Internet Safety for Kids
Safety for Children Active on the Internet
All parents set rules for their children to varying degrees. They're not only based on the family's system of beliefs and the age and maturity of the children involved, but also the shared experiences of growing up and learning what works and what doesn't.
However, for the most part, today's parents did not grow up in the virtual world that their children live in. From smartphones to social networking, today's children are not only naturals when it comes to the latest advances in technology, but also they're not afraid of it either.
This divide is important to note, especially because of many parents' unwillingness to become interested, aware, or even involved with their children's online activities. NortonLifeLock, the most recognized name in antivirus software protection, provides this incredible statistic: Nearly two-thirds of the children they polled admitted that they know how to hide their online activities from their parents. (And, rightly stated, those are the ones who admitted to it.)
There's no getting around it: In this day and age, parents must become educated and become active in their children's online activities. The dangers to youngsters and teens are very real. A quick search turns up numerous headlines of children being tricked to give out personal information, or brought into chat rooms full of inappropriate conversations, or even lured away from home thinking they'll be meeting a fellow teen, only to find a sex criminal awaiting them.
But all is not doom and gloom. Preventing these sorts of occurrences doesn't involve a whole lot of technical knowledge, but becoming more involved is a big step toward providing Internet safety for kids.
Parental Involvement
The most important aspect to Internet safety for kids is for parents to become educated about the Internet and all of the potential hazards out there. If a parent wouldn't let their children out in public without talking about how to behave appropriately, they also shouldn't let their children on the Internet without the same conversation.
This brings up an interesting point. Many children use the Internet as if it were a diary, sharing their inner-most feelings and information with their friends. However, what parents and children alike need to realize is that the Internet – even behind a personal page on a social networking site – is public. Cybercriminals know how to gain access to this, and it's not all together hard for them to do.
It's also a good idea for parents to learn the latest lingo that children use when they're communicating online. Red flags that even the best parental control software can report but may fly over a parent's radar include terms like POS (Parents over shoulder, code for “I've got to stop the conversation we're having.”) and LMIRL (Let's meet in real life).
Parental Control Software
For many families, parental control software is a touchy subject. Most products on the market offer strict rules that put the same restrictions on a family's 6-year-old as they would on the same family's 16-year old. And most parental control software products use “gotcha” techniques which generally are meant to catch children in the act of doing something wrong instead of becoming a teaching moment where a child can understand what they did was wrong.
That's not to say all parental control software is not important or ineffective. Most experts agree that using well-rounded parental control software, combined with parental involvement, gives families the best chance to stay safe while online.
Norton Family
When Norton first produced parental control software through its Add-On Pack for its Norton Internet Security and Norton 360, the focus was on having a program that not only helped parents protect their children, but also open a conversation between parents and children to help prevent distrust.
In 2009, Norton developed Norton Online Family as a free public service. This major upgrade to their parental controls management tools in the Add-On Pack, was not only opened to Norton security products users, but for anyone (non subscribers, too) to use this program to help prevent child exploitation via the Internet. Today, as the consumer computer security industry evolved, Norton offers the best security product, Norton 360. Some years earlier, Norton Family has been introduced, as a paid parental control software service. While this can be purchased separately, it is also included into Norton 360 Deluxe and up subscriptions.
Some of the Norton Family features include:
- Detailed, Consolidated Reporting – Provides all of the history of your child's Internet activities for the past 30 days.
- House rules – This gives parents the ability to set different permissions for multiple children with their own rules that can be set to an individual family's values. All rules are plainly displayed for parents and children, so there's no surprise rules.
- Web filtering and monitoring – This feature allows parents to monitor which sits their children visit and also blocks ones parents find inappropriate.
- Social networking activities – Lets parents see what children are doing on social networking sites.
- Search monitoring – Lets parents see if children are intentionally searching for information they feel is questionable.
Internet safety is just as important as any other type of “stranger danger” conversation a parent may have with their children. With a bit of education, and with the help of programs like Norton Family, parents and children together can stay safe online.