The subject of cyber-snooping or monitoring your child’s phone activity always gets many adults a little squeamish. Some have argued the need for parents to respect their kids’ privacy, while others believe children need to learn to manage their online presence. Although such arguments might be reasonable for many people, it doesn’t hold much water, especially considering how dangerous the online world is becoming by the day. And the statistics are frightening — 70% of children experience cyberbullying, while over 15% get unsolicited, inappropriate messages from strangers. But that’s not all; kids are becoming easy targets for drug dealers and extremist movements online, while adult and explicit content have now become easier to access online. Therefore, monitoring your child’s online activities should not be considered as invading their privacy but ensuring their safety. That said, here are five reasons why you should check your child’s phone activity daily.
Safety
As indicated earlier, your child’s safety should be paramount. Therefore, it is inadvisable to think that online activities (or their consequences) are restricted to the online world. Children reveal more about themselves online. And such information can always fall in the wrong hands, making your child vulnerable to identity theft. Fraudsters can use such information to frame your child for trouble with the law, open credit card accounts, or engage in other fraudulent activities with your child’s information. There is also the likelihood of exposure to extremists and drug-related groups to worry about.
Additionally, you can’t be too sure about the sites your child visits. What may look like a cool video game to download can turn out to be a virus or malware, and your child may end up unknowingly infecting your computer or phone. Regular monitoring helps you prevent that. Phone Monitoring apps like Family Orbit can help you in keeping an eye on your child’s phone usage.
Location tracker
Flowing from the previous point, the information that your child leaves about themselves online can be used to find them in the real world. Also, once your child’s smartphone’s location is turned on, almost any hacker can track them down for any reason. Monitoring their activities will help ensure that your child isn’t making themselves available to digital strangers to find in the real world.
Bullying
Cyberbullying is one of the most common dangers children face online. While this type of bullying may not be physical, studies show that children who become victims of such activities suffer depression, experience suicidal tendencies, and go through various forms of emotional distress. The worst part is that most of these children would rather hide this form of emotional abuse from their parents. Many kids also straight-up deny they’re being bullied online upon interrogation. Because of this, many issues of cyberbullying and their resulting emotional damages go unaddressed until the parents find out too late. Cyberbullying also negatively affects a child’s academic performance, school attendance, and even self-worth. This is certainly not the risk you want to take with your child’s psychological and emotional health.
Inappropriate websites
As indicated earlier, adult content is now easily accessible online, so keep this in mind. Over 70% of underage teens encounter nudity or sexual content online, while a significant number of underage girls have also become victims of child pornography in various ways. These numbers are alarming. Without a proper web filter, you can never tell what your little is being exposed to or watching in your absence. Many websites will easily expose your child through links and ad pop-ups to disturbing and psychologically harmful content. As online fraud and scam activities are on the rise, many kids are now considering these online activities a fast way to make “good” money.
Sexting
Believe it or not, sexting is a federal crime. Depending on the nature of the content being circulated, sending and receiving nudes can be considered child pornography. Unfortunately, many children believe that it is okay and even normal to share nude pictures of themselves and friends with others online. They may also forward pictures they receive of other kids to various recipients. You can track your child’s phone to stop such activities and discourage this behavior.
For many parents, the problem lies in how to track their kids effectively and monitor phone activity without interfering or helicoptering over their online activities. In most cases, you can easily download a child tracking or family safety app that you can use to watch or monitor your child’s online behavior. This way, you can prevent them from becoming the victims or perpetrators of any form of inappropriate online activities, so keep this in mind.
