More and more kids have access to the internet these days, from home, as well as on the go. They are using the internet for many different reasons, from doing research for school, looking up information for their own uses, as well as to play online games. The internet is no longer just accessed by teen agers, but younger kids as well. The internet could be a dangerous place for kids, no matter what age they happen to be.
We will get to one of the most obvious internet dangers in a moment. For now lets start with playing games online. It is important that if your children want to play internet computer games, that you are there at least at the start. These games can include malicious programs that could harm not only their computer, or laptop, but yours as well. There are all sorts of harmful programs that hackers can put on your computer. There are viruses, malware, phishing programs, and software that collect personal information on your secure accounts. You even have some people that can actually hack into your childs webcam if their computer or laptop has one.
It is important that you oversee their online activities, and make sure they arent downloading games that can affect their computers. You need to check if they are downloading programs that are unfamiliar, or unsecure. You also need to install an internet security program on their computer that blocks these sites. There are many different helpful internet sites that can help you download software programs to block these inappropriate sites, which we will mention a little later.
Another important area where you really need to be careful about your childs internet activities is with chat rooms. There are a lot of different chat rooms that kids use, forums for teenage issues, social chat rooms, just to name a few. As you may have seen on television, these are ideal places for predators to lurk, posing as children, enticing your kids into more in depth conversations, until there is some kind of meeting. Then they child may get kidnapped or sexually assaulted, or worse. You need to monitor your kids chat room activities as well.
Okay so lets talk about the gorilla in the room, internet porn sites. There are literally thousands of different sites these days, and they are not discriminatory. Sure they may have some kind of disclaimer, but all you child has to do is click that they are over 18 and they have access to all kinds of pictures and videos that they shouldnt be seeing. Even kids that are not specifically looking for these sites may access them on search engines, and before they realize it they reach age inappropriate content. They may even try to steer away from these sites, only to be redirected to other similar sites.
Young kids are very impressionable, and should never have access to any kind of pornography related website. You need a way to completely block these sites from even appearing on their computers or other internet accessible devices. Luckily, there are many ways you can prevent your children from accessing this information. One of them is Work Examiner.com. You can find out more about how to block porn at this site. This site offers information and articles about blocking porn on your childs computer, as well as other inappropriate websites.
What is the most important tool you can use to prevent your children from accessing inappropriate web content? You of course. You are your childs best defense against being able to get to these sites, whether intentional or not. You have to monitor your childs online activities. It is not an invasion of their privacy, it is protecting them. You dont even have to constantly look over their shoulder, there are programs you can download onto their computers that allow you to access their computer from your own, monitoring their activities without them knowing it.