Legacy guest contribution — author identity retained from original publication.
Children as young as ten now have their own smartphones, and growing up with smartphones being a normal part of their lives means that even younger children know how to use a touch screen before they can even walk. On the one hand, this technology and the information it gives your children access to is fantastic, but on the other hand, it is also pretty scary. As a parent, you have to protect your children from the dangers of the world, and with this access to smartphones and everything that comes with them, they have even more access to potential harm from strangers, inappropriate content, and bullies.
You can install apps on your children’s phones to restrict access to specific sites, control app usage, and set screen time remotely. However, filtering what your child can and can’t see is now the least of your worries; while it is quite difficult to do, especially with teenagers, it is essential to monitor who your children meet, who they hang out with, and the context of their text messages.
According to the Pew Research Center and Common Sense Media, 92% of teens go online daily, and 24% say they go online “almost constantly.” 76% of teens use social media (81% of older teens, 68% of teens ages 13 and 14), 71% of teens use Facebook, 52% use Instagram, 41% use Snapchat, 33% use Twitter, and 14% use Tumblr. 50% of teens say they feel addicted to their mobile devices.
So, what do their parents think? Well, 77% of parents say their teens get distracted by their devices and don’t pay attention when they’re together. 59% of parents say they feel their teen is addicted to their mobile device.
It has been well-documented that excessive access to social media and the obsession with online appearance has had a significant impact on teens, including severe self-esteem issues and feelings of anxiety. Social media not only promotes the decline in mental health for many teens, but it also becomes an easy outlet for online aggression and cyberbullying, which further impacts your child emotionally.
An addiction to online media can lead a child to struggle to engage with others on a normal level. It can also have a negative effect on their academic performance. Addiction-levels of social media use can also negatively impact existing relationships, leading many teens to struggle to commit to their partner or friends due to constant distractions and lack of attention.
So, what can you do about this, and how can you protect your kids from the dangers of social media?
As mentioned, there are plenty of apps to locate your teens and block content but what you need is something that lets you monitor how and where your children use their phones and whom they are engaging with when they do. To do this, you need a spy app that can monitor text messages, iMessage, WhatsApp, Kik, and other chat messengers. These spy apps are pretty easy to use and self-explanatory to set up; you’ll need to install it on your child’s phone, so you must discuss it with them first and make sure they know why you’re doing this and that it is for their own safety. Besides location tracking, you can also spy on your child’s address book, calendar events, mobile data usage, photos, and device logs such as WiFi hotspots they connect to.
With an app such as Family Orbit, you can also get iCloud based monitoring, where you can monitor the phone logs such as call history, websites visited, text messages, photos, location, and more by simply providing your child’s Apple ID credentials so you don’t even need to install an app on your child’s phone. All you need to do is to add your child’s Apple ID credentials, select the device you wish to monitor, and then you will get report emails, or you can view the logs online anytime you wish to.
Family Orbit is the best all-round monitoring app for your child’s phone because it has a whole range of features that you can use to protect them. The GPS feature allows you to locate the entire family any time you like, and you can also keep a close eye on their messages, calls, and internet browsing history. Family Orbit also lets you view the photos and videos stored on their phone to ensure that they are not viewing anything unsuitable. Family Orbit is a comprehensive piece of software that helps you protect your child.
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