Parenting is not an easy task. It has never been. The advancement in technology has made the task even more difficult than it used to be in the past. Gone are the days when parents used to think of ways to keep their kids safe from the outside world. With kids surrounded by technology all the time, now parents have to think of ways keeping them safe from the online world.
The technology is progressing day by day so much so that it now presenting new and more complicated challenges for all parents to keep up with. It is essential to protect your kids from the harmful dangers of the internet as well as social media.
While technology has brought our kids closer to online threats, it has also provided parents with several parental monitoring solutions so they can keep their kids safe in the online world. A parental control app is known to be an excellent and advanced monitoring tool to help control, manage, and monitor kids’ online activities.
With monitoring and parental control apps, parents can keep track of their kids’ online actions with convenience. All they need to do is install the app on their kid’s device and remotely monitor their online activity.
The internet exposes your kids to several online dangers such as cyberbullying, sexual predators, adult content, identity theft, and social media scams. That is the reason parental control solutions have become an imperative part of the digital age as they help protect kids from online threats and risks.
Here is a glance at some reasons why parental control holds importance in the digital age and why parents must consider them without a second thought.
Protection from Inappropriate Content
It is a bitter reality that the internet is fully laden with inappropriate and adult content. Every kid is bound to come across objectionable content as soon as they start exploring the internet on their own. One single click on a pop-up ad can take them to the world of porn. In such cases, even parents feel helpless to protect their kids from such type of content.
Once kids are exposed to objectionable content, it can be hard to take them away from it, especially if they get addicted to it. This is where the parental controls come in handy. Effective parental control apps can help you supervise what your kid is doing online.
With parental control apps installed on your kid’s device, you can block and filter inappropriate sites and apps on their device and restrict them from viewing objectionable content. That way your kids won’t open and view the sites and apps that you do not want them to use.
Protection Against Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying happens to be one of the most dangerous aspects of the internet and social media world. It is, in fact, regarded as the most harmful threat to kids and teens. There were days when kids succumbed to bullying and shame in front of their classmates in the school playgrounds and classrooms.
The technology has empowered bullies to disguise themselves on online platforms and threaten and embarrass young and innocent kids without ever being caught. Technology, the internet, and social media have made kids more prone to being bullied and abused through DMs and instant messages.
The use of parental controls can protect your kids against cyberbullying as you can monitor both incoming and outgoing messages and phone calls on your kid’s smartphone and computer. You can eventually find out whether or not your kids are receiving any threatening messages from anyone on their phone. That way you can know who your kid is interacting with and what sort of messages are they getting from others.
Safety from Online Predators
With easy access to the internet and social media platforms, strangers, especially online predators can reach out to innocent kids and teens and trick them into doing wrong activities. These people have evil intentions and they talk to kids only to build fake relationships with them.
They lure innocent kids and teens with their sweet talks only so they can gain their trust and later demand explicit photos and videos from them. After getting access to their private content, these predators can blackmail kids along with their families for leaking the content. What’s worse, they can also sell the content to the dark web in exchange for a hefty amount.
When you have installed parental controls on your kid’s device, you can monitor all the conversations your kids are having with others. You can also know who they are texting with and what messages are they exchanging with others. That way you can immediately spot the sexual predator (if any) and ask your kid to stay away from them.
Restrict Downloads from the Internet
It’s easy to deceive and trick kids on the internet. This is what makes them vulnerable to online hackers and cybercriminals. There are high chances that kids will download apps and programs that look authentic but are actually viruses and malware.
With a wrong app or program installed on the app, your kids may lose important confidential data such as their passwords, bank account information, social media details, etc. Besides, malware and viruses can infect your computer and may cause operational problems in it, affecting the other devices that are connected with it.
Parental control apps will not let your kids download apps and programs from unauthentic and suspicious sources. With parental controls, you can control and manage your kid’s online activity and see what your kids can and cannot download from the internet. That way you can protect your kids’ devices from viruses and malware as well as cybercrimes.
Become Familiar with Technology
Last but not least, another major benefit of parental control apps is that they help you become familiar with the latest technology including new devices, apps, social media platforms, and much more. Sometimes you are so much occupied with using your smartphone and apps that you forget to check what apps your kids are using.
It is important that you get yourself familiar with new apps and devices so you know what your kids are using. That way you won’t be troubled in getting to know the apps and sites that your kids use. Once you take control of your kids’ devices, you will have a better understanding of what apps and sites they are using and how they are using them.
