Internet Safety: How to Protect Your Children in the Digital Age
By: The Sider Group
Submitted: 2011-12-20 23:20:22 | Word Count: 472
The Internet is a big part of our lives now - no two ways about it - and that includes the lives of our children. While the Internet offers many opportunities for children to learn and grow, it also presents many dangers of which parents must be mindful.
Fortunately, there are several simple actions parents can take to ensure the maximum protection for their children as they navigate the Web. Even if you don't consider yourself tech savvy, you should have no problem applying an Internet protection plan for all the computers to which your children have access in your home. Here are a few tips to help you get started.
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Parental Controls and Content Monitoring Tips
Automatically Block Adult Sites – It's easy for parents to automatically block all sites containing adult content, so kids can't even accidentally come across it. One of the easiest ways to do this is with OpenDNS, which is easily accessible online without any downloads or software installations. The site has a computer option that provides easy-to-follow instructions. Simply choose a moderate or high filtering level, depending on how much you want to block. Your kids won't be able to see any websites that have adult images, videos or other content.
Keep Track of What They're Doing – If you want to monitor what kinds of sites your children are accessing online, there are various programs that allow you to do this. Make sure to also have a conversation with your children about activity you feel is inappropriate.
Pick and Choose the Sites to Block – Some parents just want to block certain sites, such as social networking sites they don't want their children using or chat rooms where they could be meeting predators. OpenDNS also provides the option to block certain categories of websites or specific sites that parents don't want their children to access.
Prevent Clicks on Bad Websites – Even perfectly innocent web searches can yield results that include some websites with harmful or malevolent content. There are simple filtering systems available that evaluate web pages that appear in search results and flag the ones whose content could be harmful to your computer (malware, spyware, etc).
Safe Search Options – The leading search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and Bing, offer "safe searching" options that prevent inappropriate content from appearing in search results. Just make sure to reset the "safe search" mode every time you clear the browser cache.
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