Having to deal with accounts is inevitable. Back in the day for computers and devices this used to be local accounts that were created. 

Nowadays everywhere you go they want to know about you. I visited my friend a few months back and wanted to try out his new game system. It took me some time to setup the online account and add my e-mail. 

On tablet devices, you could be tempted to use your same account for the rest of the family, but that is not a great idea especially if you are having your kids use your personalized device. Luckily many have a family account that can be created and controlled. 

The first online computer account I can remember using is America Online (AOL). Our first for our kid’s was actually an e-mail account that we used to send them letters from major moments in their lives that they can read when they grow up. Another account we created was an account for the game Minecraft so they could save their worlds (Microsoft purchased them years ago). 

Years ago I was very hesitant of saving information anywhere besides locally, but I’ve seen too many lose old files after a system crash, and no backups to go back to. 

Luckily our family has Office 365 that comes with 1 TB (yes terabyte) for up to 6 people. That lets us save all our photos and videos and access it from anywhere, but also allows us to use the Microsoft Office applications as well. The service as of 2019 costs us $99.99 yearly, but it is something we find value in. If you’d like to to learn more and purchase, you can find it by clicking the banner below:

You can setup your family accounts at https://account.microsoft.com/family/about  

Once they have their accounts they can login using those as long as the device is connected to the Internet. 

We also have other devices such as tablets and phones from Apple and Google. The setup is similar, and they can request approval to install applications so you can track what they are doing on the devices. 

Definitely think ahead on the account to create, so never using something easy to guess such as their name or birthday in the account or password. 

Keep in mind that for kids under 13 in the US rules are governed by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act COPPA  

So some online accounts like saving shortcuts & passwords in FireFox they’ll have to wait until they are older. 

Growing up in the 80’s only the lucky few had a home computer or even knew what the Internet was. The first time I connected our home computer was just over 20 years ago. Now smartphones, tablet computers, and a multitude of devices are all over. 

So how did I find out about things? Well when my parents couldn’t give me a solid answer on something, they had me start by looking the subject up in an encyclopedia, or see what books or other materials are available. We visited our county library regularly. We bought an encyclopedia set from them during one of their sales, and from that a world of knowledge opened up for me. 

Nowadays we have the Internet. Open a search engine and see what you can find. But how do you know what you are looking at will be of value versus harm? The Internet can be an amazing but also scary place. In future posts we’ll explore this further, but I’m starting with the basics first. 

Luckily most of us have access to an impressive amount of online resources available from anywhere through – yes, the library. 

We’ll get there by opening a web browser. We chose FireFox since it is one that can work on practically all devices and doesn’t track your online activity like other popular services out there. We opened the FireFox app and used a search engine that doesn’t track you – DuckDuckGo.com. 

Our family lives in Broward County, FL so we searched for “Broward County Library.” 

It is easy to become overwhelmed given all of the services a modern library offers nowadays. In our case we want to see what “Online Resources” are available to us, so luckily the site has an icon from their main page. Their list is massive, and in our case we want to look under the “Education” section. Scroll down and you’ll eventually see “Scholastic GO.”

You’ll need a Broward library card to access some of the content such as this, so make sure you sign up either online or in-person to your appropriate library. 

On Scholastic GO we searched for “dinosaur” and found an age-relevant link for level 1 (grade 5 and under). We saved a shortcut to the Library’s Online Resources as well as Scholastic GO in FireFox so we can visit those sites regularly.

As we access services like the library we’ll create accounts along the way. It is helpful to manage all these accounts, so check in next week for more on that. In the meantime feel free to discuss your favorite services from your library and other places in our Facebook group. 

Computers and the Internet have changed everything, enabling new services and business opportunities. 

As I grew up in the US, it wasn’t hard to think of the many things that America is number one in! That is not always a good thing though. We waste a lot of time watching TV or going online without a clear purpose or direction. How can we possibly change this mess? 

We can educate ourselves and then share what we learn with others. I’ll focus on doing this regularly as my kids grow into this new world. I also know that family, friends, and everyone can benefit from this.

Our game plan is to spend time once a week starting with the basics with using technology and build from there. The topics we’ll cover may not come up much in a formal educational setting, but we have the resources to make it happen. 

Ready? Let’s begin.