Parents & Caregivers
Searching, filtering and monitoring
It is important to keep in mind that online safety needs to include more than just setting up a safe search engine or filters for the family to use. Because no filtering program can be 100% effective at blocking adult, scary or inappropriate material, it is important that education and critical thinking skills are provided alongside any technological intervention. So many devices now access the internet that there is no single point which can be filtered and made safe. Young people can go online from conputers (at home and in many other places), from a smart phone, a games console, friends' devices. How to set some parental controls The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (iGEA) has created a series of ‘How to set-up Parental Controls’ videos to help parents manage healthy video gaming habits for their children. The videos, hosted by iGEA ambassador and sports presenter Stephanie Brantz and Auckland journalist Kate Palmer provide step-by-step instructions to show parents how to activate parental control features on popular gaming consoles, including the Sony Playstation, Microsoft XBOX, Nintendo Wii and a PC. The Videos are hosted on the iGEA’s YouTube channel IGEA is an industry association representing Australian and New Zealand companies in the computer and video game industry.
Critical thinking skills, and education are key to keeping kids safe online - not least because they are portable, and travel with children when they visit friends' houses or internet cafes (where safe searching tools may not be in place). Also, NetSafe research has found that as children get older, they are more and more able to get around technological barriers such as filtering and safe search engines. (It also pays to remember that problems like bullying online are not prevented by filtering or safe search tools). Please note that many safe search engines are deactivated when you delete your cookies. Monitoring and Filtering at Home
As parents, you can reinforce what schools are doing by negotiating an agreement with your child (children) and establishing 'rules' for how and when internet can be used in your home.
Monitoring of young children is part of maintaining a safe internet environment whether at home or at school. There are a number of factors to consider in monitoring.
Siting the computer
The easiest way to monitor computer access to the internet is to keep an eye on the screen. It is really hard to do that through a closed bedroom door, so move the computer into a communal space like the lounge, where people walking by can easily see what is on the screen. This also reinforces the message that the internet is for the whole family, not for one person to use in isolation.
If the computer is in the bedroom, it is also hard to monitor time spent on the internet. Quite a few young people are on the internet in their rooms long into the night, unbeknownst to their sleeping parents.
Time on the internet
Any parent agreement with children can include how much time young people spend on the internet. Set some reasonable limits that allows balance with other activities. Parents have been dealing with the time issue regarding television watching, video game-playing and 'doing homework' on the phone at night with friends. The same strategies used for these situations can be applied to time spent on the net.
History of sites visited
You can check the history on the toolbar of your browser. You can also delete unwanted sites from that history. However be realistic about the limitations of such practices if your child is fairly advanced with technology.
If you have a child just learning about the net, checking the history is a good strategy. If you have a child who has hacking skills and is adept with the technology, checking the history is probably a waste of time. They would know enough to manipulate that history any way they wanted. That's why education is so important. If your child has great ability with the technology, (which is a wonderful gift) you can empower them to keep themselves (and others) safe with information from this site and ask them to help you build your own skills.
Software monitoring
There are some good options for monitoring activity on the home computer. Such programmes can let you know when a significant number of large files have been downloaded (could be MP3 music files or images like friends' photos or even pornography). Such programmes can alert you to a potential problem. If you have high-speed access to the internet, downloading a quantity of such large files can be costly, so such programmes can help keep your access costs down. Please see our products and services page or check out consumer.org for informationa and ratings on products and services.
Filtering
Every parent must make their own decision about filtering. There are software packages and several Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who provide reliable filtered access to the internet. Filtering can certainly help control what sort of material comes into your home. Even spam can be virtually eliminated with a good service or piece of software.
The age of your children may also influence your decision. If you have young children who are just getting started with the internet, filtering provides a very safe way for them to start learning about cyberspace. If you have older teenagers, however, who have been using the net for years, they may be used to unfiltered access at friends' houses, the library, the local cybercafe and elsewhere. Please see our products and services page or check out consumer.org website for ratings on filtering.
Finding the right combination for your home
The key is for you as a parent to decide what role the internet has in your household and how and when members of your family can use it. Also, discussing the consequences for misuse of the internet before there is a problem, can help everyone be prepared and informed. There are a number of good options to establish the internet environment that is right for you.
Don't forget the phone and games consoles!
With more young people having internet-accessible mobile phones, PSPs, XBox and even Wii, the question of monitoring becomes more complex. Again, education becomes the key strategy. Empower young people with information about safety in chatrooms, the issues about pornography, how to respond to anti-social messages, etc,so they are safe wherever they access the internet.
If you have further questions freephone 0508 NETSAFE (0508 638 723) or email queries@netsafe.org.nz
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