Some parents may assume that children are safe from cyber risks just because they use the internet and phones at home. But this can’t be any further from reality. Children are at constant risk of cybercrimes wherever they are. Besides, they are spending more time looking at screens than before. Excessive screen time equals severe physical and mental disorders. However, parents can reduce or eliminate these risks by monitoring and controlling their children’s internet uses. The best tools that can come to parents’ aid are parental control apps.
In this article, we aim to introduce parental control apps, explain why they are important for all parents, and give examples of the main features of Safes, one of the best parental control apps.
What Risks Threaten Children Online?
Children in the online world are threatened by health and safety risks. Below we will explain the two in detail.
Health Risks
It’s fair to say that children today live in front of screens. Kaiser Family Foundation‘s research reveals that minors between 8 to 18 spend 7.5 hours in front of screens for entertainment. This figure doesn’t include the time they use screens for educational purposes.
7.5 hours surpasses the recommended screen time for children far too much. OSF Healthcare advises parents not to let their infants under two years of age use screens and only let older children use screens for less than 2 hours a day.
Excessive screen time can cause the health problems listed below:
- Irregular Sleep
- Weight Problems
- Behavioural Problems
- Mood Problems
- Poor Academic Performance
- Poor Self-esteem
- Brain Development Delay
Safety Risks
Besides the problems that excessive screen time can cause children, safety risks threaten them. Cybercrime lurks around on the internet. Many evil people take advantage of the internet to hide their identities and harm innocent children. Some people may harm children unintentionally by sharing content that is inappropriate for them.
Inappropriate content like pornography, gore, and violence harms children’s mental health. Other than that, there are risks on the internet for children that can be labelled as cybercrimes. They include:
- Child Pornography
- Cyber Stalking
- Cyber Bullying
- Defamation
- Grooming
- Hacking
- Identity Theft
- Online Extortion
- Sexual Harassment
- Violation of Privacy
How Can Parents Protect Children from Cyber Risks?
Most of the risks that threaten children online also threaten adults. The problem is that children are more vulnerable to these risks. They don’t have the experience and knowledge to protect themselves in emergencies. However, there is a lot that parents can do to protect their children.
Increase Your Digital Knowledge
First and foremost, parents need to educate themselves about the online world because if they lack the information, they wouldn’t be able to educate their children or adequately protect them. If you are a parent, we suggest you install and use some applications your child uses or at least read about how they work.
Talk to Your Child
After gaining the knowledge, parents need to talk to their children about cyber risks. They need to explain what threatens them online, what problems excessive screen time causes, how to take care of themselves, and what to do in times of emergency.
Monitor Your Children
Although talking to children is extensively helpful, our experience with children proves that they cannot fully protect themselves without their parents’ supervision. For example, most children cannot refrain from playing games on smart devices. Unfortunately, screens have an addictive essence that engrosses children. So, as a parent, you need to control your child’s screen time.
Use Parental Control Apps
It is, of course, close to impossible to monitor and control children all the time. Firstly, because today both fathers and mothers work outside the home. And secondly, children spend some of their time in private or outside the house where parents cannot monitor them. This is where parental control apps help parents maximise their children’s safety.
What Is a Parental Control App?
Parental Control apps are there to fill in the gaps in children’s safety online. They have features to help children and parents in the six areas below:
- Internet Activity
- Screen Time
- Device Control
- Geolocation
- Reports
- Emergency
Not all parental control apps have the same features, and not all of them can deliver protection in all six areas mentioned above. Based on our comparison of the variety of features, reliability, and safety of many parental control apps, we believe Safes stands out.
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Below, read about the most important features of Safes parental control app.
Internet Activity
You can monitor and control your child’s internet use with Safes. It allows you to block websites or keywords and cut off apps’ internet access to prevent your child from receiving explicit content.
Safes lists thousands of websites and keywords in different categories inappropriate for children, such as pornography, violence, shopping, etc. These lists are continually updated. You can add more keywords and websites or remove some from the default lists.
Screen Time
On Safes parental control app, you can set screen time limits for apps on your child’s devices. You can make a schedule for different days of the week, allowing your child to use apps longer or shorter on different days of the week. When children reach the daily limit, the apps won’t open.
Creating screen time profiles makes the task of monitoring easier for you. You can make different screen time profiles for different occasions and turn them on and off whenever you need.
Device Control
Using Safes, you can control your child’s devices from your phone. For example, you can pause an app without touching your child’s phone. You can put their phone into bedtime mode, meaning that after a specific time at night, children won’t be able to use their phones except for emergency calls and SMS. This feature prevents children from using their phones late at night.
Other than apps, keywords, and websites, you can block numbers to keep unwelcome people away from your child.
Geolocation
Safes benefits from practical and helpful geolocation tools. For example, you can see your child’s location immediately. The app will send you reports on places your child visits every day.
Geofence is another feature of Safes parental control app. You can create geographical zones with certain automatic features. By defining your home’s location, you can let your child use (or not use) some apps at home. As your child comes within the designated area, the apps deactivate, and as they leave the area, they activate (or vice versa).
Reports
Parental control apps send you reports about your child’s web activity and screen time. Moreover, you’ll receive notifications about their phone status using Safes. For example, you’d know their battery life.
With the help of GPS and geofence, you’d receive notifications when your child comes or leaves home, school, or whatever location you define. If you have a teenager who drives, Safes sends reports on your child’s driving habits. If they speed, you’ll receive a notification.
Emergency
A parental control app like Safe has tools to help your children reach out to you in times of emergency. For example, using Safes, your child can ask to see your location.
Other options Safes offers your child are emergency calls and SMS. Meaning that even if they reach their screen time limit, they’d still be able to call or text you.
On the other hand, you can see your child’s current location, battery life, and driving speed, enabling you to access them before they get into trouble.
Concluding Why Using a Parental Control App Is Important?
Although some may underestimate the risks of using screens and the internet, the online world can pose serious dangers to children. Firstly, children are prone to be subjected to cybercrimes. Secondly, they may hurt themselves by too much screen time. However, there is a solution for parents to keep their children away from danger.
Firstly, parents need to increase their knowledge about the digital world. Secondly, they need to speak to their children about the risks of the online world and how to protect themselves. Thirdly, they need to monitor their children’s screen time and internet use. Lastly, they need to use parental control apps such as Safes to maximise their children’s safety.
In this article, we covered some of the features of Safes, the best parental control app available. Read more about Safes’ services at Safes
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