Too many friends?

When you're a teenager, your online status is driven - to a large extent - by the number of friends you have on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. It's yet another measure of popularity. At first glance, it seems harmless enough. But is it?

Recent research suggests that our brains evolve to know no more than 150 people, including those in your household, family and neighbouring caves or huts. 150! Most schools alone are twice the size, and we're not counting family friends, the kids in the street who go to a different school, the mates from swimming lessons, and so on.

Add to that people you befriend online, and you can almost see your brain short-circuiting as they try to sort out the Jenny from ballet and the Jenny from school and Aunt Jenny and Jenny online who goes by the handle born2bwild....

Here's the article if you'd like to see the implications of Internet socialising on this generation's puberty and adolescence years: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10562544&pnum=0.

And here's my book about online friendships going bad:

"Witch Hunts on the Internet" (http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook77234.htm). 

Judge the book by its cover

"Witch Hunts on the Internet" has ended up on Book Cover Lovers. Check it out. 

Coming up: vote for your favourite book cover....

Will Big Brother Be Watching?

Here is an article about bits of electronic data stored forever, providing a "God's eye view" of where your mobile phone has been and which sites you've surfed. Are we worried about nothing? Judge for yourself:

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/5456907/control-needed-digital-view-lives-expert/

A fabulous review of "Witch Hunts on the Internet"

Check out this review of Yvonne Walus' novella, "Witch Hunts on the Internet": http://lkhunsaker.blogspot.com/2009/03/book-review-witch-hunts-on-internet.html.

"... Witch Hunts is an eerily realistic novella that made me think I was reading an actual journal entry of a scary moment in a mother's life. When she discovers her 13 year old daughter engaged in online chats with a man claiming to be 16, she does research. With her police background, she does very thorough research, to find her suspicions were right and the 16 year old is actually 40. ..."

Buy now link: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook77234.htm

Another video about Internet safety for kids

Parents, please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJqCgr1pQ-8

Netbook users beware!

Netbook security is practically non-exixtent: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/5364202/netbooks-offer-hackers-private-data-gateway/

Rethink your Internet security...

Our "anything-goes" attitude toward sharing data and accepting applications on social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace can be exploited by cyber-criminals.

More here: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/5365658/germany-warns-catastrophic-state-web-security/