Mobile phones are a major convenience for most parents. Phones give parents a way to keep track of children through personal contact or through the GPS service with their carrier. They also give children more security, enabling immediate contact with mom or dad in the case of accident, illness or even just an early school dismissal. Parents should be warned that the same phone that gives them access to their children also gives children access to a much larger world. Keeping track of how your child uses his cell phone is an important part of parenting to ensure your child’s safety. Here are 4 reasons for you to monitor your kids’ mobile phone.
Cost
Cell phones can be expensive even before the parents add a utilization plan. Parents must inspect the phone time to time. Talk to the child if he seems to have more wear than expected. It is also essential that parents look for texting, data, music or applications that the child may be charged to the account. Make a habit of looking at the phone of your child for extra charges on a weekly basis. You can nip this behavior in the bud. It also prevents sticker shock when opening the phone bill.
Cyber intimidation
Some children and adolescents find it easier to intimidate others when they hide behind a phone or the social networking council. Parents who have banned social media on your home computer may be shocked to find their child has downloaded a free application. Parents who allow social media should keep a check on child’s communication carried through the social platforms. Not only this check the phone of the child for intimidation for text and voice messages as bullying goes beyond social networks. Scroll through the call history and check the names of all incoming or outgoing calls. If you don’t know who is calling your child, ask for an explanation.
Pornography
Online pornography is a part of the digital life. According to iKeepSafe.org, a nonprofit group organized to provide security intelligence communities to the digital world, as much as one in four children have accidentally accessed pornography. Phones can access the Internet, and many of the same threats apply. Although there is a wide range of safety and security programs out there, the wise parents regularly look through the history of navigation of phone. In addition, it is important to check the chat rooms or social networking sites that children can visit. Pornographers track down sites children research to trap victims. All that a predator needs is the phone number of the child, and it can track his calls, text, email, navigation and location without her ever knowing.
Sexting
More and more parents are becoming aware of the issue of sexting. It is sexually explicit text messages, but also includes users to send nude photos by phone. In many states, anyone who has a picture of a naked person under the age of 18 can be arrested for child pornography, even if the user is under 18 as well. It is important that parents look through the photos on the phone, both those already taken and those sent, and confront head behavior.
How can you monitor and save your kids?
To monitor and ensure kids safety, the majority of parents use cell phone parental monitoring apps. FamilyTime is one such app that provides digital monitoring assistance to parents through its valuable feature list. The features being offered by the app are:
Phone monitoring
- Monitor call logs
- Check call timing along with date stamps
- Put screen locks at bedtime
- Put locks at school hours
- Watchlist contacts
- Receive alerts in case any contact is established with the Watchlisted contacts
App Blocking
- Check all their installed apps
- Check app version and date of installation for the apps
- Block harmful or questionable apps and games
Location Monitoring
- Use the virtual map and track the current location of phone
- Check where they have been all the day long
- Put specific places to Places list and get alerts whenever they enter or exit those places
- Track their current location on the virtual map.
- Get panic alerts if they feel danger, and instantly check their current location
- Get auto alerts whenever they enter or leave certain locations
Web monitoring
- View browsing history with date and time stamps
- Check bookmarks and favorites
- See the most visited sites
Drive Safety
- Set speed limits for your kids drive rules
- Receive instant over-speed alerts on violation
Want to try this app for free? Download it today from Google Play Store, iTunes of from the buttons below: