Parenting in the Tech Age: How to Keep Your Child Safe

Parenting has never been an easy job. And parenting in the tech age seems even more difficult. Because more than ever, Children are more exposed to dangers that could otherwise be curbed in the absence of technology. Through this article, we will highlight, where necessary, the dangers children are currently facing due to the digital age. And possible ways to keep your child safe and how to regulate your child’s use of technology.

The Tech Age

When we talk about the tech age, we refer to an era where information is easily disseminated and made available. And this is due to the introduction of Technology- access to the internet and widespread usage of social media. As you would agree, technology has its advantages but it does have its side effects. 

Undoubtedly, there are heated conversations some parents have with their children surrounding the use of the internet. This goes to show how technology can affect the parent-child relationship. As a result, it becomes more difficult for parents to protect their children from the adverse effects of technology.

Following the trends of our world, denying your children access to the internet is not an option. However, deciding on how to regulate your child’s use of technology will make for easier parenting in the digital age. This is why we recommend the use of parental control apps as a necessity in the course of parenting in the tech age. But more on that as we go along.

Parenting in the Tech age – More on the Tech Age

You will agree with us that the method with which we were trained will have less impact on the children of today’s world. Why? Because we grew up without initial access to technology. And only got exposed to it when our minds were somewhat mature enough to handle the pros and cons. However, Children of this current age- the tech age- were literally born into tech. On the one hand, many of us parents do not understand why children are so involved with their devices and the internet. On the other, some of us are guilty of also being uncontrollably involved with our devices. But, that isn’t what we’re going into now. 

We’re more concerned about how parents/guardians can protect children while performing their roles of parenting in the tech age. We believe it is a necessity for parents to understand the prerequisites of parenting in the age of digital technology. 

Parenting in the Tech age: The Effects Of Social Media on Your Child

Before delving into how to protect your child from the dangers of the tech age, you should know what you’re protecting against. As this will make Parenting in the tech age more foreseeable. So what are you Protecting them against? We’ve made a short list;

Social Isolation

Social Isolation is the lack of relationships with people around you. Simply put it is the lack of social connections. It suggests that the individual cannot make and keep quality relationships or even worse, lacks the ability to interact whatsoever. Social isolation can lead to loneliness which increases the risk of mental health issues like depression, e.t.c. This also will affect the relationship of folks parenting in the tech age, with their children.

Neurosis

According to dictionary.com, Neurosis is a functional disorder in which feelings of anxiety, and obsessional thoughts are normal. Also, compulsive acts, and physical complaints without objective evidence in various degrees and patterns, dominate the personality. That is to say, a child can develop psychological and emotional misbehaviours. The symptoms of Neurosis include anxiety, sadness, depression, anger, irritability, Mental confusion, sense of low self-worth. You probably never knew this much damage can be done to children as a result of excessive screen time. This is why we need to do better parenting in the tech age.

Increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) – Parenting in the Tech Age

Body mass index is the approximate measure of whether someone is over or underweight. Many studies have established that a significant relationship exists between screen time, physical activity, and BMI. That is to say, children who spend more time in front of the screen tend to grow overweight. This is because there is a tendency to consume more food while staying glued to the screens.

Most importantly, being overweight increases the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and high cholesterol in children. It also increases the chances of high blood pressure, joint pain, breathing problems, and type 2 diabetes. As a result, Parenting in the tech age becomes more money-consuming.

Digital Eye Strain/Computer Vision Syndrome

Digital eye strain/computer vision syndrome refers to vision-related problems resulting from the extended use of digital screens. That is to say, focusing up close to a screen is difficult and tiring for the eyes. And may lead to nearsightedness. While this causes pain for the child, it also makes parenting children in the age of screens more problematic.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. It is an aggressive and intentional act carried out by a group or an individual. Becoming a victim of cyberbullying can cause exposure to several mental health issues. This puts your children in more danger and hence, parenting in the tech age should be taken more seriously.

Porn Addiction

Although it’s sad to say, porn addiction can happen very easily to your child. Because they don’t have to go in search of porn sites, it always presents itself in form of pop-up ads. Moreover, many of them click these ads by mistake having no idea what they’ve clicked. Those of them who may want to leave the site, find it hard to close them. For others whose minds are not yet developed enough, that mistake click turns them into porn addicts. This is why understanding what parenting in the age of technology requires of you as a parent, is really important.

Now that we have listed certain problems that parents should protect their children from, let’s delve into ways to keep your child safe.

6 Ways to Keep Your Child Safe

Since we’ve highlighted the problems folks parenting in the tech age should be wary of, let’s talk about how to keep your child safe. 

1. Improve Physical Activity

Improving the number of physical activities your child engages in, will help solve the issue of social isolation. And also digital eye strain, as well as reduce the chances of being victims of all the effects listed above. Introducing family time, where you and your kids can have fun in strict adherence to a no-phone policy can help.

However, getting your child off that screen to engage in any physical activity can be quite a hassle. There is a tonne of ways to do that, which may or may not include force/banter with your child. However, we recommend the use of Parental control apps. Because among the many features of parental control apps, you find that it helps you limit your child’s time online.

2. Parenting in the Tech Age – Reduce Screen Time

As we already highlighted, staying on the screen for too long can cause your child to develop vision-related problems. Teach them to observe a 20 minutes break where they focus their vision on an item for 20 seconds. Of course, this is relative to the total amount of screen time they have. Now, children being children will most naturally fault with this rule unless you ensure strict adherence.

Moreover, you may not always be around them to ensure they keep up with this rule. Hence we recommend the use of a parental control app for this purpose. Because a parental control app allows you to see your children’s activities online, you can know their total screen time. And hence, limit their time online to a total of 20 minutes or more, depending on you.

3. Set an Age Limit for Personal Devices

It is true that kids these days have their own personal devices. While this sounds nice, it exposes your kids before their minds are developed to handle the dangers it poses. So as much as possible, set an age limit, without which they cannot have personal devices. This simply means getting a device not personal to them that they can use to access the internet when necessary.

Maybe for a limited time every day, for the purpose of an assignment, or maybe because they’ve earned the privilege. Setting an age limit for Personal devices for your kids will help you while parenting in the tech age.

4. Teach Them to Protect Themselves

We believe parenting in the tech age will be easier if parents found time to talk with their children. Don’t forget they are children because they still require guidance. Educate them about the dangers they stand to face while accessing the social media space. Teach them that they are likely to encounter cyberbullies. Tell them the forms through which cyberbullies attack.

Teach them the proper responses, and the use of the block function. Educate them on the existence and importance of privacy settings. And how to use it to their advantage. These will help equip your children against falling victim to the dangers of the internet.

5. Show Interest in Your Child’s Online Activities

Dear Parents, please understand that the way you start with training your children is the way they follow you. Before you hand out personal devices to your children, establish that regularly, you will view their search histories. This in itself will serve as a deterrent to them causing them to be mindful of the sites they visit. And ensure you follow through with it.

However, if you already handed out personal devices without establishing ground rules, what can you do? Wanting to directly access your teens’ search history might spike rebellions, understandable. But, this is where we find the importance of parental control apps. You can always access the search histories of your teens’ phones through a parental control app.

6. Use a Parental Control App

We’ve recommended the use of parental control apps long enough to realize that it is a solution in itself. It makes the work of parenting in the tech age a lot simpler. We consider it as fighting the dangers of tech with tech. A parental control app helps you monitor and restrict the online activities of your child.

At any point, you can filter and block the websites they visit. You can view their search history, and limit their total screen time. When it comes to Parental control apps, we always recommend Parentyn. In addition to the above features of parental control apps, Parentyn allows you to see who calls your child. What’s more, you get to see who your child calls and when these calls occur. You also get to see the most used words on your child’s device.

Equally important is that you get to identify and block online predators- cyberbullies- from accessing your child. In addition to viewing your child’s search history, Parentyn allows you to see the time they accessed that site. As well as how long they stayed on the site and the search engine used. 

Parenting in the Tech age: Why We Recommend Parentyn

In addition to the above features, you can view the texts sent and received on your child’s device. Most importantly, you see with who and can block such persons if need be. You can also block certain calls from going through to their devices. Through Parentyn you get to see what apps your child downloads, when they use them, and for how long.

In summary, Parentyn allows you to set rules that your child’s device has to live by. What’s more, it sends you alerts to notify you when your child tries to go against those rules. And there’s more, but you’d have to check it out yourself here.

Conclusion on Parenting in the Tech Age & How to Keep Your Child Safe

In conclusion, Parenting in the tech age is not an easy job, this much we all know. This is why we have tried to help with the tedious job by informing you the best we can. The depths of how technology has affected parenting are still being unfolded every day. However, we have to equip ourselves to carry out our duties in parenting in the tech age.

While we have listed all these effects and solutions, you should know that the list is not exhaustive, sadly. However, while the disadvantages of tech keep unravelling, the solutions using the same tech unravel too. In our opinion, the best yet as it concerns parenting is parental control apps. And it’s no news that for the best parental control experience, we recommend Parentyn.

Here’s to wishing you the best as you travel down the route of parenting in the tech age.