Why Use Parental Control Tools

 

Why Use Parental Control Tools

 

 

If you are concerned about what your child can do with the smartphone, you want to control in some way what pages he visits to protect him from inappropriate or malicious content and you would like to block certain applications at specific times so that he does not neglect other duties or activities, install a tool for parental control on the devices you use.

Making use of the Internet and new technologies can be a positive and useful experience but it can also have negative effects on our children, so it is advisable as parents and educators to know them to know how to keep these risks under control. We speak, for example, of excessive consumption of the devices causing an addiction, access to inappropriate content for their age (sex, drugs, weapons, alcohol, etc.), incorrect use of the functionalities and applications of the device that end with infected devices , Cyberbullying, sexting, etc. Stay tuned to this blog because in future publications we will explain in more detail these and other risks to which our children could be exposed so that, in addition to knowing them, you know how to adequately protect them from each of them.

Today we will focus on parental control tools, tools that are very useful to monitor and control the activity of our minors on the Internet, which should be used as complementary security measures and not replacement tools for the training and awareness tasks that we must maintain with our children in matters of cybersecurity considered essential to educate, guide and support them in the safe use of the Internet. That said, what features do parental control tools offer? Typically, they provide at least the following characteristics:

Filtering web pages by type of content, words or subject

If we do not want our child to access web pages whose content we do not consider appropriate for his age or that we believe may have a negative influence on him, we can configure the tool in such a way as to restrict his access. Or if we prefer, we could also block access directly to certain web pages that we already know in advance that we do not want them to consult. After making these configurations, if the minor tries to access these pages, they will not be able to and a message on the screen will indicate it.

Lock apps and device settings

Making use of this functionality is useful if we consider that our child should not access certain applications and / or settings for different reasons: we share the same device with the minor, we consider that some application is not appropriate for their age, we do not want them to access certain device settings, etc.

Establishment of times of use of the device and Internet connection

It is possible to establish hours of use of the devices and Internet connection so that minors do not make excessive use of them. It is important that they understand and reason that excessive use of technologies may not be beneficial for them since it could prevent them from neglecting other necessary daily tasks and activities: studies, sports, friends, etc. To avoid this, we can establish a calendar by consensus in which the time and time slot for the use of the devices is determined.

Supervision of searches and monitoring of chat conversations

Sometimes, we do not know what the interests of our children are, what information they demand, what worries them. Thanks to the search and monitoring service, we can see what type of websites they consult and how often. Depending on the results shown, we can take one measure or another. For example, if we see that they frequently consult web pages on a certain topic, we may have to help and guide them on that topic in which they seem to be interested for some reason.

Alerts and notifications service

Entering the parental control tool every day to review the child's activity, although it is possible, it is not practical. To make life easier for parents and educators, the applications, among their functionalities, offer the possibility of sending us summaries periodically that collect the activity of the minor for a certain period of time. There are also tools that allow us to send an alert (email, SMS, etc.) in case the minor is trying to carry out one of the prohibited options: trying to access web pages restricted by the type of subject, connect to the Internet outside the set time slot, etc.

For the avoidance of doubt, parental control tools are not only necessary on desktops, our children's mobile devices also require supervision. It makes sense, since with smartphones and tablets you can do practically the same thing as with a computer: surf the Internet, read email, chat, access social networks, play games, etc. therefore, the risks to which they could be exposed are similar. Fortunately, many manufacturers of parental control tools have a version for smartphones and tablets for parents to protect their children from inappropriate content or applications when they use these devices, in the same way that we did with their desktop computers or laptops.

Now that you know a little better what parental control tools are and what advantages they can bring you, surely you are considering trying them. If so, in our Tools section you can find a selection of parental controls available in the market for free. We encourage you to visit it!

We do not want to end this article without recommending that before applying parental control measures you explain the situation to the minor so that he or she knows and understands why it has been decided to use this control system. Ideally, the installation should be done by mutual agreement, so that the relationship of trust between parents and children is not affected, although in many cases it is possible that the minor opposes the use of this measure ... We recommend discussing it with them before taking any action in this regard.