How Parental Controls Can Enhance Your Child’s Internet Security

Over the years the internet has revolutionized a lot which has provided its users with many options to explore it for different uses. You can find any piece of information you want in an instant without any hassle. This advanced technology and massive collection of data on the internet undoubtedly increases the rate at which internet is used. But as everyone knows, excessive use of anything could be dangerous; and the internet is no different. While online, you will most possibly not be notified about your personal information leak, and because these things happen in an instant, you may not get a chance to back up your data. Everyone who works in the field of information technology and is mature enough to understand how things work can easily identify online threats and warnings. Kids, however, are not aware of these issues, and frequently become a victim of these threats which then causes trouble for their parents. Kids should be educated about these online threats, but even before that, they should have limited access to the internet for their and your own safety. 

What are Parental Controls?

As humans, it is in our nature to explore new things, and when it comes to kids, they seem to be even more eager at discussing and learning new things. Parental controls are tools and methods that allow parents to control how their kids use the internet. It is a great way to prevent children from accessing any inappropriate content online. These controls can be set up on devices, networks or specific applications. Usually, parents set these controls on their child’s devices which include smartphones, Xbox, PlayStation, and more. Parents can set a level of security they desire. 

Internet Service and Parental Controls

Usually, you have to buy or install parental control software to ensure the internet security of your children, but there are some internet services such as Charter Spectrum who are providing these services free of cost. Most cable internet services have the feature of parental controls installed on it. Some internet services have a web page where you can personalize the checklist of your parental controls for your in-home devices. My cable internet provider gives me the access to apply parental controls on the router or hub meaning when a device connects to it, and I have the liberty to check the type of content viewed on that device.

Types of Parental Controls

There are multiple types of parental controls available which can protect your children from accessing unsuitable content.

• Network controls are applied to the connecting device which could be a router or a hub. These controls check every device connected to the internet and only provide the level of access allowed by parents.
• Device level controls are set on your kid’s devices such as smartphones and tablets. Regardless of where they connect to the internet, these controls will apply on their device.
• Application level controls apply to specific applications like YouTube and Google. These apps contain different types of content, and some of it is not suitable for your children, which is where this type of control comes in handy. 

Safe Internet Browsing For Your Family

It is always a better idea to add up parental controls for your children’s safety, however, as long as you don’t educate them about the harmful effects of the internet, it is still a loss. Teach your children to access social media for a limited time. Explore different technical and educational movies to help them increase their intellectual level and tell them to spend more time with people rather than gadgets. In addition to parental controls, listed below are some measures you should take to help your children stay away from unwanted content on the internet.

• Install an anti-virus program which can protect the system from viruses and online threats.
• Turn on firewall protection to prevent unauthorized access.

Keep a web advisory tool for browsing protection to avoid risk

Related Internet Security
What a Parental Control For Internet App Can Do
The Challenge of Parents To Keep Kids Safe From Cyber Bullying
How to Handle Cyberbullying