Norton Online Family is a free software and nline service that can monitor your kids whenver they are online. In this generation, parenting in the cyberworld is very outdated and we need a proper way to monitor and guard our kids everytime they surf the internet, play games, join social networking sites and chat. Most cases revealed that kids become more disturb and emotionally stress due to bad encounters and experiences online and from the Norton Online Family 2010 reveals that 89 percent of Filipino kids have had a negative online experience. (read more and download the software below)
Norton Online Family amazes me as it was designed to monitor all activities and also blocks unwanted websites that is very harmful to your kids, the great part of the application is that it is forever free to download and easy to use, all you have to do is apply an account, install the software to your kids' computer and set up various restrictions and it can also monitor your kid's social networking account. You can now filter or even be aware on who are those people that your kids added to their friend's list in social networking sites. Monitoring can't be forever, but in this way, having a right communication and discussion with your kids can open up trust and honest to each other, and it can avoid lots of bad content that is not suitable for your kids.
And we Filipino parent (yes, I am now a parent) should be aware and be tech savvy to guard and help our kids to grow up even in offline or online, I didn't even know that kids nowadays spend 18 hours per week while parents think that their kids only spend 14 hours a day. And its hard to monitor them whenver we are gone, but thanks to the Norton Online Family, it can even track and monitor your kids email or social networking accounts even they use the computer in rental shops or other units.
According to Effendy Ibrahim, Norton Internet Safety Advocate and Norton Business Lead for Asia, “Besides highlighting the importance of online safety and security issues and its impact on children, the Norton Online Family Report 2010 offers insights and information that can empower parents to help their kids use the Internet safely. It emphasizes the role of parenting the ‘online lives’ of children as well as the significance of keeping communication open and ongoing as a way to enhance Internet safety.”
And from their report, kids in the Philippines felt annoyed, shocked, angry, upset and afraid, these behavior is a result of having a negative experience, internet is such a big world and we don't know what other stuff are in there, but for tech savvy parents..this is not a problem, but I'm just worried to some parents who just know that their kids are doing fine and they bought computer and internet access because they need it for their education, but let's think on the other side, because the internet is not just for education, entertainment..yes... but scammers and stalkers are also present and are ready to victimize our kids. In their study, they have a 79 percent of kids who had strangers trying to add them in social networking sites, and 22 percent of kids who are having meet up or EB proposals from online strangers. scary di ba?
“There is clearly an important role for parents to play by increasing their understanding of the Internet, the role it plays in their kids’ lives and the experiences their kids are having online. However there is a need ensure rules are sufficient and current to keep their kid safe online. There is also a need to ensure rules are sufficient and current to keep kids safe online. For parents, a combination of technology and talking openly about issues can help ensure our kids have a positive experience online, and this report shows us where to focus our efforts,” said Ibrahim.
It will be good if we set up not just house rules, but also in online. Norton Online Family is here to help us improve our parenting style and guard our kids from unwanted negative online experiences.
Norton Online Family Home Page - https://onlinefamily.norton.com/familysafety/loginStart.fs
Symantec Family Resources - http://www.symantec.com/norton/familyresources/index.jsp
Online Family Safety blog - http://community.norton.com/t5/Ask-Marian/bg-p/askmarian
FAQs for Norton Online Family - https://onlinefamily.norton.com/familysafety/help.fs?action=what-you-should-know
