that the gambling sites are interested in helping problem gamblers that end up there. It’s precisely the opposite – they are looking to attract people at their most vulnerable moment.  Here is how it works:

Read the rest of this entry »

If you answer YES to any of the following questions, you may have an addiction to pornography. But basically, if a porn habit interrupts with leading a healthy, normal life, it’s a problem and it requires attention. Read the rest of this entry »

My 10 year old daughter pleaded to open her own Facebook account this week,  claiming it would be an important way to keep in touch with friends over the summer and she likes to chat and share photos with family. I have mixed feelings and decided to give it a try and keep a close eye on her usage and the content that she and other kids post. Read the rest of this entry »

Ana Luisa Rotta, Director of child protection projects at Optenet, commented: “When you consider that more than one third of the Internet’s content is pornographic, combined with the overwhelming increase in young people now curiously visiting Websites with such ease of access, it is becoming increasingly imperative that adults take responsibility for the management of home PC security.”

Rotta added, “Security of minors is a major factor for parents and guardians. There is a growing trend for online role-playing games to encourage negative behavior, by rewarding violent and brutal activities within the online games. Additionally, some of these games provide a wide number of communication channels that allow multiple forms of interaction among users, such as chat, forums, Voice over IP (VoIP) and exchange of user-generated content. It is possible for those intent on abusing these channels, to employ them to carry out highly damaging and often illegal activities including cyber-bullying and the sexual harassment of minors.”

Other forms of content found most commonly on the internet relate to online shopping (+9%), travel and tourism (+5.7%), computer science and sports (+4.2%), and leisure and entertainment (+3.6%).

We track the trends of what people are searching for in order to keep pace with problems or new issues that are cropping up online . By examining where particular terms are being searched most, we can learn a lot about a region. For example,  a search for “Koran” reveals that it is most searched in Indonesia and Morocco. While a search for “baptist church” reveals most searches are in the US, in English. This is not surprising. But we find many surprises when it comes to terms that indicate a potential problem with porn addiction or a pornography habit. A survey of terms related to porn addiction and sex related terms reveals that several Muslim countries are at the top of the list for searches performed. For a search of “sex videos”, for example,  Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey are in the top 10 countries and Arabic is the number one language.

A search on Yahoo Answers for “Porn Addiction” brings up 3000+ results. Think about what that means. “Alcohol addiction” brings a similar number of results. For someone to seek advice on Yahoo Answers, they need to be very desperate. The level of advice varies – from bored people posting silly answers to wannabe advisors dishing out advice they really are not qualified for, to the occasional professional giving good and useful advice.

But for Porn Addiction, I am not so surprised people turn to a place like Yahoo Answers — and thousands of other public forums where you can post questions anonymously. Most people who are addicted to porn or suspect they have a problem related to viewing porn, think they are alone and that it is a unique problem. Talking about it with friends or loved ones is probably not an option for most. It is too embarrassing. So for an initial search for information, many go to places like Yahoo Answers, hoping that someone just might answer their question with some valuable information they can use.

Searching online for help with such a delicate matter can be confusing. Who can you trust? What will really help? By taking time to research and reading a wide variety of articles, websites about the issue, you can learn a lot. For some people, finding a therapist who has specific experience in porn addiction may be the best way to get started on recovery. A good therapist should be able to help.

For others, they simply need some assistance to remove the constant temptation of pornography on the Internet. A porn filter can do the job and prevent their problem from turning into a full fledged addiction.

Others may find a spiritual solution more helpful. The Church and other religious groups are conducting many activities to help with porn addiction.

If you are seeking help to recover from a porn addiction, you have already taken a major step in recognizing you have a problem. Read as much as you can and you will find the help that is right for you. Learn more about the problem of Internet Addiction and how technology plays a role in the growing addiction problem in our culture.

We are  facing an epidemic of pornography on the Internet of which the repercussions are still not fully understood. And it is frightening. With the click of a mouse, anyone, at any age, at any time can view porn online. Read the rest of this entry »

Not a day goes by without talk in the media about some problem related to the Internet – from children exposed to danger, to Internet porn addiction, to financial scams, to Internet addiction. Yet most people are still unaware of what solutions are available to help them control their Internet environment. One of the most basic solutions is a web filter. A web filter is also sometimes referred to as a porn filter, parental control software, Internet filter, url blocker, Internet safety software. The list goes on. Read the rest of this entry »

Optenet PC web filter  is the perfect first line of defense against Internet dependency. The symptoms of Internet addiction are like the symptoms of other addictions, including physical and emotional dependency. Anyone who suspects there is a problem with too much time spent online, will benefit from installing the web filter to manage an online schedule and to control the web content that can be viewed. Too much time using Facebook, shopping online, gambling, looking at porn or just spending a ridculous number of hours doing anything online effects employee productivity, family relationships and social life. There are even physical symptoms such as weight gain, muscle and joint pain and eye fatigue.