Tips on Child Safety on Mobile Internet

Ask any child from first grade to college to name the phone, media player, or tablet they love the most and they’ll hear the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Brand awareness and demand for Apple products among the jungle gym crowd has never been greater. What most parents don’t realize, however, is that without proper security controls in place, Apple’s wonderful devices could be an unguarded gateway to dangerous forbidden fruits.

While most parents know to use parental controls on their home computers, according to a McAfee survey, four out of five parents do not turn on such software. Almost a third of parents left their children alone when browsing, and almost half of parents said they did not know if their children had social media accounts on sites like Facebook. (Do you think your child is too young? More than 20 percent of fourth through fifth graders have a social media profile. According to a Cox Communications study, 72 percent of teens have a social media profile and almost half have a public profile that anyone can see).

More than half of parents do not control their children’s desktop or laptop use (according to an MSN Europe survey). When it comes to mobile internet safety, even the most tech-savvy parents find it nearly impossible to control their children’s mobile habits. Even if children only use their mobile devices while traveling to and from school, they must use them safely. Personal follow-up is not always possible. Even when they are in the same room, a parent cannot read what is on a small screen without sitting next to their child.

Fortunately, there are technologies that can help. Parents can create mobile security for their children, and it is not as difficult as they think.

Mobile computing is the fastest growing technology sector, and the market penetration of young people is increasing every day. Seventy-six percent of all youth ages eight to 18 own iPods or other MP3 players. Teens spend at least 49 minutes a day consuming media on mobile devices, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Mobile technology can show young people the good, the bad and the ugly of the Internet. According to a Pew Internet study, 70 percent of teens are accidentally exposed to pornography on the web.

The apple of all children’s eyes:

With more than 120 million iOS devices sold, as of September 2010 (67.6 million iPhones, 7.2 million iPads, 45.2 million iPod touch), Apple dominates the mobile market. Beyond its obvious cool factor, the availability of thousands of kid-friendly apps means that young people’s brand loyalty is already assured. In addition to being “cool”, iOS devices are changing the way you learn in the classroom and at home.

There are pilot programs using mobile learning in all 50 states. Many focus on the iPod touch as the main computer to replace all textbooks, courses, graphing calculators, etc. The iSchool Initiative estimates that each $ 150 iPod touch would save at least $ 600 per student per year. Those powerful numbers mean that more school programs will require an iPod touch. (Some schools will even standardize on the iPod touch’s sibling, the bigger and more expensive iPad, which runs on the same iOS platform.)

Parents and school districts will need to find ways to secure these devices so that they are child-friendly at home and in the classroom. This is not just a question of security, there is money involved. Schools that enable mobile learning must implement the Mobile Internet Child Protection Standards to enforce an Internet safety standard and remain eligible for federal funding.

As more school systems test Apple’s iOS products in the classroom, parents and educators alike must ensure that the first defense against inappropriate content (web filtering software) is set up on children’s iPhones, iPods, and iPads. kids.

Some think that parental controls on iPods, iPhones, and iPads are insufficient. While parental controls are important for desktops and laptops, mobile parental controls need to happen beyond what’s built into device technology. To make sure your mobile kids safely surf the mobile web, here are 10 tips to keep your kid safe online.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. # 1: Safari could be an unfiltered content safari.

As good as Safari is at displaying sites (as long as they don’t use Flash), it has no parental web filtering controls. None. Zipper. Any. If your kids want to chat on PredatorsRUs.com, Safari will allow them. First, change the iPod’s Safari browser to one that allows web filtering.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. # 2: Invest in a leading online content filtering service.

Services like Mobicip (http://www.mobicip.com/) have won Parent’s Choice awards and are used by school districts across the country to filter dangerous content online. There are several kid-safe iPod browsers on the market. Read the reviews and choose the top-rated kid-safe iPod browser in your child’s age range.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. # 3: Use the basic parental controls on your iPod.

Once you have installed the child-safe iPod browser, disable Safari. But be careful, children are smart. If kids don’t like using a kid-safe iPod browser, they will just download another browser. This is how you stop them.

From the iPod Settings menu, choose Restrictions and turn off Safari, YouTube, App Installation, and Location. You can also turn off the camera, if appropriate.

As you do so, restrict the type of content they can download from iTunes to age-appropriate levels. Disable in-app purchases.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. 4: Search is the most important thing.

Search is where the action is. (This is why Google has a market capitalization of $ 151 billion.) Children often find inappropriate content by accident through searches. You need a kid-safe iPod browser that performs safe searches on all popular search engines. Make sure this feature cannot be disabled by changing search engine preferences.

Kids Mobile Internet Safety Tip # 5: Keep Your Blacklist Up-to-Date Automatically.

Hundreds of thousands of new websites are created every day. (Spammers create 57,000 new sites each week). If you block PredatorsRUs.com today, the bad guys will create Predators4Friends.com tomorrow. Make sure your kid-safe iPod browser constantly updates its threat list.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. # 6: use grades as a guide.

Even the most dedicated parent can’t navigate and judge every new website, so make sure your kid-safe iPod browser uses ratings like the Family Online Safety Institute’s movie-style ratings to choose which sites your child can visit.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. # 7: use a browser with real-time filtering.

Since your child may be the first to discover an inappropriate site, make sure your child-safe iPod browser can detect inappropriate content on the go.

Kids Mobile Internet Safety Tip # 8: Encrypt Your Kids’ Traffic.

Bad guys use free WiFi hotspots to spy on people’s internet traffic. That guy over there isn’t working on his novel, he’s watching his son’s iPod use remotely. Get a kid-safe iPod browser that encrypts web traffic through unsecured WiFi hotspots.

Safety tip for children on mobile Internet n. 9: wireless security also extends to 3G and 4G.

Apple has restricted some iPod, iPhone and iPad functions to WiFi only, while others work with their carrier’s 3G or 4G signal. Make sure your iPod’s child-safe browser security measures remain intact when you switch from cellular to WiFi, or vice versa.

Children’s Mobile Internet Safety Tip No. 10: Allow age-appropriate use of the website.

Keep in mind that as your child grows, you’ll want a kid-safe iPod browser that has graduated levels of web access for older kids.

Mobile Internet security solutions start first with web filtering. Block sites that are going to cause problems. But by far the best way to protect your children is to sit down and talk about mobile internet safety. Here are some places to start.

Protecting Children on Mobile Devices: Online Safety

Both parents and children vastly underestimate online safety. Here’s a compilation of popular resources available online for picky parents.

Articles

– FBI Publications: A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety

Defenders

– Family Safety Institute Online – FOSI.org

– WiredSafety.org – The World’s Largest Internet Safety, Help, and Education Resource

– iSAFE.org – The Leader in Internet Safety Education

– NetSmartz.org

– iKeepSafe.org – Coalition for Internet Safety

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