Top 9 reasons to monitors child's activity in the internet

2015-09-10

The World Wide Web is an amazing place for knowledge and entertainment. It connects people all around the world who share useful information with each other. Internet can prove to be a great place to spend your time but at the same time it is part of many controversies. It is open to everyone and there is no age restriction. Although it is a good thing that the knowledge is available to everyone but some content is not suitable for minors and teenagers. There are many risks involved and recent incidents have resulted in more awareness regarding child safety on the internet. Today, we will look at top reasons why you should monitor your children’s internet use.

Identity Theft

Children are amateur and they cannot tell individual’s intentions on the internet. Children can give out a lot of personal information to strangers which can put their and their parent’s life at risk. People use this personal information for identity theft. They can compromise your personal details and use them to create fake identities. Parents need to monitor their children’s social networking profiles. Some children mistakenly provide their address and other information. This can prove to be extremely dangerous especially in today’s world.

Virus, Malwares and Trojans

Internet is filled with malwares, viruses and Trojans. They trick you in to downloading a program that you need but it is actually a virus. Children do not have the sense to distinguish between the actual program and an adware so they usually download the first link they find. These viruses and Trojans can be extremely dangerous because they allow a hacker to get in to your system and steal personal information and files. You have dozens of family pictures and personal stuff in your PC which can be at risk if a virus or malware is installed.
Hackers can also monitor your keystrokes which can be used to steal credit card information. You have to keep a check on your children on what they are downloading and whether it is the correct file or a virus.

Credit Card Scams

Teenagers, particularly young adults often purchase a lot of things from online stores. There are many scam and fake websites made to steal your credit card information. It might seem legit to the teenager but at the backend there is a script to steal your credit card information. This can cause a huge financial crisis if the credit card is used at its max potential. The misuse of the card will result in a huge bill which might affect your expenditure for the whole the year just to pay it back.

Your children’s browser history

Although parents are not in favor of spying on their children but it is extremely important to know what their children are up to. You need access to their browser history so you know what kind of websites they visit. There is a lot of adult and illegal content available on the internet and you do not want your children to get exposed to such stuff at a young age. You can setup a remote desktop connection or use internet monitoring softwares to keep track of your children’s browser history.

Stalking

Every social network has one common problem, stalking. Since the profiles are available online and everyone can access them, websites like Facebook have become major stalking platforms. Although most of the times only friends of friends are stalking your profile but you can fall victim to a dangerous stalker. You have to prevent such things from happening and guide your children regarding this.

Chat rooms

Chat rooms are designed to meet new people but they have grown to be extremely dangerous places to hang on the internet. Chat rooms are home to sexual predators and identity thefts. Anyone can be anonymous in a chat room which is the ideal cover for committing any kind of criminal act. There are many immoral acts happening all over the internet in a chat room. There is no stopping them except for refraining to provide any information in these chat rooms. You can have a friendly chat with someone but never give out any information or share any pictures. You trust someone with your pictures and the next day you find out that your pictures are all over the internet.
Chat rooms are also a major cause of identity thefts. It is easy to discuss personal things when you feel lonely but these are psychological ways to get your personal information. It can compromise your identity to a thief and it will become extremely harmful in the future.

Cyber bullying

Cyber bullying is another act which needs to be controlled on the internet. The problem is that no one has complete control on what is happening on the internet. The real issue is that your child is exposed to such things every day. Cyber bullying is not different from traditional bullying in schools but it can spread like a virus online. You are not constrained to just one region, the whole world sees what is going on the internet. Cyber bullying has led to many suicides and psychological problems in young children. Parents need to keep track of these things and guide the children on how to handle if something like this happens.
These are some of the reasons why you should monitor your child’s activities online. Spending too much time online is not healthy for your children so it is better to monitor their activities and keep a track of things. By monitoring your child’s online presence you can prevent a lot of things from happening and keep your children safe.