As I sit in front of my computer trying to make a few deadlines, I am interrupted by that all too familiar ding of email hitting my inbox. It’s not my close friend from Texas shooting the breeze nor is it my Mother reminding me to remind her when my son’s next soccer game is. This time it’s a report generated automatically and sent to both my husband and I from my children’s computer letting me know exactly what they are doing online. Snooping? Maybe. But I’m not really interested in reading their private emails or visiting the websites they hang out on. I’m looking for some key information that will tell me, pretty quickly, if they are staying safe online. It’s a balance I’m comfortable with in the name of Internet Safety.
If you have little kids, you are probably more concerned with keeping your computer safe from your child than keeping your child safe from the computer! But this, as with everything, will change all too quickly. Children seem curious at younger and younger ages, computers are more and more available and advertising is more and more scrupulous. Parents need to stay proactive to protect their children.
Here are a few quick and easy things you can do to protect your children from Internet Harm:
- Start with your kids. Teach them that, just as they should not talk to strangers in the real world, likewise they should not give out any personal information online. They should not share their name, address, city, school, their parent’s names, etc. It is ok to be honest with kids and let them know how this information can be used to hurt them by seemingly very sincere people or those posing as children.
- Utilize parental controls. Some ISPs such as AOL and MSN provide parental controls so that you can customize what your child is exposed to online. Above and beyond that, most web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla have build-in controls that can be set to a higher level on a child’s account. These controls are less than perfect, be forewarned! They may not block everything and will likely block access to some sites that your child may be allowed to use, otherwise. In other words, parental controls are no substitute for parental supervision!
- Install it all! Make sure you are behind a firewall. Make sure you install and properly configure virus software not only to frequently scan for viruses but also to frequently update new virus files. Start with a free toolbar with built-in pop-up blocker. I recommend Google Toolbar or Yahoo Toolbar. You will also want to install a program that cleans up malware and spyware since gaming and other websites that teens frequent seem to have a disproportionately large amount of this stuff. I recommend Spybot: Search & Destroy.
- When your child is ready for email, set up a white list. This is pretty easy to do in any of the major email programs simply by setting up filters than instruct the email program to delete any emails arriving from anyone other than a list that you specify. This way your child won’t be inundated with spam, viruses or unwanted solicitations. As your child grows, you can work together to teach about spam filters and junk mail filters and get rid of the white list but it is a great way to allow email access without worrying about what might be coming into that inbox.
- Finally, I recommend that if you can not be in the same room to monitor your child’s internet usage then you should install a keystroke logging program. I recommend Eblaster as this is what my family uses although there are many other programs that work just as well for this purpose.
The internet is full of educational opportunities, entertainment, and a way to keep us all connected. It doesn’t have to be a dangerous place as long as parents have the education necessary to child-proof our children’s Internet experience!
For more information on Computers & Internet usage, visit the Families.com Computers & Internet Blog at: http://computers.families.com/blog/