Kids and teens are most addicted to their smartphones and computers. You will find them glued to their screens all day long. It becomes a problem when they spend more time on their devices and less time on other important tasks such as homework and house chores.
Most kids like to keep their online lives private. They do not like to share their online activity with anyone else, especially their parents. They purposely not add their parents or follow them on social media so they can keep their social media life hidden from them.
When kids are secretive about their online lives, parents tend to monitor their online activity to find out what they have been up to. Some of them are even tempted to install the best spy app for Android or iPhone depending on the device their kid is using.
However, there are two different schools of thoughtwhen it comes to parents monitoring their kid’s online activity. Some believe it is important to monitor kid’s online activity whereas others believe they shouldn’t.
In this post, we will talk about both schools of thought and find out why should or shouldn’tparents routinely monitor their kid’s online activity.
Reasons Parents Shouldn’t Monitor Kids’ Online Activity
Let’s discuss the first school of thought here and understand why parents shouldn’t monitor their kid’s online activity. As a parent, parents should not routinely spy on their kid’s online activity. They should not check their social media accounts, read their emails or text messages, and deploy a monitoring app on their cell phone or computer.
It would be wrong to expect your kids to give you the passwords to their social media and email accounts. Some parents firmly believe that there is no need to monitor what kids are doing online. They should be taught to manage their own online presence. They should know what to download, share, and upload on their social media accounts and what not to download, share, and upload.
Being a parent, it is your responsibility to teach your kids to behave like good digital citizens. Just like you teach them how to behave in a good way offline, you should also make them learn how to behave nicely online.
The truth is most kids and teens these days know a lot more about devices and technology than their parents. They will always find a way to hide their online activities. Even if they don’t know how to do it, they will find a way about it on Google.
Most kids are watching videos on YouTube, chatting with their friends on instant messaging apps, and browsing on the internet. To be honest, most of the stuff they do online can be quite boring so parents should not need to monitor their online activity.
Reasons Parents Should Monitor Kids’ Online Activity
Now, let us talk about the reasons parents should monitor their kids’ online activities. When we talk about these reasons, we come to find out that they overshadow the reasons parents should not monitor their kids’ online activities.
Parents have so many valid reasons to spy on their kids’ online activity. First of all, the internet is not an entirely safe place for kids. There are dark places on the internet that kids should stay away from. Lots of online dangers are lurking on the internet and social media platforms that can be dangerous for kids.
Kids can be cyberbullied on online platforms, they can be stalked by online predators, and they can come across inappropriate content as well. What’s more, they can start sexting with their friends online. Sexual predators can stalk them and reach out to them on social media apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.
Since kids and teens are vulnerable to making mistakes and bad decisions, they can share their intimate pictures and videos with a close friend who in return can make it viral on the internet by sharing the content with everyone.
On the other hand, when a kid is cyberbullied by someone online, the impact on them is so bad that it can lead them to have suicidal thoughts. They can be pushed into anxiety and depression. Therefore, kids need to be protected from these online dangers at all times.
Many parents do trust their kids and hand over devices to them but they do not trust the people their kids might be interacting with them online. They can never know who can reach out to their kids and try to talk to them.
Therefore, it is important to monitor your kid’s online activity to find out who they are chatting with. Monitoring kids’ online activity ensures their safety and keeps parents relieved.
Of course, open and honest communication with your kids should always come first. You should develop a trusting relationship with your kids and explain to them about monitoring apps before installing one on their cellphones.
Even if you come across the best free hidden spy apps for Android on the internet, you should talk to your kid first before installing it on their cellphone. Explain to them how a monitoring app can help you keep them safe on the internet. Tell them you have installed the monitoring app to keep them safe online and not to invade their online privacy.
In the end, we would only suggest you communicate with your kids as much as you can. Teach them about online dangers and how they can protect themselves from them. Also, tell them that they need to inform you right away if or when they experience something bad or inappropriate on the internet.
