Logged On and Tuned Out

by Vicki Courtney

Overview

When CNN and FOX News asked Vicki Courtney to discuss child safety and the Internet on-air last summer, the best-selling author who is popular among both teenagers and parents knew this urgent issue had to become the core topic of her next book.

For sure, gone are the days when kids were safe just as long as they were at home and under your nose. Today’s children can access the world from a growing number of portable gadgets, and depending on what they do with this ability, could potentially invite a world of danger into their lives.

Logged On and Tuned Out is a timely wake-up call to low-tech (tuned out) parents whose high-tech (logged on) kids use modern computer and cell phone technology like second nature. In simple language, moms and dads overwhelmed by today’s digital world will learn the imperative basics and checkpoints of Instant Messaging, text messaging, social networking Web sites (MySpace, Facebook), chat rooms, and photo and video uploading. The book even has its own related Web site where parents can download online safety contracts, get updated information about safety filters, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805456967
Publisher:	B&H Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	616 KB

About the Author

Vicki Courtney is a speaker and the best-selling author of many books and Bible studies. Among her popular writings are the ECPA Christian Book Award winners TeenVirtue and TeenVirtue Confidential. Vicki and her husband have three grown children, a son-in-love, a daughter-in-love, and a grandchild. They live in Austin, Texas where they are blessed to have all of their children living nearby. More information can be found at VickiCourtney.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     V
Introduction     1
A Call for Parents to Log On and Tune In     7
Instant Messaging: The Party Never Ends     35
Cell Phones: The Average Teen's Lifeline     49
Social Networking Sites: The Virtual Malt Shop     65
Pictures and Videos: Smile, You're on the World Wide Web!     107
Caution-Danger Ahead! Avoiding the Pitfalls of a Digital World     133
Talking Points, Rules, and Safety Contracts     163
Notes     193

Editorial Reviews

Courtney is the founder of Virtuous Reality Ministries and author of Teenvirtue, Your Girl: Raising a Godly Daughter in an Ungodly World, and other guides for the harassed and desperate parents of adolescent girls. Her new book addresses more explicitly the stances parents ought to take regarding the Internet, cell phones, social-networking sites, chat rooms, photo- and video-uploads, and text-message use among their teen children. Whether Courtney's depiction of the digitized world will alarm or comfort parents is open to question; her counsel is not unreasonable and is certainly "Godly" ("'Would what I am typing bring honor and glory to God? Would it make him smile?' "). Many Christian parents will see Courtney's run around the tech-savvy bases as a true Godsend. For most collections.

—Graham Christian

Library Journal