Protect Children on the Internet by Parental Control

 

Protect Children on the Internet by Parental Control

 

During the quarantine for the corona virus, it is normal that as mothers and fathers we are more permissive with our children. But, for this same reason, it is when you have to be more responsible and know how to protect children on the Internet using Parental Control Software.

Today children access the Internet at a very young age. Hence, it is logical that fear is spreading among parents when it comes to controlling that their children are not in danger online.

The risks that minors can face on the Internet are varied. For this reason, parents must be committed to teaching their children to sail safely. In this sense, it is good to be able to control the little ones without them being aware, so that they have that freedom of decision. And, at the point that we see that the content they visit is inappropriate, we can act and explain the reasons why they cannot access it. If you continue reading you will be able to access a series of apps that will help you for this purpose.

Keeping children safe on the Internet

Cyberbullying, gambling, micropayments, violence or pornography is just the tip of the iceberg. Children with Internet access are easy targets, and it is the duty of all of us to know how to keep children safe on the Internet.

In addition to the aforementioned, we must not ignore another factor that affects the equation. We talk about the children and screens, about the recommendation of the time of use and exposure . In this article that we have linked to, we describe, by age range, the recommendations that the World Health Organization gives us regarding the use of children's screens.

The effects and risks of screens on children are just as important to control as those of their access to the Internet. It is something that is there and that we must bear in mind when educating our children.

Tips to protect children on the Internet

There are several tips that we want to give you to protect the Internet from children. Nor do we want to raise the alarm since, in the same way that there are risks on the Internet, there are also many benefits. The point is to use common sense. Likewise, some guidelines and rules must also be followed. Without forgetting, of course, that an adult should review the child's use of the Internet.

Next we want to give you a series of tips that will help you protect your child from the risks of the Internet. We hope you find them useful:

Monitor your child's mobile and laptop

As adults, we must supervise our children's access to the Internet through their mobile, tablet or laptop. No one denies that sometimes it is more comfortable for them to lock themselves in their room. But if we let that happen as a general rule, we will be creating a gap that is difficult to break. And if we do not know the use they give to the mobile, we can hardly know if they give it a good or bad use.

We leave you an article that we wrote on the blog where you can discover 8 mobile applications to monitor your child's mobile.

Configure filters on the Internet

Many of the web pages are full of links and ads camouflaged in their content that lead to other pages that you probably do not want your children to see. One of the solutions you can take is to configure filters on the Internet to avoid this situation.

A content filter is also known as PARENTAL CONTROL. It is an application that helps you choose what content can and cannot be displayed from your computer. There are all kinds of parental control applications, from simple apps to more complex ones.

Review your child's browsing history

Checking your child's browsing history is a very simple action you can take. This way you will know what content you are accessing and how many times. Knowing your browsing history allows you to have an informed conversation.

It's not about having tests in case your child does something wrong. It is about informing you and teaching you how to use the world as exciting as it is full of risks, the Internet.

Update you with new technologies

Like it or not, if you are concerned about what your child can do in the online world, you have an obligation to update yourself with new technologies. For this you do not need to study to get a degree. You just need to have responsibility and some time to catch up.

If you learn how the apps your child uses work and what they are used for, it will be easier for you to guide them through the process.

Check their social networks

Updating yourself in new technologies, implicitly, will take you to know social networks. And here you must take a very important role in your child's online education. After all, in social networks there is interaction of people who may not be the people they say they are.

At the same time, children tend to share all kinds of files on social networks: photographs, videos, text. For this reason, they must be taught very well where the limits are. And, at the same time, explain what is the right thing to do and how to maintain their privacy.

You have to be one more friend of the child

Earning your child's trust should be a priority. You have to seek his complicity, take an interest in the topics he likes and become someone who listens to him.

If you listen to him, supervise his use of the Internet and spend time browsing together, it will be easier for the child to listen to you later and listen to your reasoning.

Use kid-friendly browsers

The most widely used Internet browsers today are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer. Except for the last one that is outdated and no longer receiving updates, all other browsers are safe. However, even though they are safe, they give the child access to all the content that exists on the Internet. And that, depending on the age and type of children, can be a setback.

If you want to avoid this, you can install browsers that are especially designed for children. In this way, your children will have access to certain pages and always within a white list that ensures that they are adequate. We propose two browsers of this type:

·         Kidrocket Kids Browser

·         Easybits Magic Desktop

Enable Google Safe Search

Today we all use Google to navigate. To ensure that your kids don't access inappropriate content, Google has a built-in option for a safe search. Activating it is very simple and will save you more than one headache.

Share your mobile or computer

If possible, especially at younger ages, it is recommended that your children use a shared device to access the Internet. If you control the mobile or the computer from where they access the Internet, it will be much easier for you to filter their content and monitor it.

Sharing a device instead of having your children own one will allow you to create user profiles appropriate to their age. In this way, you will filter access to inappropriate content in a more simple and centralized way.

Risks faced by children and adolescents on the Internet

All the advice that we have given you previously serves to avoid and reduce the risks that children and adolescents face on the Internet. Due to their age, innocence and curiosity, children and adolescents are one of the sectors that are exposed to the greatest threats in the digital world. Therefore, it is essential to know these dangers to know how to act and perform safe navigation.

Sexting

Sexting consists of exchanging videos or photos with sexual content. Since children and adolescents increasingly have their own mobile phone at an earlier age, file sharing through social networks becomes more common. As mothers and fathers we must be aware of this fact, especially because sometimes the person behind the anonymity of a fictitious profile is not a minor but an adult.

As you can see, when talking about sexuality with your children, you also have to educate them in privacy and caution, since if they participate in sexting, those files can be shared with all the damage that this entails.

Cyberbullying

By now, everyone knows the meaning of bullying. But, did you know that there is also bullying on the Internet? This type of harassment is called cyber bullying, it is more common than you think and the data indicates that the trend is that it continues to increase.

According to data from a survey conducted by Save The Children in 2019 of 400 children, 75% of those surveyed suffered online violence of some kind. As you can see, it is not very encouraging, hence you should know how to detect this type of bullying as soon as possible to give your children the necessary tools to avoid it.

Grooming or sexual abuse

On the Internet there are many people who impersonate to impersonate minors. They are pedophiles who use psychology to take children to their land. In recent years this situation has tripled, and therefore education to navigate safely online has become even more essential.