In the network culture, trust is fast becoming a “currency” as the sting of harassment, fraud and deception impact lives in profound ways. The typical headlines are cyberbullying and pedophile seduction of children.

And then there are bad actors after your money, as illustrated by the FBI news yesterday about Operation Broken Trust.

The FBI Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force announced the largest investment fraud sweep in the United States concluded with 231 cases involving …

Recent statistics released by the Center for Disease Control bring encouraging news that there has been a decline in the fatality rate of teens aged 17-18 in automobile accidents from 2004-2008.

This report also indicates that the decline in teen fatalities is more than likely a factor of economic pressure to conserve spending, and so teens are not driving as much and/or are delaying obtaining their driver’s licenses.

Other reasons credited for the decline in …

The children of the Web are conditioned to ignore adults as credible sources of information and at the very best the voices of parents become “noise” to children.  Taking charge of family life in this network culture requires that the …

On Tuesday evening, October 26 I attended a special forum held by the Hip Hop Congress of Auburn, California. Hip Hop in Auburn? Who knew?

I met Chris Owens, known as ODapt, at a community forum hosted by the Hip Hop Congress of Auburn. He shared the lyrics of one of his songs called “Lessons”. These lyrics (below) reflect a profound understanding of the responsibilities of freedom and the realization that self-discipline is where the individual finds liberty – not by relying only on the hand outs from others.

Last week I met with Nikki Medoro, KFBK journalist and cyber-mom who just launched a parenting blog called: Mama on the Mic.

Medoro is a very dynamic, positive and tech savvy mom who experienced the Internet and mobile phones during her teen years.  Her daughter is 18 months old and she also has questions about raising children in the networked world. Who will influence them more? Parents or other forces?

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Marie Hall, Executive Director of BeMoneySmartUSA wants to instill in youth the wisdom and knowledge required to build wealth to make their financial future secure. Ultimately Hall’s aim is to “Sucker-proof” children by instructing them to be money wise, and to think for themselves about what is a good return, not what some big institution tells them.

Dr. Debra Moore is the Clinical Director for Fall Counseling Associates in Carmichael, California. She has observed alarming trends in her business over the last generation. Moore observes that kids today in general are more stressed as we are multi-tasking with demanding schedules and intense cyber communications of the Internet and mobile phone. “They are over scheduled, over stimulated and constantly multi-tasking.” And parents are key.

Dr. Debra Moore is the Clinical Director for Fall Counseling Associates in Carmichael, California. She has observed alarming trends in her business over the last generation.

We are all familiar with the tragic headlines of youth such as Phoebe Prince, a high school student in South Hadley, MA who took her life rather than face the bullying that she experienced. And more recently we heard of Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers