Internet Safety for Your Kids
Are you wondering how to make the Internet safe for your kids? You want them to use the Internet for research, but you don’t want them to find objectionable sites or emails.
Perhaps you’d like to buy a solution that you can use on your computer that will not allow them to look at objectionable sites, yet will allow them to freely browse.
I have to tell you that there is no solution like that. These filter programs, such as NetNanny, look for a list of objectionable words in the site your child has chosen to visit. Simple words such as “leg” can raise the alarm and cause a headache, while regular research on breast cancer might be blocked.
But programs that look for words fail completely if the site has no objectionable words–only objectionable photos. My teenage son figured this out. He used Google Images to look for objectionable sites. He found them despite the fact that our filter, NetNanny, was turned on.
The problem is that filter programs search for individual words. They never look at pictures, and in fact cannot.
So, what can you as a parent do?
* Keep your computers where you can monitor what the kids are doing. Put them in the kitchen or wherever YOU are.
*To log on, anyone who is not an adult will have to ask an adult to input the password, giving permission in this way.
*Require the child to log off when he is done. Now the password is required for the next session.
*Use filtering software. It may help.
*Kids should be told what you expect from them, and the consequences of disobedience.
*Unplug the Internet cables if the child doens’t need to access the Internet for his task.
*Give younger kids your own email address to use. This protects them from objectionable spam. Give teens an email address, but instruct them to give it out only to people they know personally.
If you take these measures and are watchful, you will help your teenagers withstand a temptation that is everywhere on the Internet, and get them into the habit of making good choices when sitting down to use the computer.
Filed under: Computers & Technology