How to Monitor Your Teen’s Online and Texting Activity to Keep Them Safe
It's tricky being a parent these days, especially when technology is involved.
On one hand, you want to give your kids the independence to make decisions on their own, learn from those actions, and mature accordingly. On the other hand, they're still your baby—no matter what the age— and you want to protect them as best you can.
Today’s teens spend an average of 7.5 hours a day connected to some type of electronic device, and most know a lot more about the Internet and technology than their parents. From online solicitations, to sexting, to befriending some less-than-desirable characters, many parents have no idea what their children are doing—on the phone, online, or in the real world. This can lead to mistakes caused by youthful inexperience, which can haunt a child and parent forever.
While some adults believe that parental control settings on Internet browsers offer protection, the average desktop browser can’t filter everything, and these safeguards can be easily bypassed by a savvy computer user; and, as you're well aware, if a young person is motivated enough, they can be very savvy. “Friending” your child on Facebook is also not a solution since most kids know how to configure their privacy settings to show you only the things they want you to see. It's the same with cell phones, because there's really no way to track someone's texting and call activity.
Or is there?
A new online service called TeenSafe is making it easy for parents to keep their children safer, while offering young people the freedom they need and want to grow independently.
Some of the things TeenSafe lets you view include:
- All of your child's mobile phone text messages— including deleted messages
- A real-time and historical map tagged with your child's phone location so you know where they're at
- Your child's Facebook activity, including feeds, photos, private messages, and friend interactions
- All of your child's phone contacts, call history, and much more
The program is available on all Android phones (iPhone and Windows phone versions are in the works), is extremely simple to use, and comes with step-by-step instructions; you can even add multiple children at no additional cost. The reporting dashboard lets you easily view all the info at a glance, and you can do it without being a nag or disrupting your child's life. Just log in from any computer and you're good to go.
If you do discover problems and need information on how to best approach it, or if you want to speak with a professional for assistance, TeenSafe can facilitate that as well. The site offers parents the ability to chat in real time with licensed family counselors who can help.
So whether you're giving your child a cell phone for the first time and want to insure it's being used wisely, or have an older teen needing a parent's guidance (whether they want to admit it or not), TeenSafe is the smartest option for protecting your child—anonymously and with confidence.
Best of all, TeenSafe is currently offering their service free for 6 days. So you can see what a powerful tool it is before deciding if it's right for your family.
Click here to learn more and try it for free.
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