Just like any other technologies, Internet too has got its own advantages as well as disadvantages. Internet has turned world into a global village and now, it is possible to get access to any part of the world in no time by just a click of a mouse! However, this accessibility is uncontrollable and in order to avail its benefits, one needs to use it wisely and sensibly.
Your child and Internet
Children nowadays get used to latest technologies at a tender age; sometimes well before they start going to the school. As soon as a child develops an understanding towards the world, he also starts getting access to modern accessories like laptop, cell phone and internet. Children, by nature are fast learners and they take them no time to learn and use modern gadgets like laptop and cell phone. They are also smart enough to find cool stuff like vikings and get hooked to them! Though this is a good trait, yet, due to their ignorance and tenderness, they always stand a chance to get exploited or misguided by the technology.
How can technology harm your child?
Just a wrong click of the mouse could turn out fatal for children as it can give them access to kind of content or stuff, which is not suitable for them in anyways. Be it a link to a violent video or mature content, if they get access to them at a tender age, that is most likely to impact their mind adversely, as they do not know how to suddenly react and handle such a situation.Role of a responsible parent
Therefore, it is necessary for the parents to monitor their child’s activity on internet as much as possible. That being said, this task is easier said than done. Children's, like adults, also need their space and they do not like interference of any kind by the parents in any ways. Although the intentions of the parents could be good, yet, it is very hard for them to make their children understand this situation
Any interference or commands like “turn off computer now!” or “stay away from site ABC…” is seen by a child as a hindrance of his freedom. As Child Psychology goes, if you ask a child to do certain thing and he does not like your tone, then he might not do it. In the same way, if you ask him to refrain himself from something then he is most likely to do that because of psychological reasons.
Therefore, it is necessary for parents to act smart as well as sensible in this matter and ensure their child’s safety on the Internet without making that evident to him. This means that they not only need to take certain preventive measures but they also need to do that smartly and in a more sophisticated manner.
The solution
You can surely take some smart preventive measures to safeguard your child's interest and safety on internet. You have to take further steps depending on his age group and level of understanding,. If your child is around 5 or 6 years of age and he has just started accessing cell phones and internet recently, then as he might not be able to discrete between good and bad and also not mature enough to react to certain type of content on the Internet, it would be best to protect your system or cell phone by a password, so that he cannot access internet without your permission. In this way, whenever he wants to access the net, he will have to come to you for unlocking the device and you would be present nearby to keep a watch on his activities.
If that is not possible or if your child does not like that kind of set up, then a sensible way would be installing some software or applications that can automatically detect and filter content which is not suitable for a child. You can simply browse on net and you would be able to find different applications and software that can do this job for you. You would simply need to install a suitable software or on your cell phone or computer and get it activated. This will automatically prevent your device from opening links that has content that is not suitable for children.
There are some spy and tracking software that are available in the market, that would be helpful in keeping a check on the online activities of your child. This would also be necessary because child, being tender, would not know what is right for him and what is not and as a parent, it is your responsibility to keep a check on him and at the same time you also would not let him know about the fact that he is being monitored.
Apart from these tips, it is very important that you communicate properly with your kid and make him understand about what is good for him and what is not. In this case, you need to be sensible and do not try to command the child because nobody likes to get orders. Be friendly with him and share with him all that you have in your mind. Also let him share his views’ once you are friends with him, he will be comfortable in sharing all kinds of things that he has in mind. This would be helpful for you in understanding the nature of your child and then you can plan things accordingly.
Self control is the best control!
As the famous saying goes, the best type of control is self control and this saying holds true for everyone, including your child. So, if you can help your child develop that kind of self-control within himself or herself, and help him in developing an understanding towards what is right for him to view online and what is not (as per his age group) then you will be able to get the most appropriate solution for online safety. That being said, technology is always going to be helpful for you and you can always use the right applications and software to prevent your child from viewing inappropriate content on internet.
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