Do You Control Your Teen's Internet Use?

The Internet is an amazing place, and with advances in cloud technology, it promises to enable even more advances in communication. Many parents turn to the Internet for answers to issues with their teenagers, and being internet savvy is a requirement if you are parenting teenagers! There are a number of controls that you, as a parent can impose on your teenagers' use of the internet, some more successful than others. There is the basic issue of how much time your teenager spends on the computer, and thus the internet, which is managed by the simple expedient of the off switch!!!

If your teenager has a computer in the bedroom it may be slightly more difficult to impose this, but resourceful parents have downloaded software that enables them to set time limits for each child in the household to use the computer. Each user has a unique login, the software tells then when they are running out of time and when time is up, the screen returns to the login page, whilst saving any work the teen was doing, but not allowing them back in again. With systems like this, parents set the time, can use extra time as rewards and avoid the arguments over turning the computer off, prevent use after certain times of night and know exactly how much time their kids spend on the computer.

To protect your teenager from inappropriate sites on the internet install software that filters sites, or a separate server that will protect all your teens methods of accessing the internet, including video game online access. This software usually connects to your router and requires passwords to be accessed and changed, which the parents need to store separately. Teenagers are notoriously smart at hacking into sites they are not allowed to; parents have to be one step ahead, and may need to consult a computer security expert. Whilst you may wish that your teenager would simply exercise their common sense, they will not always heed your warnings, thinking you are simply being old fashioned.

The internet can be a great place to find out information for homework but it is also loaded with inappropriate websites; at the lower end are sites that will infect your system with viruses, through to all your personal information being hacked and a serious case of identity theft. Your teens may be exposed to pornography and extreme views of violence, or worse, be the target of pedophiles. Online gambling is on the increase and the sites have very few controls stopping teens from accessing them, so you need to make sure that they cannot access them at all. If you keep your teens safe from the worst aspects of the Internet, you will be helping them to become responsible computer users.