Protect Children Online

The Internet is a very powerful tool. Previously the web was a huge archive of information but now its changed a lot. The Internet is no longer about data its about people. Were as before chat rooms were reserved for people with special interests ( such as a trade) and cyber  super nerds sits like Facebook and Bebo have made it cool to have friends on the web. 

 

In many ways this trend is a good thing it allows kids to interact with their friends from all around the country in a safe and fun way. However some times things are very diffrent. Now the web is becoming a true social medium it is bringing onto itself some of the more sinister aspects of our society, problems such as predatory adults and bullies people who look for vulnerable people to take advantage of.

 

As the web now begins to mimic society as a whole parents as they do in normal society are beginning to try and think of ways that they can protect their children online. Often parents take extreme action when worrying about their kids online such as banning them form using the Internet or restricting their access to one or two approved sites. In my opinion this is very similar to parents who keep their children locked inside all day and never let them out into the real world. Its very negative for children not to interact and can effect their relationship skills. At the other end of the scale there are moms and dads who allow their children to do whatever they like, sometimes this works out ok but a lot of the times it doesn’t. The key is a healthy balance but how can you achieve this on line?

 

In order too allow you children the freedom they need to explore and learn on the Internet there are a few simple steps you can follow. The initial and most important step is to talk to your kids about the online dangers and to take an interest in what they are doing and what they say, try not to talk down to them as this will cause them to close up. Try to work with your child to come up with a set of rules for Internet use that you can both agree on and then type these out and post them up next to the computer. Be smart about where you place your computer and be sure there are normally other people who can see the screen near by.

 

Once you have taken these basic steps if you are still not comfortable with your child using the Internet there are a couple of other measures you can take. You can download free adult filters from the web, these are not 100% affective and still won’t help protect your children from bullies of predators but they will help protect against adult content. The second thing you can do is download software to monitor and protect your children online. This software will record all your child’s activities including conversations which they have with people over the net using instant messenger and other online services. There will be a cost to getting this software but it will let you monitor your child’s online activities without them ever knowing. The software can act like an invisible safety net to your other measures of protection. 

 

In Summary try not to overreact to the potential dangers of the net there are many good things out their and the Internet can be a very useful tool to helping you child’s academic and social education but also keep in mind there are risk and you need to remain ever on your guard in order to effectively protect your children online.