Toni Birdsong
Author, McAfee Consumer
Toni Birdsong began her career as a reporter in Los Angeles and later became a writer for Walt Disney Imagineering. Her passion for digital safety started 10 years ago as a way to gain the survival skills she needed to parent her own connected teenagers. Her goal with each post is to give busy parents the insight they need raise wiser, more compassionate digital kids. When she’s not writing (her first love), you can find Toni hiking, watching TikTok, or trying not to break an important body part at CrossFit.
Articles by Author
Family Safety
Study: Fortnite Game Becoming the Preferred Social Network for Kids
Fortnite is the number video game teens are playing and audiences cite its social elements as the primary motivators for...Jun 08, 2019 | 3 MIN READ
Privacy & Identity Protection
Oversharing: Are You Ignoring Your Child’s Privacy When You Post Online?
Sadly, parents have become some of the biggest violators of their children’s privacy. Here are tips on how to put your...Jun 03, 2019 | 4 MIN READ
Family Safety
Are Your Kids Part of the TikTok App Craze? Here’s What Parents Need to Know
The new app TikTok is all the rage with kids but is it safe? Here's the upside and the downside...May 25, 2019 | 5 MIN READ
Family Safety
Breaches and Bugs: How Secure are Your Family’s Favorite Apps?
Bugs and breaches are part of our digital culture but we don’t have to resign ourselves to being targets. By...May 18, 2019 | 4 MIN READ
Family Safety
Saving Summer: 5 Strategies to Help Reign In Family Screen Time Over Break
No matter your child’s age, teaching kids to use technology in a healthy way and pick up skills and habits...May 11, 2019 | 6 MIN READ
Family Safety
What Would Yoda Do? 5 Tips to Raising a Mindful Digital Jedi
The Jedi way is an excellent premise for raising digital kids in this often-precarious galaxy of hyper-connectivity called the internet....May 04, 2019 | 5 MIN READ
Family Safety
Digital Parenting: ‘Eat Your Veggies, Brush Your Teeth, Strengthen Your Passwords’
Do our kids understand why strong passwords are important and why it needs to become a habit much like personal...Apr 27, 2019 | 6 MIN READ
Family Safety
The Mute Button: How to Use Your Most Underrated Social Superpower
The mute button could be your family’s most underrated superpower when it comes to enjoying life online. Here are some...Apr 20, 2019 | 6 MIN READ
Family Safety
Social Underground: Kids Using Google Docs as New Digital Hangout
Is Google Docs the new online hangout for teens? Because teachers use the application in the classroom, kids are using...Apr 13, 2019 | 6 MIN READ
Family Safety
Teen Texting Slang (and Emojis) Parents Should Know
While teen texting slang is perfectly understood peer-to-peer, it has parents googling like crazy to decipher it. Here's a list...Apr 06, 2019 | 6 MIN READ
Family Safety
10 Ways to Help Your Family Break Bad Tech Habits
It's sad but true: Parents are as distracted as kids when it comes to reliance on devices. So who is...Mar 30, 2019 | 8 MIN READ
Family Safety
Hidden & Fake Apps: How Hackers Could Be Targeting Your Connected Home
Hackers access consumer data in unthinkable ways. Learn more about how hidden and fake apps are giving cybercriminals an open...Mar 23, 2019 | 6 MIN READ