Contact: Kent A. Miles, 678-838-8523
BUFORD, Ga., Oct. 22, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- A Florida teenager endures sustained online harassment from her middle school peers for nearly a year. The details are riveting and scary for any parent whose child has a Smart Phone. These teens post and text hostile and horrific messages on social media to torment the teenager until, sadly, she takes her own life. She was a month shy of her 13th birthday.
This tragic story, which is generating national interest with the recent arrest of two of the teen's alleged tormenters, is not unique. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls cyberbullying "the most common online risk for all teens." The rapid and unchecked growth of the Internet, and the potential of immature youths to use social media as a forum for harassment, makes cyberbullying a serious public concern. Parents are more challenged in finding ways to effectively safeguard their children from online dangers and inappropriate use, including sending and receiving nude photos, online gambling, or online pornography; all easily accessible through these handheld devices.
The latest release of a service from a company called Legacy Technology Group and its founder, Damon Davis, are giving parents a tool to counter the online threats and temptations their children face each day, such as online harassment by peers, "sexting" incidents involving the exchange of graphic content, or inappropriate personal contact. Davis' creation, Smart Shepherd, is a powerful new software downloaded as easy as an App, allowing parents to remotely monitor and control their children's online activity. Smart Shepherd has quickly become a trusted level of security for youth nationwide.
"These phones aren't just for talking anymore. Our children's lives, relationships, influences and pressures are being played out on these little smart devices and the exposures and risks and dangers that come with them mean, as a Parent, our phones must be Smarter," says Davis from his office in a northern suburb of Atlanta, where statistics report over 58% of teenagers carry a Smart Phone. Davis explains that Smart Shepherd allows a parent to monitor all real-time phone activity on their child's phone from their own smart phone, including incoming and outgoing calls, text messages, emails, social media activity, pictures and videos viewed, and all Internet activity. Smart Shepherd also provides a Panic Button, a unique feature installed on the child's phone that automatically sends a text notifying the parents of an emergency situation. The feature also provides a map to the child's location while simultaneously taking photos of the area and uploading them to the parent's portal.
"We won't speculate if the use of Smart Shepherd would have prevented the tragedy in Florida, but the bullying was happening on Facebook and through texts, and with Smart Shepherd, the parents would have known about it," Davis insists.
Smart Shepherd appears to offer affordable and robust protection, security and vigilance for their children engaged online and give a parent real-time access to choose to know if bullying or suicidal thoughts or plans might be taking place.
Visit www.smartshepherd.com for more information about this unique mobile app. To connect with the community, visit www.facebook.com/smartshepherd on Facebook or twitter.com/SmartShepherd on Twitter.
