Parental Internet Software - Reasons To Get Parental Internet Software
Whilst the Web is a great source of education and entertainment, it has its dangers too. This article investigates the dangers of the Web and how Paren tal Internet Software helps us to tackle those dangers. I also look at why blocking software is no longer an effective method of protecting children on its own.
What Are The Dangers?
The first thing people often think of when they are asked to define 'online dangers' is pornography and other unsuitable forms of web site content.
I certainly don't want to play down these dangers, but I don't think they're the most dangerous aspect of the Web.
When a child visits such a web site, they are usually at least aware that they shouldn't be visiting it and they will be naturally cautious.
I think the worst dangers are not so obvious.
The Biggest Danger.
I think the biggest danger is when your child does not know they're in danger. I'm talking about chat rooms and email conversations where they take part in seemingly innocent conversations.
The problem is that vile online Predators often spend many months 'grooming' a child before the conversation turns to something that might be more blatantly suspicious. Unfortunately they've earned the child's trust by that time and the child may not have the experience or maturity to spot the danger.
Some Statistics.
- Last year 1 in 5 children received some sort of mild solicitation for sex via the Internet, - 1 in 33 children were pursued aggressively for sex, - 1 in 4 children were exposed to pornographic images via the Internet, - 1 in 17 children were harassed or bullied via the Internet.
Clearly we need to implement some sort of parental monitoring to protect against these online dangers.
What Can We Do?
Well one solution is to prevent the child from using a computer altogether. It works, but it's a bit harsh. Another solution is to make sure that we monitor kids whenever they use their computers. This might work for very small children, but for older children who use the computer a lot - perhaps for their homework and such - it soon becomes tiresome and awkward (just ask a parent who's tried it for any length of time).
We could buy traditional blocking software or use the Parental Controls offered by ISPs. Unfortunately blocking alone is not enough and the ISP's low-grade protection simply isn't effective.
Enter ... Parental Internet Software.
The better Paren tal Internet Software products will monitor email, chat and web sites for us. Such products will provide us with detailed transcripts so that we can see exactly what our child did. The very best of this sort of software will even highlight particularly suspicious stuff for us.
Of course, good software will also allow us to block content that we think is unsuitable, but it goes much further than that and provides a complete monitoring solution to keep our children safe.
About the author: If you're interested in finding the very best software to protect your kids online, check out my site on Inter net Software For Parents.
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