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Child Computer and Internet Safety

39 Responses (Add) | Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 8:27pm

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In this day and age, you have to be proactive with your child’s safety online. Here are some great tips sent in by a community member, to help get you started (or help you continue) with Internet safety.

Monitor use of e-mail programs, for programs like MSN, AIM, and Yahoo! Messenger. Make sure you know who your child chats with, and when they are chatting with those people. Make sure if they get into a chat room, you know if they are getting into private chat with others, or make sure they know to get off if some one makes the feel uncomfortable.
Keep parental blocks turned on, and block all sites that could harm your child, or violate their privacy. Block all pornographic sites, and sites like My Space, or Facebook, because people may be able to find to much personal information about them. If they do get on a site like My Space, monitor their friends list, and look at all pictures that they upload to make sure it wont give a stalker a perfect hunting photo. Also, make sure there at not any inappropriate comments on their profile. If they are on YouTube, be sure they don’t upload have inappropriate videos on there, and make sure they don’t have dirty comments on there like “Your Hot” or “Hey Hot Stuff”.
Limit time on the computer. If you limit the time your child is on the computer, you can better monitor what is going on. Also, if they spend less time on the computer, there is less time for them to get in trouble on there. Don’t let them go on the computer with friends while you are gone, because they may get into way to much mischief. Also, don’t let your child spend time on the computer past their bedtime, because it will interfere with their sleep. Don’t allow the computer to be turned on while they are dong homework, unless a computer is required to do it.
Keep the computer in a position where you will always be able to see it, so you are able to see what is on the screen. Every now and then, walk by the computer and glance at the screen to see what they are typing, or saying in they are on MSN or Yahoo! If your child’s computer is located in a different room than the one your computer is in, consider setting up a web cam so you can see what is going on in the room with the computer your child is on. Always let your child know what your are doing, and if you are looking at their history, so they don’t feel your are invading their privacy.
Make up a contract for your child to sign, so they know all the rules that are supposed to be followed while on the internet. If the contract is broken, punish your child, but don’t threaten to take the internet away from them. All that will do is just cause them to get mad and start to not like you. Punishment could be banning them from MSN or YouTube for a few days, or cutting their time on the computer short every night for a week. Just remember, don’t take the internet away, because some people have part of their social life on the internet, or may even want the internet to learn new things.

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39 Comments

Nellie2 - Personal Ramblings on a Security Theme

January 16th, 2008
at 7:07pm

I seem to be doing a fair bit of linking recently.. but I came acrossthis post by Chris Pirilloand just had to link it on to you. If you are a regular reader of my blog then you will know that Child Safety on the internet is one of my biggest concerns. I’m not totally sure that blocking sites like MySpace and Facebook are a good idea.

Darrell Hylton

January 9th, 2008
at 10:32pm

every tip helps to help protect them online

Mathew Packer

January 9th, 2008
at 11:17pm

Someone just twittered this link over to me, I actually wrote a blog entry on something similar today where our lovely Australian Government wants all ISPs to filter content as an ‘opt out’ service, ie. you have to tell them you want the filter taken off..

This is a gross invasion of privacy and dont even get me started on the freedom of speech angle…

Anyway, in my blog I commented on ‘where are the parents and what are they doing’ in terms of just letting their kids all over the internet.

Do you mind if I point to this blog entry as a reference for ‘helping your children be safe online’ ?

Cheers
Matt

LeprechauN

January 9th, 2008
at 11:58pm

I was the one that mentioned OpenDNS, I figured I’d leave a comment about it since I didn’t see it in the blog post.

I wont go into great detail on what DNS is, to sum it up – its a service by default your ISP will be providing, you can use this free alternative, and have alot more control over everything that is accessed on the computer or network.

They already have a huge database of sites that can be blocked, aswell as the ability to add some yourself.

Take a look for yourself and see if its right for you: http://www.opendns.com/

nickjuly004

January 10th, 2008
at 1:14pm

fag..

nickjuly004

January 10th, 2008
at 1:18pm

Stop being a fag, Shadowx157, because no one likes fags especially the retarded ones with no girlfriends, but their own hands they use to masterbait with, lol.

jeffsabres

January 10th, 2008
at 1:27pm

hhaahaahha fuck u

nickjuly004

January 10th, 2008
at 1:31pm

lol, my Dad is too stupid to even know how to block web access, infact if I wanted to I could restrict web access to my dad and my Dad wouldn’t know how to bypass or disable it.

jeffsabres

January 10th, 2008
at 1:33pm

PENISSSSS

nickjuly004

January 10th, 2008
at 1:36pm

yea, fuck shadow

Ted Sbardella

January 10th, 2008
at 7:00am

Thanks LerechauN. I have been using opendns but I had no idea it did so much. It may take a bit to set up getting dynamic dns updating to work with the site but it also looks like the easiest way to block sites autofreemagically. I have a thirteen year old and she has had no free time with the internet yet but I want her to have the ability to read mugglenet and tolkiensociety. and poke around on dmoz looking at science pages without running into something weird.
She does not “need” the internet yet because she is homeschooled and learns what she needs from books or standalone software. But as she gets older she can benefit from the wider access to information.

Lauren Ayers

January 10th, 2008
at 10:14am

Kids can get onliine access in many places outside the home, so parents have limited opportunities to supervise their activities in cyberspace. Mothers and fathers who spend time developing their own internet skill can offer much more cyberguidance to kids, since they know the pitfalls and danger signs of online usage. Some parents even play online games with their kids to teach them safety. Virtually all parents teach their kids safe pedestrian skills when they are mature enough, and so children learn to cross busy streets and stay safe. If parents develop their own internet competence, they are better able to keep their kids safe on the internet.

kpslover

January 10th, 2008
at 10:36pm

Thanks for making this video! There have been many cases where kids meet adults online disguised as their peers and then the kids get exploited online. If you meet anyone online, never agree to a face to face meeting whether in your own home or in a public place. Hopefully with this video, many kids and parents can stay safe and have fun online.

hfiles23

January 11th, 2008
at 1:22am

I watched Panorama and there was someting about Child safety.

qabandiman

January 11th, 2008
at 7:43am

the main way to prevent your child from doing anything bad , is to teach him, its your duty as a parent to teach your son or doughter whats right and wrong and teach them what to do, so the best thing is to raise a good child that knows to back off from bad stuff.

nelson1tom

January 12th, 2008
at 6:16am

dude this is a killer list im glad my parents dont watch this

Shadowx157

January 12th, 2008
at 2:15pm

No your the fag you sum biatch!

Ok, no but seriously you never been to a site jeez guy grow up or somethin you must be like some 9 year old or something. Fagget

simx85

January 13th, 2008
at 11:08am

oh grow up lol. people learn through experience. and another thing, its all about sex. you dont want your child knowing anything about sex or viewing online porn or talking about related topics online. thats a social taboo our society seems to have. fact is, you learn through experience. you wouldn’t want what your doing to your kid being done to you and being told its for your own good. point.

nickjuly004

January 14th, 2008
at 2:11am

no, you need to grow up. At least I can actually get a girlfriend faggot, Shadowx157, and I know how to spell “Faggot” dumbass.

YouShouldKnowItsTrue

January 16th, 2008
at 3:58am

dood im only nine

camui87

January 16th, 2008
at 5:40am

“you sum biatch” OMG go away!

luigisf

January 16th, 2008
at 9:41am

haha

inventormaker

January 17th, 2008
at 8:32am

age 11

remixdude9

January 17th, 2008
at 11:55am

age 10

jbraly

February 3rd, 2008
at 9:36pm

im 31, been using the internet since 1994 (Before many of you people were born) and these tips are very helpful. I work for a high school and have seen some BAD things happen with kids using the internetr foolishly or without thinking. Kids need to learn sure, but that doesn’t mean making them more attractive to a stalker or predator. And yes, I do have a child. There are way more dangers out there than you 10 and 11 year olds are even aware of. I have seen it first hand with my job.

kmgcatcousin

February 29th, 2008
at 10:09am

Um, dude, quiet please.

My response in video form is in my profile.

Please learn the underestimated mentality of youth before making assumptions. My I.Q. is 128, and I’m 16. Age does not equal maturity, especially in teens. Experience is a better measurement than anything, yes, but age does not equal maturity.

i Was takeing the piss

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