Being a parent in the modern world can be terrifying, especially in dealing with your kid’s digital life. The internet is filled with things you don’t want your child to see or have access to, but trying to stop them from doing what they want with their digital devices will be tough. Parents across the world are struggling with issues like this, desperate for their kids to have phones to keep them safe, but also being worried that these devices could harm them. To help you out with this, this post will be looking at some of the work which can go into tracking your kid’s digital life to make sure that they aren’t doing anything that could hurt them.
Internet History
Your child will need access to the internet to study, talk with their friends, and entertain themselves, and this makes it crucial that they have an open connection. Of course, though, this will also give them access to the darker side of the web, and many young people are attracted to things like this simply because of the mystery which comes with them. Tracking your child’s internet history can be a good way to combat this problem.
App Download/Use History
Smartphones can give your child access to apps that won’t show up in internet history, even with complex tools being used to get this information. Thankfully, you can manage your child’s app downloads and usage on both iOS and Android, making it nice and easy to start paying attention to this side of their digital life. This can help with things like excessive gaming or social media usage, as it will show you how long apps have been used for on their devices. (Love this one!)
Messages
Most of the messages your child shares with their friends will be boring, and won’t have any information in them which you need. However, there could be some messages being sent from their phone which you wouldn’t be happy with. Buying things like alcohol, being in inappropriate relationships, and even skipping school will often be talked about in their messages, and you can check here to learn about the best tools to help you with this. For safety reasons, this is the one thing I plan to watch like a hawk with my child!
Being Open And Honest
Very few things are better than being honest with your kids, and letting them know exactly why some areas of the web are out of bounds can be a great way to stop them from going to them in the first place. Along with this, being honest will also inspire honesty in your kids, making it worth letting them know that you’re tracking their usage. Some kids will be happy with this, while others will hate it, and you will need to balance it out to make sure that you’re not making your child’s life miserable.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of controlling the trackable elements of your kid’s digital life. Many parents struggle with this, simply spending their days worrying about what their kids might be doing, rather than taking action. Let’s be action takers and keep our kids safe!
Related: 5 Tips for unplugging from social media
