Recent technology has introduced us to numerous developments and comforts, which facilitates our lifestyles. It also raised new problems for which we still are struggling to find solutions.
It is essential to make sure that children understand the internet usage in a safe and healthy manner, which is one of the most demanding of parenting challenges.
The question still stands, whether the parents should regulate their kid’s internet usage. In my opinion, indeed, parents must track the internet activity of their child to a certain extent at least. The Internet has the ability to expose children to objectionable content and unhealthy experiences, such as cyberbullying and online harassment. Your child might end up being indulged in relations with individuals who claim to be virtually someone and an entirely different, potentially dangerous, person in reality.
On the internet, there are tremendous chances of negative encounters. Parents need to be determined in their resolve to supporting their kids as they discover online interaction in a manner that fits their age. You can go online and search internet providers near me, and almost all of them generally offers free Parental Controls in their security suites. This easily enables you to manage time and content on an attached device.
Tracking the internet activity of your child can be a grueling process. You must stay committed in those times when it may seem easier to loosen the reigns. To support you, what follows is a list of issues why you’d be really interested in monitoring the internet for your child.
CyberBullying
At times, children tend to be mean to one another, and this wasn’t as serious of an issue as they always had the option of avoiding each other for a while. They used to get a break when they went home from the school or neighborhood if the problem was there. These naturally quelled problems for them, and whatever the issue was, did not have to be a public one. Today’s virtually connected children do not get that advantage and peace of mind. They often have to face their peers’ constant onslaught over online channels that can be quite devastating.
Usually, youngsters who are bullied online suffer from emotional distress but never tell their parents. Proper monitoring and regulating their usage can alert you so that you may step in, and this eventually prevents your child from bullying someone else as well or being harassed online.
By setting up an Internet usage tracking system, you will be in a position to support them out of a possibly damaging situation before it escalates.
Anything once on the Internet is Eternal
Eternal, well, yes! Sometimes kids tend to make poor choices. In addition, a significant part of being a child is learning as well as developing as an adult from their own mistakes. The internet makes it more difficult to do that since any online activity stays there for a lifetime. Even if it gets lost from one side of the web, it will exist somewhere out there. Owing to these facts, you have to be mindful of the long-term nature of your child’s online actions.
Your teen may not be the same individual they are currently in the next ten years.
Today’s unmindful online activities can reduce their chances of building their future that you are helping them strive for, and thus, their entire development could be at stake.
Online Predators
The Internet is any child predators’ number one weapon for hunting down and making friendships with young individuals. Online predators are individuals seeking to establish a virtual relationship with a child in order to commit child sexual abuse. They show themselves attractively in front of the child and build the child’s confidence in them to encourage misguiding acts like seduction eventually.
In this case, only if you are watching, you will know if someone potentially harmful is trying to approach your child.
Now the question arises, how can you protect them from being an easy bait:
Connect with them
Take out some time from your busy schedules and talk to your kids more often. Ask them about things happening in their lives, not necessarily about their internet usage, but try to work on making active communicational bonds with them. Put in the effort to the extent that the child knows that they can turn back to you for support in case of need. Always have their back!
In addition, as you get your child to strike a deal with you before getting them their first mobile device, make sure you let them know that you’ll be monitoring their online activity.
Also, limit their screen time and encourage them to invest more time in healthier and more productive activities like physical exercise or outdoor games. However, in this pursuit of protecting them, don’t try to overstep your boundaries. If you push too hard to get inside their bubble, they might as well end up keeping things much more private than they did before. Try to maintain the balance between too much and what’s necessary.
Let’s have a discussion in the comments below!