The advancement of technology brought with it both positive and negative influences. While many kids learn and gain knowledge through the Internet, some children have been negatively influenced by the things they consume on the Internet.
Research has shown how kids get exposed to inappropriate content online and the need to keep an eye on them. However, most parents are unaware of the harm their negligence or ignorance may portend for their children.
Speaking on the issue, a mother, Blessing Aiyegbeni, stated that problems related to inappropriate content online could be solved through the internet too. She noted that when a problem was spotted, many times, the solution to such a problem would be on the Internet too.
She said, “On my child’s Internet access, I use Google parental control. With this activated on his device, I am able to monitor the activities and all he does on the phone from my phone. For example, his email is logged in on my phone, to can easily monitor Google activities from there. With the parental control activated, the contents he’s exposed to are limited to his age because most of these websites are respectively rated.”
Aiyegbeni added that though some websites don’t indicate age limit, she stated that timely monitoring would help her keep her son in check in case of trespassing.
On his part, a doctor and mathematician, Abdulmojeed Olayinka, stated that rather than using a popular parenting style such as going hard and strict on the kids to keep them in check, he advised parents to adopt a better approach to handling situations with kids.
He said, “To prevent a child from engaging in any wrongful and ill-moral act, there must exist the primary understanding of proper guidance to act rightly as against wrongly engaging in what they are curious about or accidentally stumbled upon. There should be a respectful and moral parenting value instilled in the children, even without trying to dictate to them what to watch.”
“Authoritarian parents make their kids receive communication only from one side with no consideration about their emotional and psychological needs. Respectful and moral parenting value will ensure that kids become independent, understanding and rational beings; making right decisions under supervision or without it depending on their age.’’
The father of three noted that every nation had its own unique parental values implying that every parent cannot follow the same pattern to guide their kids because humans are different with diverse perspectives.
Olayinka said, “Parents must endeavour to practice what truly they wish the kids to do because kids genuinely and intuitively learn from them. Maybe with a little spirituality now, parents must learn to pray for their kids’ uprightness and divine guidance. Also, it is every parent’s responsibility to teach their kids correct values, skills and encourage them to exhibit morality at all times. This can be easier if parents spend quality time with their children, watching cartoons and other educational programmes with them.”
He noted that parents must be steadfast enough to teach their kids how things could be done better, while letting them know that they can turn to them for help. Olayinka further said that by engaging in online activities together with the kids, it would create an avenue to teach them everything before learning outside.
Besides, another mother, Hamidat Adegebo, stated that she was aware of the parental guide on phones and would deploy it to monitor her children’s activities online when they start using phones.
Adegebo stated, “I don’t know how exactly it works yet, but since it’s a sort of a monitoring system, I will install it on their phones for adequate monitoring. However, this would be after instilling morals, spiritual consciousness and adherence to rules in them.”
She stated that adequate morals would be the lens through which her kids would see the world and guide them even when there were opportunities to exploit showcase their potentials.
With appropriate guidance, they will know what is right and wrong, thereby filtering what they consume on the Internet,” Adegebo added.In his contribution, a father of three, James Abodunrin, noted that children nowadays were difficult to control, adding that adequate understanding of their world would assist parents in curbing their excesses.He noted, “When their world is understood, parents will also deploy technology to ensure that adequate monitoring is ensured so that kids do not trespass.”Commenting on the development, a techie, Ibrahim Sarafadeen, stated that parents could make use of site blockers to prevent their kids from accessing unfiltered content on the Internet.
He said, “These site blockers help ensure that kids, intentionally or unintentionally, do not get exposed to adult content. Parents can also make use of search engine settings on their children’s phones. There’s a setting on the search engine where one can restrict or regulate what results get displayed on the search engine result pages.”Sarafadeen stated that though novel and expensive, parents could create a central web access route to add their kids as the route’s components.He noted, “When they are added as components, they will need their parents’ permission and assistance to access any website. A professional should be consulted for this.”
Also commenting, a cybersecurity analyst, Toyyib Alarape, stated that it was vital for parents to monitor and take the security of their children online seriously.
He said, “Beyond adult contents on the Internet, there are greater evils on the Internet that kids can become exposed to. There are comic books and cartoons which now support homosexualism such that in a country such as Nigeria, kids can have access to the cartoons on the Internet and the parents will be unaware.”
He stated that Google parental control was one of the means to ensure that kids were safe while using the Internet. He stressed the importance of close monitoring and evaluation of thoughts by parents to mitigate effects of any wrongful content consumed by their children online.
He noted, “While tools such as the parental guide work as I stated earlier, there are now contents which are rated for kids on the Internet that are still not healthy for them. Parents should keep a close tab on their kids and let them be expressive about what they saw or watched on the Internet.”
He stated that it was also important to regularly consult techies for tools that would deny children access to adult contents on their phones.
He explained, “Kids of nowadays are smart. The world is global and children will always find means to bypass online security processes. This is why it is important that we engage them. When they are morally upright, they won’t see any need to bypass any security process. However, parents should still call experts to ensure that the security level is tightened.”
“Parents can’t afford to take any chances because these kids are bright and way ahead of the curve. However, a strong password on parental guide and some other precautions will debar them from exploring adult contents.”
@ Punch Newspaper
