The Importance of Online Parental Supervision
Sep 2, 2016 | 1 Votes
by shilpa
10
rate
Internet is like fire. It is a good servant, but a bad master. As parents, it is your duty to supervise your kids' online sessions and to shield them from the more dangerous parts of the internet.
Internet is like fire. It is a good servant, but a bad master. It is a scary place and at times takes the advantage of even adults who know how to use internet. Nobody is as vulnerable to the internet as kids, especially those who are at a tender age and cannot tell right from wrong. As parents, it is your duty to supervise their online sessions.
What are some quick facts that a parent should know?
Kids are at a risk of talking to strangers on the internet, and more often than not they can be cyberstalked and influenced to do something that you label as wrong, but they feel is right. The kids can communicate with a potential predator without you knowing and can get themselves harassed over the internet, which might cause emotional damage if it goes unchecked. Online parental control is not just limited to cutting off access to dangerous websites. A whole domain of softwares are dedicated to protect the family and children from the onslaught of online maladies. Many softwares are available throughout the internet for a parent to buy and they are easy to install as well.
These softwares are easy to install and most of these softwares come with a step by step guide for those people who aren’t associated to a computer. These step by step guides would enable a parent to install on a variety of devices and provide an all-round protection to kids. Some people have the wrong concept that installing parental control softwares would limit their internet usage, and therefore they keep it uninstalled, thereby exposing the child to the internet. However, in reality, parental control softwares would not limit the internet usage, and even if it did, most softwares can be deactivated for an amount of time with just a button click.
What are some of the things that might affect the child?
Why should a parent be supervising online sessions of their children at all? As stated earlier, kids do not have a filter, and can hardly differentiate between the right and the wrong, and therefore a parent has to filter for them. An unsupervised child may click on links presented to her just because it looks attractive. These links may contain malicious softwares that can be downloaded without you knowing, and hackers might find their way into your private life through these softwares. Moreover, some links might contain hate messages or anarchist content.
Some website might sell stolen goods that your child might end up ordering. Some websites can also provide links that advertise “get rich quick” and might seem alluring to the child, which might end up badly for your finances. Some websites might also grant access to copyrighted content, making you fall under the radar of cyber law, only because your kid downloaded a movie. You might get into serious legal trouble because of an unsupervised kid surfing the net.
Another area of notice is pornography. In the internet, pornography is widespread and there are over 100,000 pornographic websites showing the violent forms of sex, including sexual assaults, rape, child pornography and even transgender pornography, viewing which might forever scar your little one, causing him tremendous emotional trauma. A child might also get influenced by chat rooms, where he can video chat with another random stranger, who might be good or bad. One of the more disturbing websites is Omegle, which is overall a great way for you to broaden your internet circle, but for a kid, it might be harmful.
In fact, there are also plenty of radical idealogies and many more unsuitable content on the internet that may influence a young and growing mind. You, as a parent have to keep yourself updated and educated about the various things your child is using on the internet. You might keep a software, but you physically have to track his visited websites and judge them according to their suitability. Talk to your children and teach them about the maladies of the internet, often nudge them about an internet topic they feel is right but you know is wrong. Create an online awareness among them for easy and safe internet surfing.
How would a parent know about their online footprint?
Kids leave behind a myriad of evidences for you to know what they are doing: like photos of strangers downloaded from the internet, visiting chat room websites, emails and gifts from strangers, using your online bank account, changes in behavior when you try to open their internet websites in front of them and even quick shutdown of the computer when someone enters the room are all signs of online activity, and not many positive results come out of these activities. As a parent, you must keep your eyes and ears peeled.
The internet is dangerous and anybody associated with the internet accepts that. Kids are growing up among dangerous and volatile technology and as a parent of the 21st century, it is your job to keep you and your family safe.
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