The need for online safety with regards to children and minors cannot be overstated. Late last 2017, a national summit was held. Known as the Child Online Protection Summit, it included stakeholders from the government, private sector, the academe and the community. It aims to create and develop policies that will safeguard children from online content that is harmful to the children.
Facebook recently launched its Messenger for children wherein parents have control over their children’s contacts and content to be viewed online.
The widespread use of technology and easy availability for children has necessitated such moves and actions by parents and guardians.
There are other control apps that can be installed wherein supervision and control can be availed of particularly with regards to gadgets and smartphones used by children. These apps will filter inappropriate websites, contents and block specific apps.
The following are apps that offer comprehensive control by parents.
1. Xooloo. This app monitors the use of children of online apps, websites and has a feature that puts time limits when being used by children. It also has a virtual coach that gives warning to the user/child if the time limit is about to be reached when in use.
2. Qustodio. The daily online activity of the children are regularly monitored and a daily report is submitted to the parents. There is also a feature wherein time limits for use can be customized by the parents.
3. Family Link. Apps can be screened by the parents and blocked if specified. The app by Google is installed on both the parents and the child’s device/smartphone. A report is also generated with regards to time spent being used by the child for every app.
These apps will be a significant step for parents in having supervision, approval of sites being linked and monitoring the online activity of children.
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