Today's technology can be overwhelming for adults. Most teens know much more about computers than their parents.
NBC 10 technology expert, Dr. Ken Hartman, has some information on how to monitor and protect our children while they're online.
There are hundreds of programs on the market for monitoring computer usage and more are being developed every day. So, where should parents begin?
"There are two major types of software. There are programs that will filter out certain sites. Then, there are those that will not only filter out the site, but will also report back to a parent violations or sites that the child shouldn't be going to," Hartman said.
You really want to focus in on software that allows you to both filter and monitor your child's use online.
"A very popular program is called
Net Nanny. The company has a special program that's just for chat rooms (and) instant messaging sessions, because that's where kids hang out these days," Hartman said.
Safety Net is another program that records usage while you're away and allows you to see what screen and what message was being sent. It basically takes a picture of the computer screen every 3, 5 and 10 seconds.
Spectorsoft has a whole series of programs that are like spyware. Many of these programs work in the background so the child may not even know the software happens to be on the computer.
"My suggestion is to tell the child. I tell my kids that my job and my responsibility as a parent is to monitor and supervise your use of the Internet," Hartman explained.
Many of these programs offer a free 30-day trial period that you can download right off their Web sites.
"There is also a new site and new service called
Be Aware. What this site will do is -- it won't filter what your child does, but it will monitor what a child does online," Hartman said.
Online Resources For Parents
Be Aware is almost like spyware on a computer. Software is loaded onto a home computer and then a parent can go to the Be Aware Web site and actually monitor what the site is doing at any given time, including e-mail, Web sites and instant messaging.
"It's a wonderful tool to monitor where they are going when you are not at home. The best part about this particular software is the alert section where you can set up the software so that if certain words are typed in an e-mail or found in an e-mail received from a friend or used in an (instant messaging) session, the software automatically sends a parent an e-mail message," Hartman explained.
One of the best ways to make sure your child is behaving online is with a family contract called a kid's pledge.
The kid's pledge has eight simple rules that a child agrees to by signing the document, such as:
I will not give away personal information.
I will tell my parents right away if I come across any inappropriate information.
I will never agree to get together with somebody I "meet" on the Internet.
I will never send my picture to any person I don't know.
At the end of the pledge, the child signs it and the parent signs it. If there is a violation of the agreement, the child loses the right and the privilege of using the Internet.
Click here to download a kids pledge and a parent's pledge for your family to sign.
Here is Hartman's bottom line on what you can do to make a difference in your home:
"There are four things that a parent can do to keep their child safe on the Internet. The first thing is to establish the rules and regulations for Internet use. They need to understand what the limits are and they also need to understand that they will be held accountable for their behavior online," Hartman said.
"The second thing you can do is make sure the computer is in a safe, public area. Not in the child's bedroom, but in the living room or den where a parent can walk by and see where a child is online. The third thing to do is to install filtering and monitoring software. There are numerous different titles and you should really try out one or two of them to see which one works best for you," Hartman said.
"Finally, the thing to do is to make sure that you let your child know that you will verify that what they are doing online meets the expectations and responsibilities that you have set forth," Hartman concluded.
"We teach kids not to talk to strangers. The Internet is no different than that. I often say that www stands for wild, wild web, because there are a lot of crazy people out there. The child should understand that while you don't talk to strangers on the street, you don't talk to strangers on the Internet as well," Hartman warned.
Copyright 2004 by NBC10.com. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Internet Predator Software
