Monitoring Your Kid’s Use of Technology
The discussion around kids and technology is a vast plain of differing opinions. While some parents are ready to fully embrace technology in all its avenues, others are on the fence and believe that technology has become too intrusive on the lives of young children. In other words, they see technology and the growing realm of social media as a gateway to children having an online identity and presence that is often larger than what parents might be aware of. While there is no clear or right answer to this debate, monitoring your kid’s use of technology is a new responsibility that comes with raising kids in this digital age.
Whether you are tracking your child’s online activities or real world interactions, technology has made keeping an eye on your kids a simple process - no old-fashioned legwork or sleuthing required. From Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to basic email and other online profiles or chat systems, the internet provides an almost infinite number of ways for tech savvy and forward thinking kids to share information and interact with other online users.
Before your kids immerse themselves in the use of technology, start by educating them about the true reach of the internet and digital communication. When kids begin interacting with friends online or through mobile text messaging, they should be display the same common sense that they would in real life situations. Often times, these new digital interfaces make people forget that they are communicating and connecting with real life people or strangers.
Studies suggest that the popularity of tracking technology for kids is likely to increase in the near future. By the year 2016, a staggering 70 million people across North America and Europe could be making use of apps to trace the movements and activities of their loved ones. From using GPS (Global Positioning Systems) to ensure parents know exactly where their young kids are during the day to activating blocks on kids’ online accounts, there are so many ways for parents to remain aware of how their kids are using technology in today’s digital age.
With widespread prevalence of such parental controls in technology, parents can ensure that their kids are not involved in any inappropriate activities like the ever-growing issue of cyber bullying or the over sharing of information with complete strangers. When it comes to monitoring your kids’ use of technology, remind them that your priority is their safety.
After all, being a parent means that it is your duty to protect your young kids from every kind of danger, whether it is a real life presence or an online nuisance. With online harassment becoming common place in digital communications and social media, certain monitoring systems and safeguards can even offer parents some simple peace of mind.
The best starting point for monitoring your kid’s use of technology comes from having open communication between parents and children. Provide kids with the information they need to make the right choices when it comes to online safety. Ease them into regular use by utilizing certain parental controls on their online accounts. Most of the time, kids are simply unaware of the reach of technology and social media, which can have dangerous results.
