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How to Keep Your Kids Safe on the Internet |
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Written by Phyllis Wheeler
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Tuesday, 08 July 2008 |
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Are you wondering how to make the Internet safe for your kids? You want them to use the Internet for research, but you don't want them to find objectionable sites or emails.
by PhyllisWheeler
Are you wondering how to make the Internet safe for your kids? You want them to use the Internet for research, but you don't want them to find objectionable sites or emails.
Maybe you are hoping to buy a program for your computer that blocks objectionable sites, but will allow them to do the research you want them to do.
I have sad news for you--there is no such perfect solution. There are solutions out there, such as NetNanny, that block any site mentioning one of a list of objectionable words. The result can be funny, such as blocking the word "arm," and at the same time can drive you nuts if you really want to do regular research on, say, breast cancer.
But programs that look for words fail completely if the site has no objectionable words--only objectionable photos. My teenage son figured this out. He used Google Images to look for objectionable sites. He found them despite the fact that our filter, NetNanny, was turned on.
The software could not have detected the objectionable photos, since NetNanny and similar software look for objectionable words. They are not able to evaluate pictures.
The next question is, "What's a parent to do?"
* Keep your computers where you can monitor what the kids are doing. Put them in the kitchen or wherever YOU are.
*To log on, anyone who is not an adult will have to ask an adult to input the password, giving permission in this way.
*Require the child to log off when he is done. Now the password is required for the next session.
*Use NetNanny or a similar filter. It can only help.
*Make sure the kids know you will punish them if they are looking at objectionable sites. Visit their terminals at unpredictable times.
*Unplug the Internet cables if the child doens't need to access the Internet for his task.
*Give younger kids your own email address to use. This protects them from objectionable spam. Give teens an email address, but instruct them to give it out only to people they know personally.
Following these precautions will help you keep your kids safe, and will teach your teenagers good habits for avoiding temptations.
About the Author:
Phyllis Wheeler, the Computer Lady, offers this advice for mothers and fathers.. She also provides homeschool computer courses through MotherboardBooks.com, which has offered do-it-yourself computer skills and programming courses for kids and teens since 2003. |
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