The Internet: It’s fun, full of information, and ensures that parents are constantly living in fear. Remember the good old days when you sat on the carpet in front of the TV and your parents didn’t have to worry about it filling your head with adult thoughts? Today, children have access to the entire world via the internet. At home, at school, even on phones. So how do you protect your little ones from the dark arts?
First, unless they want a lawsuit, the school is covered. They’ve hired companies like Nerd Crossing to ensure your kid is smut and predator-free. While your best bet at home is to hire IT Nerds such as ourselves to create kid-safe packages, there are also methods you can do yourself.
If you allow your child to be on Facebook or other forms of social media, please make sure to monitor their account, messages and photos. Social media is a preferred method with predators of all kinds. Predators also hunt through chats in video games. Make sure to turn on the parental settings on your child’s gaming console.
On most browsers, you can also go to your settings and turn on parental controls. With Google, for example, this can eliminate particular sites from loading, as well as from appearing in search engine results. Many browsers also include time restrictions so you can make sure little Timmy is actually in bed and not on Twitter.
The most important and effective method of preventing your kids from being exposed to NO-NOs is to talk to them. Let them know about the dangers of the world-wide web and of communicating with strangers. Instill in them the key principles of being online: never give out information about yourself or your family, never download anything unless you give them the OK, and always alert a parent or guardian if something seems or looks wrong.
If you’re interested in installing a child-protection package on your home computer, please contact the Nerds and we’ll discuss what we can do to keep little Timmy safe.