September 15, 2015
Common Misconceptions About Parental Control Software
To install parental control software or not is one of the most crucial decisions faced by many parents in the present day. Since an active Internet connection is a given in virtually any home in developed countries, a debate has long been ongoing about just how much Internet access children and teenagers should have.
Understandably, most parents believe that their kids should have at least moderate supervision as they go about their online activities. The dangers posed by unrestricted adult content, lurking pedophiles, and cyber bulling are all too common and real, and any good parent would want to shield their children from such.
However, while there are plenty kinds of parental control software being offered to help parents achieve this goal, not all parents are eager to embrace the said software. These are primarily because of certain myths and misconceptions, such as:
- Parental control software is expensive.
This is largely false, especially since there are a lot of good parental control software that are actually free of charge. Granted, some of the more advanced features may come with an additional charge, but such are hardly exorbitant and the optional features often prove to be well worth the extra cost.
- Installing parental control software on the family computer restricts everyone's access, including the parents.
Parental control software allows parents to actively block certain websites and applications so that casual users can't access them on the family computer. However, if access to a restricted website is needed (e.g., for research purposes or any other reason), the parent can override the block on the said website by keying in a password (which they themselves will provide).
- Putting parental control software on a teenager's laptop will alert him or her to its presence and could cause friction between the child and the parent.
Spytector parental control software can actually be remotely installed on a child's computer and can remain and function there entirely undetected.
- Parental control software is useless when your child is already Internet-savvy.
Some curious or hormonal teenagers resort to deleting their browser history to prevent being discovered as they visit websites with restricted content (e.g., pornographic images, chat rooms that use graphic and obscene language, etc.). This might make it difficult for the average parent to truly monitor their Internet usage, but a good parental control software like Spytector discreetly creates logs of a child's online activities and forwards it to the parent's email address, whether the child deletes his or her browser history or not.
- Parental control software is unnecessary if you brought up your child well.
While parents do their best to model the sort of exemplary behavior that they would like their kids to emulate, the fact remains that they cannot always be there. And in the absence of parental supervision and guidance, exposure to harmful Internet content becomes all the more dangerous as it can exert a toxic influence on a child's mind. Parental control software is no substitute for proper guidance, of course, but it does minimize the chances of a child encountering harmful content if s/he is using the Internet while his or her parents are out of the house.