Parental Control & Safety of Minors on Internet

 Parental Control & Safety of Minors on Internet

The parental control can help you in your efforts to get Internet experiences for your children safe, funny and productive. These measures work best when used openly and honestly in association with your children, not as a covert spying method. Whatever you are looking for, this guide can help you understand the wide range of options for managing your family's devices. Find the answers to the most frequently asked questions by parents about parental control.

What is parental control?

Parental controls are   filters that allow parents to establish controls over their children's Internet use . They are a great way to help prevent kids from accessing inappropriate content online.

In essence, there are three types of parental controls that parents should be aware of:

• Network level controls are configured on the hub or router and apply to all devices connected to that hub or router (which covers your entire home).
• Device-level ones are set on the device itself, like a smartphone, and will apply regardless of how and where the device is connected to the internet.
• Application controls are set on the platform or application that is being used. Examples of this would be the settings applied to Google or YouTube. Verify that they are configured on each device that your child has access to.

There are many types of controls available, and they allow you to do a number of different things, such as:

• Filter and block content that you don't want your kids to see, like violence and pornography.
• Restrict the information that is shared.
• Set time limits on how long kids are online.
• Control the time of day that children can access the Internet.
• Set up different profiles so that each family member has an appropriate access level for them.

Why is it so important to control the content our children see on the internet ?

Parenting in this digital age is no longer as easy as it was in the past. The rapid advancement in technology presents new and difficult challenges for parents to keep up. Protecting your children from the dangers posed by digital technology and the Internet has become essential.

Fortunately, there are some excellent and advanced tools available, including parental control apps , that monitor children's network behaviour and thus allow parents to establish controls over their children's Internet activity.

With ease of access, the Internet exposes minors to various threats such as identity theft, cyberbullying, social media scams, and malicious content. That is why parental control has become an essential requirement to protect your children.

Here are some reasons why parental control on the internet is important in this digital age.

• Protect children from inappropriate content : Parental controls is the only effective way to manage your children's digital devices. With these controls, you can restrict access to your child's device to avoid viewing inappropriate content. YouTube also has an age restriction feature to avoid suggesting and viewing adult content to children.
• Allows website and category blocking : In many cases, parents cannot identify all the websites that are inappropriate for their children. Such websites can be restricted by blocking all categories. Parental control tools allow you to do this. For example, if you want to block access to all websites that contain adult content, you will only have to block the category 'Adult'.
• Ability to combat cyberbullying : Mobile phones and the Internet have made children more vulnerable to bullying and abuse through social media and text messages. KidSecured is a parental control application that allows you to view incoming and outgoing calls and messages via Viber, Tinder or GSM. This way, you can know who is contacting your child and what conversation they are having with their friends.
• Limiting downloads to keep devices safe : Children can be easily fooled and this makes them prime targets for cybercriminals and hackers. Children are more likely to download applications and programs that appear to be genuine but are actually malware and viruses. It can lead to dangerous results and your data can leak and contain sensitive information such as passwords or bank account information. Parental controls allow you to limit downloads from untrustworthy and suspicious sources.
• Increase familiarity with technology : One of the main benefits of using parental control apps is that it increases your familiarity with new apps, devices, social sites, and more. Sometimes parents can find it difficult to navigate the apps and sites that their children use. Taking control of children's devices allows for a better understanding of what they are using and how they are using them.

At what ages is parental control recommended in the use of technologies?

The use of parental control would be recommended mainly for minors of school age, that is, between 6 and 14 years old.

This is a great age to introduce your child to the Internet, as they will likely have supervised digital learning in school. With this increased exposure to the internet, it is important to educate your children on proper online etiquette and the various dangers of the web.

As a parent, a primary concern about your child on the Internet is cyberbullying . Even kids who wouldn't do it in person sometimes feel more comfortable making harsh comments about others when behind a computer screen. This type of behavior can begin as soon as children get a mobile phone or social media accounts.

Predators are another concern once children gain more access to the Internet. They can use social media to find out about children's interests, places of residence, schools, and specific locations. Often times these people will pose as children on social media in an attempt to connect with other children, so teach them to only communicate with people they have met in person.

Parental control features

The main features of parental control tools are:

Web control

The main characteristic of a parental control tool is to limit the web pages that minors can access.

If you want to limit what your children can search, the best option is to enable Google SafeSearch in whatever browser or browsers you use. First, you need to make sure that your browsers use Google as their default search engine, and then you need to turn on SafeSearch. This is a good precaution to take as soon as your kids start to connect and you want to make sure they don't accidentally stumble upon inappropriate content.

Access to applications

With this option we can prevent our children from accessing certain applications, such as social networks or instant messaging. Access to Google Play or App Store can also be prevented so that minors cannot make online purchases.

Call blocking

If you don't want your children to call or receive calls from certain phones, you can block them. You can also configure international calls or calls from unknown numbers.

Alarms

It is also possible to configure alarms on your child's mobile to notify him of anything.

Use time

These tools also allow you to keep track of the time your child is using certain applications on the Internet, such as games or browsers.

Geolocation

With the parental control tool you can know where your child is in real time.

Panic button

By adding this option to your child's mobile, you will receive a warning in the event of a dangerous situation.