Should You Be Monitoring What Your Kids Are Doing Online
Should You Be Monitoring What Your Kids Are Doing Online?
This is a popular question that pops up in every parental discussion. And if you have a kid/teen at home, then I’m sure you have thought about this many times. A lot of parents and grandparents don’t feel comfortable monitoring their kid’s online activity and think they are invading their privacy. But online parental monitoring is not about invading privacy but about your kid’s safety!
Why the need to monitor?
When your kids start exploring what’s online, it helps to have a slightly tight rope and, in fact, guide them to what’s right and what’s wrong. The goal is to protect and make our kids aware of the potential problems with the online world. As per reports from the National Cyber Security Alliance, 91% of teens aged between 13 and 17 use YouTube regularly and 57% report they have a secret online account of some kind. So that shows how critical it is for parents to monitor their kid’s activities.
In today’s times, we are all aware of how many cases come up every day of cyber bullying, online child predators, identity theft and more. Kids can also unintentionally reveal personal information, their whereabouts, and more online, which can lead to serious consequences in the digital world. That’s why the internet is called the “really big city with no police”.
So how do you go about monitoring your kids?
Talk to them and set ground rules! It is natural for a little pushback from your kids/teens, and they might feel their privacy being invaded, but you need to make them understand your concerns. Talk to them, be open and honest to them, and explain to them the things they might encounter online. As parents, you need to help them make sense of what is there online.
Once you have a mutual understanding, there are various ways in which you can continue monitoring your kids without bothering them. There are mobile tracker apps that can be used to control the applications your kid downloads or the content they watch. These tracking apps allow you to view their contacts and let you know who they are chatting or conversing with. In fact, these phone tracker apps also help you to ensure safety by allowing you to track your kid anywhere, anytime using the GPS tracking feature. Check out Phone Tracker for a better understanding of a tracker app.
The use of these mobile tracker free apps is still debatable. A lot of parents might feel this is going a step ahead and plain unnecessary. You need to look at it this way - you are just standing in between your kid and the many dangers of the online world!