Internet surfing & keeping kids safe
The internet is an amazing place. You can travel anywhere in the world with a click of a mouse. It’s a great place for kids to learn, be entertained, and communicate with others, but keeping children safe online is a difficult task for any parent. Bullies, online predators, and inappropriate content are an easy click away.
Summer internet surfing poses a greater safety risk for children. During the school year, internet access is often limited due to typical school year routines and spending the majority of the day at school rather than home. If the internet is accessed at school, it’s likely supervised and controlled. Summer; however, allows for looser schedules, more time with friends, and unsupervised internet access for teens when their parents are at work. The internet can be a scary place, but simple internet safety practices will ensure your family’s safety online.
Keep screens and devices in view
Always monitor your child’s time online, particularly younger children. Keep the computer in a central area of the home to easily monitor online activity. For mobile devices, you can set them to forget WiFi passwords so your children can’t access the Internet without you knowing. Making an agreement that there are no tablets, laptops, or gaming allowed in bedrooms isn’t a bad idea either.
Use parental controls
Seemingly harmless online searches can lead to not-so-innocent results. Parental controls can help prevent the likelihood of your child seeing violent or sexual material. It’s always smart to know how to use the parental controls/search restrictions offered by web browsers, devices, and your Internet service provider.
You may not be able to control what your child is exposed to at a friend’s house, but it’s easy to ensure their safety from your home network. Pioneer Communications’ WiFi 360 lets you control your network from an app on your phone. Upgrading to our Experience IQ package can help create boundaries to enforce Internet rules established at home. With enhanced parental controls and tools, you can set profiles, add filters, create time limits, and view network usage on connected devices. Did your child forget to mow the lawn or are you longing for an uninterrupted family game night in your future? Pause your Wifi with the complete control feature to set rules as you go. Only want your child to have access to the Internet on weekends? Great! Profile tools manage the content and hours of use for each connected device. Being in the dark about what happens when your kids are on the Internet is a thing of the past. Let Experience IQ help and bring you peace of mind.
The Internet doesn’t have to be unpredictable. With the proper online safety practices, the Internet can be a place full of possibilities, as it was intended from the start.
