How many times have you seen a child using a smartphone or a tablet and thought: “let’s see, if he knows how it works better than me”? We even find it funny that our young children know how to play a mobile application or open YouTube and search for a video of their favorite cartoons.
These situations are increasingly common in our society and it is not surprising considering the technological revolution that we are experiencing today. The proliferation and progressive simplicity of all these devices and the almost unlimited accessibility to the Internet is making it possible for children to have more and more contact with a multitude of electronic devices and that, in many cases, they are the ones who are in charge of teaching their parents how to they must use them .
But we must not forget that, although a priori this whole world can provide them with very useful tools when studying or training, for example, it can also entail dangers . And it is that the Internet is a space where content of all kinds fits, many of them unsuitable for minors: violence, pornography, radicalism … Not to mention problems such as cyberbullying or sexting , growing concerns given the possibility of contacting all kinds of of people in the network.
For all these reasons, it is convenient that parents become aware of the importance of supervising and directing their children’s use of new technologies and help them, especially at an early age, to discern between what they should or should not do on the Internet.
Fortunately, the same network offers parents a multitude of parental control platforms and tools that can be useful in these situations.
What functionalities do parental control systems incorporate?
Most parental control tools or apps work in a similar way and may include features like the following:
- Supervision and web control: this is, surely, the most important functionality of parental control systems and allows parents both to consult the websites most visited by their children and to configure the so-called “black list”, a list of websites to which they you want to limit their access.
- Activity reports: consists of the possibility of establishing the periodic sending of reports on the activity and behavior of minors while using the device.
- Establishing a “safe zone”: this functionality allows you to establish a security zone that the child can access, while protecting other parts of the device that may contain, for example, information that the child should not have access to.
- Call blocking: most tools allow the minor to block the ability to make or receive calls from certain phone numbers while the child is using the device. This feature is very useful if you want, for example, to restrict international calls or calls from unknown numbers.
- Denial of activities that involve an economic outlay: allows you to establish the prohibition of downloading paid applications or making any type of purchase on the Internet.
- Time of use: this functionality allows you to control and limit the hours during which the minor uses the device.
- Geolocation: this feature allows you to know the location of the child if he leaves the house with the device.
- Remote control from mobile or computer: finally, most parental control tools include this functionality, through which we can control all the variables that we have been commenting on from our mobile phone or computer.
The best known are: Windows Family Safety , Qustodio , Norton Family , KidLogger or K9 Web Protection .
If you are interested in starting to familiarize yourself with any of them, you can consult the list made by the Internet Security Office (OSI), a space dependent on the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda that provides information and support to prevent and solve possible security problems that may exist when browsing the Internet.
In addition, we must not forget that there are professionals who can advise us on the use of this type of platform. This is the case of the Home insurance from MGS Seguros , which includes coverage for Remote Domestic Computer Assistance . If you have contracted this coverage you will have a group of professionals who will guide you in the prevention of minors on the Internet: they will inform you of the existing risks, along with recommended action guidelines; They will assist you in the selection, installation and use of computer support tools for parental control available on the market and they will be able to inform you about the organizations and associations that help in the event of an incident involving a minor on the Internet.
