The Most Reliable Parental Control App
Use FamiSafe to keep kids safe from online dangers.
Parenting can be a tough job, raising your kids in this ever-changing world and keeping them protected from unseen dangers. This job becomes even more complicated when the children start accessing the internet. The internet can be a great source of information and entertainment.
However, the cases of online abuse and cyberbullying have led to parents monitoring social media, making sure their kids don’t fall prey to the predators of the online world.
Part 1: Do Most Parents Monitor their Kids’ Phones?
About 70% of parents claim that they keep track of their child’s social media activities, whereas 46% have access to their children’s accounts. This was found in a study done by the Digital Future Project.
It also shows that many parents won’t trust their children to keep themselves safe from the hostile online world, as only 30% of parents didn’t monitor their children’s activities. The reasons vary from not understanding tech to trusting their children and not interfering in their social media networks.
To monitor their children, parents have used a variety of methods. Some use the traditional way of keeping the child’s account details on hand and accessing them whenever they feel like it’s time to make a check. Others use dedicated monitoring software such as FamiSafe to keep track of their kids. Regardless of the method, many parents do not trust their kids to keep themselves safe.
Then some parents are not monitoring their children but have blocked certain parts of the internet from their use. According to the mobile carrier, T-Mobile, up to four million users are using a service that blocks children from accessing content that is graphic or sexual.
Additionally, about 375,000 users use a ‘Family Allowances’ service that imposes several restrictions on the child’s phone. It includes limited screen time, blocked access to certain numbers, and analysis of how many texts are being sent from the phone.
The wide differences in monitoring methods and moral values stem from the fact that parents of today’s age and time come from multiple generations. This diversity causes every parent to have a different parenting style, leading to various monitoring methods and ethics.
Part 2: Why are Some People Against Phone Monitoring?
Whenever parents monitoring social media are brought up, a group of people says the entire practice is impractical and unethical, as it invades a child’s privacy boundaries. Some of the reasons why people are against monitoring are:
Reason 1Excessive Monitoring Deteriorates the Child-Parent Relationship
One of the main reasons several adults are simply against monitoring a child’s device is its impact on the relationship between a parent and a child. When parents overdo their monitoring techniques, a child may feel that their parents don’t trust or respect them and will not provide the same level of trust and respect to the parents in return.
Children who acquire an awareness of their privacy quite early will feel the invasion of privacy strongly and heavily impact a parent’s relationship with their child.
Reason 2Overparenting can Hinder Adult Development
Keeping a tab on the child at all times will make some parents fall prey to overparenting. They try to control every aspect of a child’s life and help them in situations where generally, children should perform independently. Overparenting can negatively impact the emotional growth of a child. It will lead to several problems later in life when they have to cope with their own issues.
This is not to say that parents should not protect their children and make a compromise on their safety. However, over-monitoring should be avoided as some decisions and actions should be left for the child to decide.
Taking this freedom away from a child will negatively affect skills that are important for a child’s emotional development, such as communication skills and problem-solving skills. Additionally, the University of Mary Washington conducted a study where overparenting resulted in high levels of depression and anxiety in children.
Reason 3Deterioration of trust and a Settlement of Dishonesty
When children find out they are being restricted or controlled on something and no reasonable explanation is presented to them, they will always find other ways to access these forbidden things.
Moreover, children might take the route of dishonesty where they may blatantly lie about certain aspects to parents to stop them from interfering.
In contrast, others might use tricks to ensure the parent’s monitoring plans are foiled. Dishonesty is dangerous in many ways. It will cause problems for the child later in life if they decide to adopt it as a helpful strategy.
Part 3: Why Should You Monitor Kids’ Phones?
Although the disadvantages are there, there are ways to monitor children that make sure the disadvantages are minimized as much as possible and bring a set of valuable advantages for both the parent and the child.
Here are some reasons why kid’s online activities should be kept track of:
Reason 1Protection from Cyberbullies and Online Predators
Protection from cyberbullies and predators is probably the most significant reason a parent needs to check on their child’s social media activities.
According to a report by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), more than half a million predators are online daily and use several accounts to trap your child in their abusive methods. Half of the victims of these predators are aged between 12 to 15 years old and will reach their targets through social media sites and online chat rooms.
Additionally, it is also stated that each predator has an average of 250 victims during their lifetime. This reason alone should be enough for parents to ensure that their children are not falling prey to these malicious practices.
Besides, the way these predators work is that they try to build a sense of trust with their victims by being available for them when they are going through a problem.
Predators then also advise children not to tell anyone about their relationship, which cuts off most parents from the equation, causing the predator to work as they please. So monitoring apps can be a great help here to counter this problem.
Reason 2Protection from Blackmail
Children are immature, which will lead them to make some mistakes, which is perfectly fine as it’s a learning experience for the child. However, some of these blunders can impact them heavily. Without being aware of the consequences, a child might share a picture or an embarrassing video online.
This may lead to some people obtaining the relevant media and then blackmailing the child into performing certain activities.
Now the child’s guilt will stop them from talking to their parents, further magnifying the damage. Monitoring apps can play a key role here to prevent the problem from happening in the first place.
Reason 3Avoiding Complete Restriction
Although monitoring apps may seem to take away a part of the child’s freedom, it’s better than outright restricting complete access to the internet or the problematic app. Restricting access will only worsen your relationship with the child, and they will always find other ways to gain back accessibility.
Part 4: FamiSafe App to Monitor Child’s Social Media Activities
For parents looking for a good parenting app, Wondershare FamiSafe is a good option. They have been in the business for some while and provide the parents with a large variety of features to keep tabs on their children. These features include protection from explicit content, real-time location updates, geo-fencing, etc.
Try FamiSafe, Know kids' whereabouts.
Here’s a step-by-step guide for parents to help them set up and get the app running in no time:
Step 1: Register
To be able to avail the features of FamiSafe, you will first need to create a FamiSafe account. This can be done by either visiting their website through any browser or downloading the dedicated app from Google Play(for Android devices) or the App Store (for iPhone devices).
Step 2: Installation
To get started, install the FamiSafe account on both your child’s device and your own. The app on the child’s device will be used to send updates to the parent, while these updates will be received through the parent’s FamiSafe app installed earlier.
Step 3: Manage
Along with the FamiSafe dashboard app, parents will also be provided with a dedicated web portal where they can manage all their target device’s activities and apply the appropriate restrictions or settings.
You are now all set to monitor your child and keep them protected from online threats on social media.
Part 5: FamiSafe App to Monitor Child’s Social Media Activities
1. At what age should parents start monitoring their child’s phone activities?
Many experts recommend that a child is ready for administered smartphone use when they reach the age of 13. It also implies that a parent should start monitoring at that stage.
2. Why do parents meddle with their child’s privacy?
It is the parent’s responsibility to protect their children. At times, the best way to do this is to learn more about them by going through their social media messages using services like FamiSafe.
Wondershare Famisafe
FamiSafe lets parents control screen time, track real-time location and detect inappropriate content on kids' devices.
Conclusion
It’s imperative to keep our children far away from the dangers of the online world. Moreover, many of us will go to great lengths to ensure our child has a safe and happy online experience. The most important step is communication.
The more you educate your child about the dangers online, the less likely your child will fall prey to these problems. Also, Wondershare FamiSafe can provide much-needed assistance to learn about potential cyberbullying and prevent it.