Parents are turning to parental control tools like Mobistealth, to help keep their children safe on cell phones and computers. Teens and tweens find themselves in renewed trouble each day — some fall victim to cyber-bullying because of apps like Whisper and After School, others are targeted by stalkers on their social media accounts i.e., Facebook and Twitter. The new generation is one that was born with technology in one hand and rebellion in the other. Parents don’t know what to do except find ways to keep tighter checks on children, but does parental control online actually work?
The Last Resort
Given the growing number of studies that point out that parental controls are the worst thing you can do to a child, one would think that parents would steer clear of administering their own brand of computer hacking on their children. However, the sad reality is that often parents have no other choice but to monitor their child. The only aim a parent has when spying on their children is to ensure their very security. Teens (and at times tweens) engage in a range of harmful behaviors that they do not see as dangerous at all. For instance, engaging a stalker maybe thrilling for a teen but could land them into extreme hot waters. Parents need to ensure that they are one step ahead.
Conundrums Galore
If you start monitoring their tablet, they may start using their phone. If you try to hack into their phone then they may migrate to something else. Most kids are more tech savvy than their parents which is why many have to resort to using spy apps that can hide in devices being used by the kids. When teens know that they are being monitored they can do all sorts of things to avoid handing over their privacy to their parents — this includes simply using a school device or one that is owned by one of their peers.
No 100% Solution
Bad content has a nasty habit of finding its way onto a child’s computer. An example of this is the fact that often children can still download torrents to porn even when porn itself has been thoroughly blocked. While most search engines filter out content fairly well, there is no solution that delivers a 100% accuracy. In this case using parental control software isn’t the only thing a parent can or should do, it needs to be supplemented with something else: trust.
The Pop Culture Debacle
Teens are not just learning harmful behaviors from their peers, they have pop culture to thank for a lot of the crazy things they end up adopting. Parents that only rely on parental control software are not doing their homework. This generation is influenced by people like Miley Cyrus and Russell Brand. These stars make their money by behaving in unique and eccentric ways, most of which is not meant for any teen to mimic, but mimicry eventually happens in some way or the other. Parents who are allowing their teens to play harmful videogames, listen to music with adult content, watch shows that are a little too extreme etc, will not be able to do much when the parental control software tells them their teens are doing something harmful to themselves. Even the best software like the one at Mobistealth can’t do anything if your child is hooked to other harmful elements. The key is to balance it all out.
Trust — The Heart Of The Problem
Trust really is the key to the entire puzzle. Most will agree that parental control is the need of the hour if parents are to keep their kids safe from all sorts of harmful things that come into their children’s lives courtesy of the digital world. However, any solution that ends up shaking the very foundation of the trust that is shared between a parent and child is more of a problem than a solution. But this is a problem that can easily be fixed. Parents just need to go a step further in trusting their kids and monitor them with their consent and knowledge. Think about it, if your teen knows that you are installing software to keep them safe from bullies and stalkers, would they feel grateful or would they resist and tell you they’d rather be bullied? If they are made to feel as though they too are a part of the decision, they will make the job easier for you. It’s really that simple.
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