Keeping Kids Safe Online – Monitoring The Family Computer
We all know how curious and inquisitive kids can be, and as they get older this can cause parents to consider a number of ‘parental decisions’ which can sometimes be tricky to work out. Among many of those decisions, is how to introduce kids to the internet. It may not be up there with the top priorities on many parents minds, but it is important none the less. The internet now plays a ubiquitously important part in the world, and studies have shown that kids who haven’t had any experience on computers and online can fall behind at school.
The age at which a child should be introduced to the internet is subjective, and no-one can tell you the right age to do so, but on top of that, the worry of keeping kids safe online can be a concern for many parents. Luckily developers have produced tools that make this task easier, even for non-tech-heads! But informing children about the right and wrong ways to use the internet is also important, along with teaching them the simple rules that we all take for granted…
Those simple rules that we all take for granted are things like setting secure passwords, and never sharing them with anyone, never meeting a stranger you meet online (of course, dating sites are slightly different but I’m talking rules for younger kids here), being vigilant for sites that try to acquire personal information, and never giving out your card number or pin (again, this may not apply to younger children but it is something they’ll need to learn at some point.) All of this builds to teach children how to use the internet responsibly and safely.
But of course, there’s only so far that you can go when you inform kids. We all know the dangers that lurk online and teaching kids to be safe will not go far enough to stop their curiosity getting the better of them when they click on a bad link, or seeing adverts for things that are unsuitable for their young eyes. All in all, it’s simply not safe for kids to surf online unsupervised, and there are few parents that are able to watch their kids every movement at all times. Even as our kids get older and become teenagers, we know how their curiosity only grows and things like gambling, alcohol, drugs or pornography become subjects that could interest or intrigue them.
Luckily this is where those tools come in. This problem has been around for as long as the world wide web itself, but luckily for us developers have put together applications to make parents lives much easier. In fact, there are two types of software that can help parents on this subject and believe in using a combination of the two.
The first type, which is perfect for introducing younger kids to the internet is parental control software. Parental control software can be installed on the family computer and will run in the background, quietly filtering and blocking web pages depending on the content. With this type of software you can enter details like your child’s age and the sort of websites you’d like to block (gambling/alcohol/profanity etc) and when your child is surfing the internet every page will be scanned before appearing to decide whether it’s suitable or not. A great example of this type of software is Qustodio.
The second type of software, which can be used in conjunction with parental control and software, or it’s own, is computer monitoring software. Computer monitoring software can be installed on the computer and will secretly record, log and monitor everything that goes on on your computer. You’ll be able to see every website your kids have visited and everything they’ve typed, along with anything else they’ve used the computer for. Computer monitoring software is great to use when kids want a little more freedom, but you don’t quite trust them to surf completely on their own. Or similarly, if you suspect teenagers of engaging in activities that you don’t approve of but they wont admit to you.
Computer monitoring software like Gecko Monitor runs completely silently in the background, meaning your kids will never know they’re being monitored. You can open the software using a secret key combination and password (which is also how you open most parental control software) and view the reports. You can also have the reports emailed you to look through at a different location.
All of these techniques and tools can go a long way to keeping your kids safe online. If you’d like to take a look at some computer monitoring software, check out the free trial of Gecko Monitor by heading to http://www.GeckoMonitor.com
It is always a good idea to keep track of what your kids are doing on the computer. There are so many predators out there and sometimes children just don’t know who they are interacting with.
I’m already stressing about when my son will be old enough to use the computer. He’s just 3.5 now, so his exposure is very limited. As he gets older, I know that he’ll be exposed to so much more!