This weekend my Parenting antennas went up along with my IT Security flags. Walking past our Family PC, I noticed my 10-year-old son interacting on what I thought was Facebook. As I walked closer I realized it was not Facebook but a site designed to look similar. This social network is called Edomo and it’s built around schools and education.
The android app has these features:
Edmodo for the Android makes it easy for teachers and students to stay connected and share information. Use your Android phone to send notes, post replies, and check messages and upcoming events while away from the classroom.
Sounds safe enough, right? Well what worried me was that the site was full of posts NOT regarding homework or school assignments. This worried me so much that I sent them an Email:
On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 7:36 PM, xxxxxx wrote:
> Hello, this is Anthony from areyouanandroid.com. When my son
> mentioned he was on a site from school I didn’t have a problem with that
> because I was expecting a letter from school if it involved more than simple
> educational assignments. After noticing Edmodo’s facebookish gui and the
> fact that students were leaving random non school related posts, I became
> alarmed.
>
> On the right hand side of the site I do see a code for me to use as a
> parent, however after signing in as a teacher(where is the parent option?)
> The given code does not work in the android app. Please advise because at
> this point I am not happy with you or my son’s absent minded and nieve(?)
> School.
As you could tell, I was mad and spelled naïve wrong. However my point was made and they promptly returned my email with some very helpful points. Look for these points in part two of this post. In the meantime, do you think I was too paranoid? Should ten-year olds interact on social networks?
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