A study made back in 2010 suggested that kids between the age of 8 and 10 were spending as much as 8 hours in front of screens and those in the age group of 10 and 19 were attached to almost 11 hours every day.
Gaming, social media, the internet, instant messaging and a lot of other things have come to our palmtops. Smartphones are penetrating even the most remote cities. With so many manufacturers and devices in all budget ranges, it’s not unusual seeing even kids, just out of their toddler days, glued to the convenient screens.
However, smartphones today have become more of an addiction than utility or entertainment. It has been affecting the mental health of many kids and teenagers. In some cases, it has also been the reason for physical injuries and personal troubles too. For a parent, it’s not hard to see that technology, internet and smartphones have brought in more trouble than help. In an older time, even a couple of decades ago, when smartphones weren’t easily accessible, it was easy to know and understand what you kid has been up to all day. However, today, smartphones have made things more secretive; parents have no idea with whom their kids are, what things are making them curious, and what type of interests they have. Kids have obviously left the outdoor playgrounds and fixated themselves onto the screens. While it is a world of information, it is also necessary to understand that not all information is good and not all kinds of conversations are healthy.
Now, technology can only be fought with technology. To give back the control, we have parental control software like TiSPY that not just helps to monitor child’s smartphone activity but also take necessary steps when needed. This software is secretive but allow parents to know everything about their kids – the place they are in, the people they are chatting with, the photos/videos they are sharing, the websites they are browsing and more. Parents should understand that Parental Control Software & Parental Control App both are two different things. There are a lot many features that help the cause. However, when buying parental control software, it is important that you look out for these basics:
1. Should allow viewing call log details
While it would be calling breaching of privacy, it is necessary that parents know who you kids are talking to. If your kid has been spending a lot of time on calls, it is necessary to invigilate if the caller on the other side is harmful or harmless. The risks are many. There have been cases when strangers have befriended kids and led them into things that they shouldn’t have been.
2. Spying on text messages
Similar to the above, being able to check out your kid’s text messages every once in a while will let you know the kind of conversations he/she is having, the kind of people he/she is talking to and that there is no sexting or similar thing involved. Lots of parental control software also provides key logger for the Android phone so you can also track each typed letter in kid’s smartphone including passwords.
3. Location Tracking and Geo-Fencing Alert
Now, this is more of a safety precaution. With location tracking, you get to know where your kid exactly is. If he is supposed to be right back home after school, you can check whether a detour has been taken and to where. Geofencing, on the other hand, lets you define a boundary that you feel your kid be safe in. whenever the boundary is breached; you will get an alert on your phone. This helps save eventuality.
4. Should block Websites & Apps
While the internet is a world of information, you should also ensure that your kid doesn’t get interested in porn, drugs and similar things. A reasonable way out is to block such addresses and limit your kid’s browsing to safe websites. The same applies to apps. This feature will help parents to know how much time their kids are spending on the internet and how they can stop them by blocking such website or apps.
5. Should allow spying on social media / instant messaging apps
Most of the conversations today take place over instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, MySpace, Instagram Direct similar platforms. The parental control app that you choose should help you monitor these interactions too. Choose only that Parental control software which allows you to track text messages, images, videos and other media files from such instant messaging apps & social media apps.
6. View contact book
Kids are very smart these days thus parents should be also smart. Now a day’s kids often save the number with different names on their smartphone so it’s possible that their parents won’t doubt them by seeing such name in call logs. Using parental control software parents can view complete call logs and contact book so they can get the idea about the callers as well. This feature will let them know the kinds of friends and contacts he/she keeps.
Also check: SPY SNAP APP
7. Live monitoring feature (live video, screenshot, camera picture)
As busy parents, we might have no idea what our kids have been up to. You might know that he/she is at a friend’s place but have no idea what they are doing. Similarly, they might have been sitting right in front of you, busy in their phones, but won’t tell what it that they are doing is. To clear your doubts, parental control apps offer real-time videos, pictures, and screenshots to be taken remotely without your kid having any idea of the same. You get to see the environment he/she in real time. You can choose to take pictures remotely or get a screenshot of their phones. This really helps in intervening when necessary.
Parental control apps have become a necessity in modern lives. They enable parents a better control on their kids who are continuously exposed to a lot of information, both good and bad. It’s about filtering out the bad things.
