Born with a chip is a common phrase referring to the kids of this generation that were born in the era of technology. They are tech-savvy, anxious and interested in the amazing and exciting features offered by technology. They want to feel, know-how and why smartphones do what they do. However, is that smartphone or tablet safe for a kid to use for his or her mental health and well being?
We are in an era where there is immense sharing of information over these devices that if you aren’t vigilant enough, you may not even know what your little one is being exposed to on these devices. This article will take you through steps you can use to safely control kids from this inappropriate content over the internet.
Buy kid-friendly gadgets
Buy these kids not just any tablet but tablets that are meant to be used by kids for example kid tubbies. These tablets are kids tailored, have big bright screens that create brilliant interactivity and this will keep them from wanting to use your own. These kids tablets go for about 200,000 to 400,000 shillings and have content that excites them while also keeping them educated as well.
Use of parental control apps
Parental control apps can help you maintain control over your kid’s smart gadgets in a wide variety of ways. They mostly do monitoring that includes, time management, screen on-time, location tracking, etc. These mobile apps typically allow you to manage settings and view reports from a remote device like phone or tablet, though we must warn that some lack this capability.
Use web filtering
The hallmark feature of any parental control app is its ability to prevent kids from accessing inappropriate or dangerous websites. In the era of Google, the kids can need information from the internet to facilitate their learning but not every content source out there is safe. You can deter this by blocking common sites that have +18 rated content. If you have a shared home network, you can block sites from the router web interface or the browsers themselves.
Use of kids version of common apps
This is installing kids’ app versions on their gadgets or your own for example, YouTube for kids instead of the main app since it has content tailored to kids. Also, most of them enjoy watching videos and playing games but these apps come with inbuilt controls and content monitoring functionalities that you can take advantage of.
App blocking
Just like how UCC blocked access to social media apps before one pays for the OTT tax, you too can block access to applications by your kids and be able to control the time they spend on these apps or completely cut them off. Some parental control apps can also remove app icons completely from the home screen so that there’s no chance of your kid accessing them.
Keep the devices away from kids
Setting a pass lock on your phone is essential but not enough if we need to protect these little ones from consuming content that ain’t safe for them. We need to literally keep devices away from these “daddy I want to play a game”. You will utterly be shocked at how they keenly watch you as you use your smartphone and will open it in the blink of an eye. This is common with phones that are protected with patterns.
Pin and passwords are better than patterns
We would advise a parent to use either a password or a pin. These are harder to observe or even guess by these little technology intelligent kids. Additional stuff to do is to lock apps that may contain adult content like Whatsapp, the phone gallery, and a few more others.
Lastly, we need to always monitor our kids when they use these gadgets whether their own or yours. We need to protect them from exposure to inappropriate information mainly over the internet because at the end of the day, it is your responsibility as parents to take the above actions.
