The summer is over, and it’s time for kids to get back to school. And it’s the right time for parents to think about child protection and online security. Thus, you will prevent your loved ones from many perils in advance.
The number one source of danger children may come across in [year] is closely connected with this year’s back-to-school list. As the statistics show, 56% of parents will spend more money to prepare their kids for school compared with last year. Thus, an average family will spend as much as $800 per kid. At least $200 of the price will fall on mobile devices parents plan to buy their children. But where some smartphones and tablets, there comes the issue.
Cyberbullying, online predators, sexting, and child abuse – all these threats watch for a chance to attack kids as soon as they enter the Internet. Facebook, Instagram, Kik, Viber, Skype, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and many other social applications have proved dangerous for the underage and must be childproof.
Thus, a careful parent should first consider getting a child off to school with a smartphone in hand as parental control software. App Protects will protect your kids and let you ensure their safety remotely whenever you need.
App Protects Your Kids At School
Remember that smartphones are dangerous for children, not without reason. As long as cyberbullying remains the number one factor of teenage suicide until kids take sexting as a normal communication course, it is out of the question to let them use mobile devices and the Internet without supervision.
Please consider the following steps to secure your child on a smartphone:
Keep an eye on calls and text messages
View communication data. Monitor who calls your child and sends MMS, SMS, and iMessages. Prevent your kid from contacting or being contacted by strangers. Additionally, the block list option will let you prevent misgiving people from reaching your child in the future.
Look through multimedia files
Children love to take photos and shoot videos. Check your kid’s photo and video libraries to ensure there is no nude, sexually suggestive, or violent content. About 28% of teens have sent explicit pictures of themselves to others.
There is a whole lot of inappropriate content on the Internet. Monitor browsing history and bookmarks. Monitor browsing history and bookmarks. Check your kids’ websites and mark them as favorites to prevent them from reading texts containing bad words, watching violent and explicit videos, and viewing 18+ photos. In addition, block websites you consider harmful.
Control downloaded applications
Check which apps your children download from App Store and Google Play. There are many adult games and services your kids are not supposed to use. Block inappropriate applications. Set time limits to prevent your children from wasting time while doing homework or playing games during classes.
Track your child’s location
Use GPS location tracker to find out where your kids are right now and view the entire route history (the list of places they have visited lately). It will be helpful if you cannot reach your kid on the phone and worry about where they are. In addition, you can check whether your child is at school, home, or any other place they are supposed to be.
Set geo-fences
Specify the map’s safety zones and restricted areas and receive a notification once your kid leaves them or enters. Thus, you will always know when your children leave school and return home. You will also find out if your kid breaks your bans and visits places you have forbidden to visit.
Protect your kids on social networks and online chats
92% of teens use smartphones to go online. They do it daily and mostly to like and share on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) and chat via online chats (Viber, Kik, WhatsApp, Skype, etc.) Importantly, most social applications are restricted for kids under 13, but it doesn’t keep them from using them. Almost all of them are known for cyberbullying and online predator attacks, but it seems not enough for parents not to allow children to use social media.
Since there is nothing to be done, parents should at least monitor their child’s online activity. Thus, you will never miss if something happens to your child and be able to intervene before it’s too late.
Mobile Learning Via Smartphone And Tablets Hit Back To School List
Did you know that 80% of students use smartphones and tablets to get online? This means that at least 47% of students check their home assignments, go to Wikipedia, and learn online through smartphones.
The recent study by Harris Interactive polled more than 1 thousand from 2nd-4th year colleges; it appears that only 1% of them used no digital technologies in their studies. 65% of information searches are conducted through smartphones, while only 20% of students search the Internet via PC. Ray Kurzweil once said: “Mobile phones are misnamed. They should be called gateways to human knowledge”.
It is not only students who use smartphones and tablets for educational purposes. Not every classroom can afford a set of laptops for every student, so devices like smartphones become something useful for teachers as well.
So what makes people use smartphones and tablets in the classroom and outside? The answer is simple: it is easy to use, gives no additional weight as a laptop, and is fast and multifunctional. One can study, play, call, and take pictures using only one device. While we understand that mobile learning is gathering steam, we should also think of mobile learning security.
Is M-learning Secure?
Mobile security is a burning issue as companies move towards training and learning via mobile devices. One part of the security threat lies in identity theft, and another is closely connected with students using social media websites like Facebook and Instagram and online chats like iMessenger and KiK that lead to online dangers like cyberbullying, sexting, and contact with online predators.
Technologies have to be updated according to the fast-developing Internet. In mobile education, privacy is especially important for sensitive data such as learner information and personal data like phone numbers, credit card numbers, addresses, and assessment data.
Education is driving technologies by forcing giant companies like Apple to innovate their products according to m-learning secure systems. M-learning provides mobile security and parental controls that currently protect and secure thousands of students, with a number growing.
Useful Educational iOS Apps For Your Children
Many mobile games and other addicting applications make it hard to pull kids away from their smartphones and tablets. However, software development went much further than social and time-wasting apps, introducing many educational solutions whereby children can entertain and learn simultaneously.
Below is the list of applications that will let your kids explore the world, accept educative challenges, and learn useful information using mobile gadgets.
Barefoot World Atlas
The app teaches children geography and world cultures. It allows flying around the interactive 3D globe and discovering the Earth from different sides: wildlife, nature, local people, landscape, and architecture. Colorful photos, sounds, videos, and a user-friendly interface make the application understood by kids of all ages.
Save Your Planet Kids
The app teaches kids how to take care of our planet (recycling, conserving water, saving energy, etc.) in a game-like mode. It includes interesting interactive activities, music, and coloring pages and explains how children can apply achieved skills in their own homes.
Intro to the United States by Montessorium
The unique educational approach designed by Montessori helps kids learn in a way that maximizes their learning potential. The app teaches children to tell all states’ names, shapes, and animals. The app comprises puzzles, tracing exercises, and other activities making children familiar with the geography of the USA.
Crazy Gears
The app teaches kids physics and mechanics. It consists of 60 interesting and challenging puzzles telling a lot about physical science and encourage logical thinking.
Word Creativity Kit – The creative writing tool for kids
The app teaches children poetry and creative writing. Allowing kids to think outside of the box helps them create amazing poetry and fill their minds with brilliant ideas.
Kids spend too much time with smartphones in their hands. And it is up to you whether this time will be used profitably or wasted. Talk to your children, take care of them, explain the importance of education, and control kids’ screen time to avert excessive use and addiction.