Protecting our children online is very important and there are a few free things that can be done to control home viewing. There are also good advice sites about how to talk to your children about safely accessing the net inside and outside the home – as a cyber psychologist said on Radio 1, “What is seen can’t be unseen”.
Have you wondered how much screen time is ‘good’ time? Advice for parents on this and more can be found on the parents page on the Irish site, www.webwise.ie.
Tips for safer surfing:
- Keep the computer viewing in a public place at home.
- Turn on Youtube ‘Parental Settings’ (free) Parental settings can be switched on and locked on. Click here for 1 min long youtube video showing you how to do it.
- Youtube kids is another option
- Set Google Safe Search (free) Click here to find out how to turn this on to block explicit results
- Download safer browsers ... www.duckduckgo.com is safer than others, and keeps browsing private, but still doesn’t stop children finding stuff they shouldn’t.
- [This browser is the default browser on the Raspberry Pi s.]
- This can also be added as an extension to Chrome/Chromium.
- Set up a family filter on your home internet .. By logging into your online home broadband account you can usually set up parental controls.
- Timer Plug (€6)
Have a family meeting to decide how many hours wifi time the household might run best on each day. Then set the timer plug, plug the modem into it, and plug this into the socket. The modem will then switch itself on and off automatically according to the hours set on the timer plug. Meet again to reassess its value and timetable. (idea adapted from ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families’ by Covey).
- Install a personalised software filter
Connect the devices to an app which sets up personalised filters for various devices in the household – for example iKydz , a Wicklow based startup. This uses the Google Safe Search and CIA filters.
The USA app Cynja allows you, as a parent, to control and monitor your child’s use of social apps, web, and more. A subscription to their weekly comic books for children help them learn more about the internet in a fun way.
