Keep Your Kids Safe on the World Wide Web
July 5th, 2008Here’s the issue: how to be sure your kids are safe from viewing objectionable sites when they are searching the Internet. After all, you don’t want them to stumble across something they should not see.
Perhaps you’d like to buy a solution that you can use on your computer that will not allow them to look at objectionable sites, yet will allow them to freely browse.
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 like this fail when trying to filter objectionable photo sites that have no objectionable words. So, how do I know this? I am sad to say that my teenage son enlightened me. Using Google Images, he searched for objectionable sites and found them, even though the filtering program was on.
In fact, the filter program could never block these sites because it searches for words. It can’t evaluate pictures.
So, what can you as a parent do?
*The computer should be where you can monitor what the kidsa re doing. They should be where YOU are.
*Only the adults should know the login password. The kids will have to have permission to get on.
*Ensure that the kid logs off when the computer session is over, or turns the computer off. This makes the password required for the next session.
*Use a filter like NetNanny. It will help when your back is turned.
*Make sure the kids know you will punish them if they are looking at objectionable sites. Visit their terminals at unpredictable times.
*Unplug the computer from the Internet if the child is using a word processor or other local program only.
*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.
Your watchfulness will pay off. Your children will be protected from what they should not see, and they will also learn good habits for using the Internet as adults.