News stories are reporting what we all expected. With all the smartphones and tablet computers sold over the holidays, consumers are downloading apps like crazy. This is true of people of all ages, as there’s now an app for almost everything.

This does, however, raise a host of issues for parents. It’s alright for mom to go on Facebook and Twitter or play free bingo. For example, there are free apps out there so that anyone can text phone numbers. So think about young kids. Many parents don’t want to purchase a phone, let alone a smartphone, for them until they reach a certain age.

But now with something like an iPod Touch, kids have access to so many things. They can use an app to start texting. Just imagine how many problems that can cause. They can open a Facebook account. They can play all sorts of games. They can access web sites.

Monitoring Internet access is going to get exponentially more difficult, so it’s imperative for parent to educate themselves. It’s not enough now to just have the family computer in the kitchen where parents can see it. With tablets and iPods kids can use them anywhere.

So if you haven’t done so already, go check on what your kids are doing with those new devices.