Are you considering putting internet controls on your child’s devices? Here 10 reasons why we think you should.
1. Protects your child from strangers online
Interaction with strangers is one of the most dangerous aspects of the Internet. Unfortunately, children are unaware of these dangers and are vulnerable when chatting to strangers online. Predators use various platforms on the Internet to befriend children, groom them, and meet in person. Your child may think they are talking to an ‘online friend’ however they are unaware of their new ‘friend’s’ true intentions. A social experiment by Coby Person shows how easy it is to manipulate children into meeting in-person. Coby created fake social media accounts, befriended multiple children and convinced them to meet in person. If a YouTuber can do this, so can a predator.
The internet is a restriction-free zone for kids, and kids tend to push boundaries when unsupervised. These boundaries include chatting to strangers online. The best form of prevention for this is applying restrictions on your child’s device.
2. Prevents social media and gaming addiction
Social media and Gaming addiction is becoming more common among children and teenagers who use smartphones and gaming devices. Addiction can cause lack of sleep, vision problems, irritability, loss of social life, decreased attention span, lack of motivation etc. Unlimited access to gaming and social media is a leading cause of addiction, and the best way to prevent it is by putting limits and schedules on your child’s devices.
To get a deeper understanding of Internet Addiction, check out our posts on Gaming Addiction and Social Media Addiction.
3. Prevents Exposure to inappropriate content
The Internet is filled with inappropriate content which can be easily accessed by your child anywhere, at any time and completely free. When your child accesses websites without restrictions, it leaves them vulnerable to viewing harmful content. Even if you add restrictions in the settings of some apps, the restrictions may not be bullet proof. Firstly, your child may be able to bypass these restrictions using various methods. Secondly, the restrictions themselves may not be 100% effective. When researching the effectiveness of websites’ filters, we found that there are disturbing videos slipping through YouTube’s child friendly filters. To read more about this visit our blog post
4. Prevents cyber bullying
Cyber bullying has become a huge topic lately regarding children and teen’s mental health and safety online. Online bullying has become as popular as traditional bullying and can be just as dangerous. The internet is like a playground for children, and if left unsupervised some children can behave inappropriately. Without proper supervision of our children’s online interactions, we cannot ensure they are not being bullied or not bullying others. The best way to prevent cyber bullying is to monitor, restrict and schedule your child’s Internet access. The most effective way to do this is using a Parental Control App.
5. Allows you to monitor your child’s online activity
With DigiFam Internet Control you can monitor your child’s online activity. You can see what sites they’ve visited (even if history has been deleted), restrict access, control how much time your child spends online, create daily schedules, block apps and websites and much more. You wouldn’t let your child live without rules at home, so why let them live without rules online?
6. Blocks pornography
Pornography is free and easily accessible on the Internet. Although pornography is intended for people over the age of 18, there is no criteria for users to prove their age when accessing pornography. If your child wishes to access a porn site, they can do so without permission from you. If you think your child is too innocent to know about porn, think again. Children are curious, and will share any type of inappropriate content they find online with their friends. So although your child may not directly search for porn online, they may be sent something inappropriate by a friend.
7. Increases quality of sleep
To sleep properly, we need to give our brains time to shut off before going to bed. This includes putting away the social media, gaming devices, and anything else that includes a screen. Allowing your child unlimited access to the internet can tempt them to stay up all night on social media or online gaming. Internet Controls can ensure your child’s internet access is cut-off in good time before bed, to encourage a good nights sleep.
8. Decrease study distraction
Are you struggling to get your child to study or do homework? Is it a constant battle to get them to put down the phone or gaming controller and complete homework or study? You’re not alone- most parents today have this problem. One of the leading causes of study distraction for children and teens is social media, gaming and other online activity. Luckily with Internet Controls, you can schedule to switch off internet access during homework/study times.
9. Creates balance
Balance is a necessity in life, and it is important for children to learn how to create it. At DigiFam, we don’t want to completely block children from the digital world, however we don’t think it should consume their lives. By restricting the amount of time your child can spend online, it implements digital balance.
10. Gives you peace of mind
Monitoring your children online can be difficult, and it can be extremely stressful for parents when they are constantly battling with their children and worrying about their online activity. Internet Control on children’s devices gives parents peace of mind that their children are safe online.