Computer Monitoring Software- Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing Online?
Do you know what your kids are doing online? Do you really know? If you feel you need to know what your children or teens are doing online, you will need a computer monitoring program, also referred to as computer filtering programs.
Maybe you want to help keep your kids safe from sexual predators online due to advances in technology for children, or perhaps you want to know what your spouse or employees are doing online when they are on the computer. Whatever the case may be, computer and Internet Monitoring Programs run invisibly in the background of your computer while your kids, spouse or employees are using the computer.
With computer monitoring software, you can know what your kids are doing online, on MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites, as well as instant messaging and email conversations that may be causing you concern. The Online Safety Site has a chat example of what your kids may be doing online without your knowledge, and parents need to know what their kids are doing online in order to protect their children.
The computer monitor and filter programs listed below offers a variety of features, so be sure to carefully review the information to help you in deciding which internet monitor program is right for your situation with your kids, spouse or employees.
Spector Pro 6.0
eBlaster 5.0
Net Nanny 5.5
Kidswatch Internet Security Parental Control V5
Telling It Like It Is fully endorses WiredSafety.org as a leader in Internet safety and help group on issues including social networking, cyber bullying and protecting kids from online predators of all kinds.
Related Posts:
Why Don’t Kids Tell? Talking to Your Children About Sexual Abuse
Child Sexual Abuse: Facts VS. Myths
Signs and Symptoms of Child Sexual Abuse
Similar Posts:
- The Dangers of Webcams
- Technology and Children – A Wake Up Call For Parents
- Google Warning Visiting This Website May Harm Your Computer
- Help Pass the PROTECT Our Children Act 1738
- Most Popular Blog Posts 2008 at Telling It Like It Is
Hi Lin, Welcome back from staycation! This post on computer monitoring software is quite timely. My family was at a friend’s bbq yesterday and one of our friends (a pilot) was saying that he let his 6 and 4 year old sons watch a youtube video showing a condensed 6-minute version of the construction of the Boeing 777. He needed to do some work, and when he came back, they were watching other flying video of WWII era dogfights and planes blowing up (they said the computer did it on its own, they didn’t touch any buttons…) His wife is a pilot too and was flying that day, and he didn’t want to talk about planes blowing up, but luckily the kids didn’t make the connection. Anyway, the logical question was what else is on youtube, and does it have a parental filter (I did tell everyone that would listen that my website about trade show display booths is strictly “G-rated” and kid safe!)
Anyway, can’t believe we talked about that yesterday and now I read your article on computer monitoring software this morning. Small world. Keep up the good posts! ~ Steve (aka Mr Display Booths)
Hi Steve, I won’t be too surprised if I get some condemnatory comments about using computer monitoring programs, since parents will likely feel such software is completely unnecessary and is more like spying software and they “wouldn’t dream of doing that”.
I have an upcoming article discussing the dangers of webcams that many children and teenagers are currently using, and parents are completely unaware of what their kids are doing online.
It’s amazing to me the number of children and teens that have computers in their bedrooms (or are in open family areas but are unsupervised much of the time), so when I ask the question “Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing Online?, most parents think they know and have full trust and belief that their kids are not doing anything unsavory nor are participating in any “kid friendly” social networking sites. Boy have I got news for them.
hi Lin, I know a few parents that I think would view what you are suggesting as “spying”. The nicest thing I can say about that is that they are “misguided”. I believe in trust, privacy, and responsibility, but it must be balanced against being a parent, doing your job, and protecting your children. Spying is when you are trying to find out something that is none of your business. If it is your business (and part of your job as a parent), it isn’t spying. I’m not sure if what I just wrote makes sense, but Job #1 is to be The Parent (whether your kids like it or not (they usually won’t, and won’t understand until later in life when they have kids). ~ Steve
PS. I thought you might be #1 on google for Lin is on Staycation by now, but you’re still #3. Perhaps soon?
Yeah, I’m fully prepared to respond to anyone who is against using internet monitoring programs and I welcome the discussion.
Just yesterday I was visiting my best friend while she was sitting for her grandson (8 yrs old), and he was on the computer in the same room as we were but sitting behind us out of our direct line of sight.
He was on a “child friendly” social networking site and suddenly he started giggling. I was discussing with her this very post and about the upcoming post on the dangers of webcams that he’s now asking for.
My friend and I turned and looked at him asking what was so funny. He had gotten a Rated XXX pop up! and couldn’t get the pop up to click out. Needless to say, my friend learned a quick and hard lesson on the fact that being in the same room with a child on the computer isn’t enough.
When his mother got home she got an ear full, and now understands how dangerous it can be for children being on the internet. Her reasoning was that her son is only “allowed” to visit kid sites; well obviously that isn’t quite so.
hi Lin, Our kids don’t and likely never will have a computer (or TV) in their rooms, but for another reason. I’ve seen too many kids these days that seem to spend all their free time online playing games with their other online friends. I want my kids outside breathing fresh air and soaking up sunshine, or if they are in their rooms, they should be reading a book or doing a jigsaw puzzle. There will be plenty of time for surfing the internet and reading blogs
when they’re adults. ~ Steve (aka Mr Display Booths)
Why do I feel old reading this? I’m only 26 yet none of this applied when I was a kid. The internet was still in a relative infancy and was very expensive for most people to access. Now it seems that every child on the planet has access to the internet.
Hi April, and what’s really scary is how many kids have unsupervised time on the internet and the parents have no idea what their kids are doing online and what sites they’re actually going to. And worse yet, who really is talking to their kid? On kid sites grown men and women are pretending to be in the child’s age group, and are working hard to use a variety of “grooming methods” to gain the child’s trust in order to harm the kid.
In our house, we instituted a policy where our son is also responsible for the sites his friends visit. It puts additional responsibility on him to monitor how his computer is being used. This also heads off any, “but it was so-and-so who went to that site.”
[...] about these and other topics, but it’s extremely important for parents to know about and monitor what kids are doing online in order to supervise and protect their children from becoming [...]
[...] and supervising Megan’s online activities with the tremendous help of commercially available computer monitoring software, Megan would likely be alive today and her tormentors in jail where they [...]
[...] Computer Monitoring Software- Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing Online? [...]
Hi, as I have mentioned in another post, I do believe that using monitoring software is basically spying on your child and taking away the precious sense of trust and privacy that your child needs. You said that you don’t think it’s spying, but in this post you say “Spector Pro 6.0 is the best spy software that money can buy.” Spy software, eh?
It doesn’t matter if the software runs invisibly in the background. If you have to confront your child about what s/he is looking at online, s/he will know that you are monitoring the online activity. And if you are trying to hide your monitoring software in the first place, how is that not spying? I think that an environment of trust and open communication is the best for a child’s development, rather than secrecy and constant monitoring. And so what if s/he gets the occasional adult pop-up? As if that stuff isn’t already all over TV, movies, radio, ads, etc. Even children’s movies often have subtle innuendo these days. Rather than trying to censor our every possible “inappropriate” thing from your child’s life wouldn’t it be better to educate and talk to him/her in order to ensure that s/he knows the difference between what is appropriate and what isn’t?
Hi John, spy software is the term often used in place of “computer monitoring software”, and that is why I used the term. I appreciate your opinion, but I do believe there are situations that occur within families that cause parents to sometimes feel it’s necessary to know what they’re kids are doing online without their kids knowledge.
Fair enough. I’ll agree with you that there are certain situations that can cause you to feel it’s necessary to monitor your children’s online activity, especially with younger children.
Unrelatedly, my name is Alex, and Alex @ Pittsburgh Movers is fine if you want to rename my previous posts. I apologize for any inconvenience, I didn’t realize you were opposed to having only keywords in the name. I saw users like “display booths” and thought it would be ok. Additionally, you can be assured that spamming your blog is not my purpose – you have “nofollow” on my name/keywords so that doesn’t benefit my company in any way. If my main purpose was to promote the company, I wouldn’t have posted my comments since there would have been no benefit from the “nofollow” links. I just wanted to give my input about some of your posts that interested me, that’s all.
Hi Alex, thanks for the heads up on your real. It helps me as well to know how to address and respond to a person leaving a comment. Even “display booths” has changed his usage to Steve @display booths or something along those lines.
No worries – I don’t think of you as a spammer at all. I look forward to your continued participation in the comments.