While the good aspects of the internet far outweigh the bad, we do have our worries about it. A great area of concern is the effect it has on our children. Some kids””and even adults””get addicted to games which can cause poor performance at work and at school. Others spend all their time chatting. There are also those who access pornographic sites. This can be especially problematic in a work environment, which lead to productivity issues.
Did you know that your employees are shopping online and socializing on social media sites (plus accessing questionable sites) during office hours? The trend is worrying, indeed.
Then, at home, you have the child predators who use every trick in the book to lure your child out of your home and meet them. It could be all too late when you find out.
The safest thing to do is cut off your internet connection. Unfortunately we are so connected to the net. Not exposing your child, and especially your employees, to the internet is a bit of a handicap in today’s world. There are schools that use the internet as a component of their teaching. And in business, a majority of today’s transactions are done through web connections without an internet filter.
You can still get the best of both worlds by installing Parental Control Software in your computer. This way you have control of what your child or employees are viewing and also have knowledge of what’s happening. You are not always around to supervise your children when they use the internet. No child would also like to have the parents behind their backs looking at what they’re doing.
This kind of software can have time limits. It can set what time of day a child can log in. It can also control access to games including age level and what type of game can be played. The web access can be controlled so sites that are not allowed are blocked. It can also control which program your child is allowed to run.
There are other features as well depending on the software you acquire. What is good is there are programs to help you supervise your child when you are not around.
One caveat about the internet filter is the fact that it slows down your internet connection. In office, you need to weigh your options well – do you want a slow internet access with the internet filter blocks some “time stealing” websites (yes, that includes Facebook!) or a fast internet access that support your business operations without internet filter, but lead to issues with employee productivity.