Smartphone: how to protect your children?
Children have smartphones increasingly younger, and it is very difficult to control what they consult on a daily basis, to know with whom they are in contact and which social networks they frequent. However, there are solutions to monitor them and protect them from dangers.
According to Génération & Co, at the start of the 2018 school year, 34% of CM2 students had a smartphone, a figure that rises to 63% in sixth grade. A technology widely anchored in uses, which allows parents in particular to always be able to contact their children. However, this ubiquity of technology is not without its drawbacks.
What are the risks with new technologies?
New technologies, and more particularly the smartphone, expose children to new risks. The first is addiction. Children spend a lot of hours in front of their screens, to such an extent that it can develop into addiction. The World Health Organization has just recognized video game addiction as a disease, and games, free or paid, are very numerous on mobile. The addiction can also concern other types of applications, such as social networks. The presence of children on these networks exposes them in particular to predators, who can contact them without parental supervision. The smartphone has also turned into a weapon used for cyber-harassment. It is no longer possible to escape his tormentors, who can contact their victims at any time and create harassment groups on social networks that not only share hurtful words, but also photos and videos taken without knowledge. of the victim.
Parental control, what for?
Technology cannot solve all problems, but parental control apps can seriously reduce the risks involved with the various tools on offer. They may first reveal excessive use of the smartphone or certain apps by showing the time spent in different games and other apps. Parental controls also give access to the child’s messages, both SMS and social applications (WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, etc.), as well as photos and videos, in order to ensure not only that the child is not in contact with strangers, but also that he does not experience harassment throughhis smartphone. Finally, it allows you to locate the device, which allows you to find your child if he gets lost, or to find his smartphone if he misplaces it.
What applications?
There are different solutions, free or paid, all available on Android and iOS. Google offers Family Link for free, which allows you to locate and lock the device, manage apps, and even offers apps recommended by teachers. Locategy is a paid application which offers similar services, and which can also notify you when your child arrives or leaves a specific place. Another solution is Kaspersky Safe Kids, from the famous antivirus publisher, which offers application and web management in free version, and location and social network monitoring in paid version. One of the most complete is undoubtedly Spyzie, which offers a real dashboard, with access to everything, including browser history, social networks, photos, videos, contacts, calendars and application management.
Set up parental controls with Spyzie
To use Spyzie, all you have to do is go to the publisher’s website and create an account, with a subscription that starts from 7.50 euros per month. Install the application on the mobile and identify yourself, and you’re done. It will then be enough to return to the Spyzie website to monitor all the activities of the smartphone.
The simplicity of the interface but also the wealth of options make it easy to monitor your children and the applications they use. © Spyzie