by Den Shura

Created on: July 03, 2010

This is the age of the Internet. Children know how to navigate the waters of the Internet better than their parents in most cases. What is a parent to do to keep their child safe from predators and being harassed on the Internet and social networking sites?  

While the Internet is a wonderful and fascinating thing it does have its downside as does everything. The Internet is a useful tool with tons of information and if used wisely is not harmful in itself. Unfortunately, other users of the Internet are sometimes the problem. Just as on the playground you find bullies and predators you find the same luring on the pages of the Internet. 

But, predators and bullies are not the only concern of parents. Internet overuse and addiction as well as inappropriate sites are as great of issue with children using the Internet. How can you control the use of a child spending too much time playing or chatting online and not studying for school?  

Parental software is a choice that helps monitor and control a child’s use of the Internet. This is not only a logical but a responsible step many parents are taking. When you are beginning to consider parental control software you may want to begin with talking with your friends or the teachers at your child’s school for recommendations. You can search online and compare and test different software through their trail periods.  

When you look at software you want to be sure that the software is regularly updated. The Internet is one of the least static organisms around and software you use must be designed to adapt with the ongoing changes.  

Next you need to decide what, exactly, you wish to control or monitor. Does the software accommodate these goals? Can the software filter out objectionable sites and how easy is it to do this? Are there hate filters, bomb making filters and violence filters? Is there a lot of flexibility in your ability to create, modify and customize filters? Does the software keep a database of friendly and blocked sites that you can easily reference? Are there dynamic content filters that will block filtered content even on allowed sites? 

Filtering and blocking is one aspect and monitoring is another. Monitors reports on the use of the computer and what has occurred over a period of time. You can monitor keystrokes that you can read at a later date. Then there are time control software that will restrict and limit the use of the computer as well as privacy protectors.  

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