Yes, the numbers are staggering for any person who is generally puttering on the internet with few emails, doing Facebook, tweeting and web surfing. Here are a few major figures from Intel’s findings. This also gives us bigger reasons why to install a safe internet browser to ensure kids internet safety with their activities.

• There is 639,800 GB global internet protocol data being transferred over each minute on the internet. Forget about your average 8 GB smartphones, 500 GB laptops or 250 GB computers, as Gigabytes for only 60 seconds run in the hundred thousands!
• Every second, about 5 new Twitter accounts are created which makes for 320 new Twitter accounts every minute. Twitter processes some 100,000 tweets every minute, that’s why everything is in the moment on Twitter.
• Around 204 million emails are being sent each minute and 20 million photos get viewed on Flickr every 60 seconds.
• Want to know about Facebook? It has 6 million views and 277,000 logins every minute.
• Another favorite website of our tweens’ and teens’, YouTube gets 30 hours of uploading and 1.3 million videos viewed each minute. Also, by 2015, in order to view all the video crossing the whole internet each minute, one would have to spend 5 years just to view all of it!

It is no surprise that why our kids love the internet so much with social networking, emailing, IM chatting, surfing on the web, app downloads and exploring the world on their fingers. You see, how in just one minute the traffic on the web gets changed. In the exact way, just one mistake, and a wrongly sent post/video/photo can change our children’s lives online FOREVER. Should we let it happen still knowing the consequences? As we know it better, we shouldn’t.

Kids finding it difficult to deal with all the traffic on the World Wide Web cannot say much about it. Sometimes they get bullied. Even adults get bullied by others or disgusted by some Facebook comments or stalked. Then there is danger of cyber predators. We know how others can misguide our kids online pretending of being their age and claiming to be the missing link in their lives.

Being online, it is so easy for people to be what they are not in reality and get fudged by such predators. Even friends of our kids could dare them to walk naked and then record the video for the world to share! Parents need to limit all this digital world bombardment with the best internet browser that is safest for our kids like SmyleSafe. That they don’t just think of becoming popular and rich by posting an objectionable video online thinking of having done a great job.

With SmyleSafe browser installed on the computer, tablet or smartphone of kids, parents can issue time limits, block particular websites/keywords and have category/age-based web filtering. The safe browser will give you minute by minute details on GPS locations, alerts on prohibited words used by kids and their complete web searches. With all its results displayed on your personal control panel, nothing else could feel safer.

We see how Facebook has almost compelled people to upload more photos or status updates online. Then they have also asked users to be sensible about what they are sharing and posting on the site. It is not just kids who stumble due to bad judgment when posting to Facebook, but elders can make such mistakes too.

In Ohio, an incident took place that sets a perfect example of how a small joke can lead to criminal charges against the father of a child. The dad snapped a photo of his infant daughter with a BB gun and posted it on to Facebook. Within hours, police arrested him and what could have been a normal peaceful weekend became a hot piece of evening news.

After the grandmother of the infant child saw the photo, she became anxious and upset about a gun being in such close proximity to the child. Well, it looks like there was no immediate danger to the child, however a small joke on Facebook became a terrible misunderstanding.

We don’t want ourselves or our teens and young children to send out such false alarms and also one never knows how others would react to seeing their photos on the internet.  The web is full of trolls, cyber bullies, predators and reactionary extremists that we have to have a proper standard of operation (SOP) in place to record and log everything they do and also filter out the unnecessary.

Being prepared with SmyleSafe safe browser, it gives parents the excellent opportunity to filter and block certain websites and apps per age categories while the child is surfing the web on their mobile phone. Parents can issue time restrictions and set white/black list of websites that are and aren’t accessible by the child. With email alerts parents will be updated every time the child tries to cross a virtual GEO fence set by them.

This browser filtering software is compatible with Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone smartphones and also it has a built-in anti-theft feature. It can remotely unlock/lock the phone and send a command to wipe phone data. It seems the software company understands perfectly the need to root out unethical browsing on the smartphone and the security needs for children.

When at first, tablets surged its place in the world of computers, everybody was a bit cynic about their global usage. “Who would want to carry a computer everywhere?”, is what one used to think. But that’s the past, now the tablet market has close to equal share of percentage sales rise as mobile phones. More and more people are opting for tablets and are leaving other gadgets behind. So as long parents have tablets, children will get to know and use them. As children are growing fonder of smart tablets, it’s only a matter of time that they will demand one for themselves. Parents often find it confusing as which tablet is better to buy for their beloved children and parental control software that are needed after that. Here’s the best pick of tablets for your children.

Kindle Fire HD

The Kindle Fire HD is deemed as one of the best tablets and can serve children in almost every way they wish. It has a wide range of apps and array of books, music and games. Smart children who are fond of games and new technology instantly like it. Not very expensive for a children’s tablet, and once bought for children, even adults can have a good hand with it.

Nabi 2

Nabi 2 is a powerful tablet with smart features like WiFi and free games, books and songs. It runs of Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Children who are aware of the latest technology and are fascinated enough by them to demand it for them may settle for this tablet. It is an overall nice tablet with a slightly good price for children’s tablets.

Kurio 7

Kurio 7 is a multi-touch screen 7 inch tablet. It has finer looks than other children’s tablet and is close to other popular tablets running on Android operating system and has a built in Wifi system. One of the best features of Kurio7 is its parental feature, you can control almost any and everything from apps management to time control. It has strong web filtering and internet limiting options.

Lexibook Junior Tablet

This is a tablet for children who are not specifically demanding of high end games and screen resolution or camera quality. It is an economical tablet and yet par with significant usability to get your junior his or her own play thing. It runs on smart Android 4.0 with a special dedication of educational content for kids.

Among all these tablets, something common is that children may be fond of technology, but tablets are not essentially safer for them. Nowadays children are facing a lot of issues regarding their privacy and other online internet hazards. Parents can install a perfectly safe browser SmyleSafe in their tablets, which help them monitor their tablet activities and prevent anything that could harm them online.

The disenchantment of Manti Te’o

It is true that while online one can be anything and no one would know exactly who is who. Yes I can have big teeth, no brains, an evil or sick mind or I could pretend to be a dog/cat or another animal. Just as in the case of Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o who became victim of a sick online joke and even started caring for a girlfriend who didn’t even exist at all.

After he lost his online girlfriend and grandma on a single worst day, he also showed great determination for winning at the BCS National Championship Game last year. However just after two days he started receiving tweets and calls from a fictional Lennay Kekua who had no records at the Stanford University, no Social Security Administration record of her death and even the mortuaries had no record of her burial in Carson, CA.

After tracking her through her picture it was found that the lady had nothing to do with all this as she was alive. She didn’t have leukemia and never knew the sportsman. All the Twitter posts and Instagram photos were dodged and all the lies caused more pain and humiliation for Te’o. In fact experts were needed to be hired to find the truth. Even media got into full swing to unveil the hoax. The internet is full of such traps and crap. Parents have to give their tweens and teens a safe way to find useful information when online.

One would agree with the saying by Robert Brault, “once an absurdity is accepted as truth, it will seem more of the truth the more absurd it is shown to be”. To find the absurd on the internet is simple and I am of the thought that it is also never ending as one can find so much of absurdity online that we get into a make-believe mode instead. We know of Microsoft buying the Catholic Church in 1994 which was a marketing gimmick to send traffic to a site and the male pregnancy case as another internet rumor.

Child safety and online usage

Online safety can’t be achieved if we don’t tell our kids what is best for them and how to conveniently use it to one’s best interest. If you are always there for them to guide it could be wonderful. Similarly, SmyleSafe Browser for mobile phones can let you choose what your kids should access and what not to with the help of its many content filtering and monitoring features. This safe browser will limit internet searches per age-appropriateness and content, have time limits, block websites with White and Blacklists and also has Geo-fencing capabilities with GPS tracking for the child. Remember, the false has many faces, however the truth has only one and with Retina-X Studios’ SmyleSafe browser, see that truth wisely.

The critical concern regarding children’s mobile activities are of their internet usage. It is universally known that there are numerous forms of internet hazards present today. Children aren’t aware of the ways to tackle each of these and often they fall prey to it. At times they don’t even know that are facing an online predator in the name of a friend. It is a common perspective that parents usually do not take this matter seriously unless they see any child is being affected, by then it may be too late.

Online predators that are thriving in today’s world make use of platforms like social media and public chat rooms to lure children into their traps. They talk children into becoming friends with them and then use them for their own benefits. Recently a Facebook friend of a teen whom she never met gave him her personal details. The man came to her house and abused her in absence of her parents. Cyber space is not anymore safe for children to be without a significant guard.

It is also not possible in the modern world to completely ban mobile phones for children. It is a unique tool for them to learn and to stay connected. Children can now do a lot on their smart phones. They can create and edit documents, share files, do research and gain knowledge. It is more likely that children demand mobile phones mostly for fun activities or to access certain technology or applications, but it can’t be neglected that these smart phones adds to their holistic development.

In spite of its benefits, children’s mobile activities are always under a certain amount of risk of being harmful for them. On social networking sites, children do not mind to share personal messages and photos but the ones who are always finding such children use these photographs to ultimately harm or humiliate them.

Parents are generally unaware of children’s mobile phone activities. Since it’s not practically possible for parents to check into children’s mobile phones all the times, it is highly probable that they might be doing something that needs to be paid attention to. Parents can know about their children’s secret smart phone activities with the help of a safe browser.

Such potential kids safe browser helps parents to review every activity of their children. SmyleSafe is an efficient safe browser which will keep your children safe by keeping you informed about all of their mobile activities. You can restrict inappropriate content to be visible on their mobile phones. You can block certain apps, do online monitoring, find out their GPS location or create a virtual GEO fence around them so that whenever they try to cross it, you will be instantly notified of it. Knowing your children’s mobile usage pattern will be the first and foremost step in their future mobile and real life security.

Show off that is unnecessary

Parents generally are unaware of such posts and photo sharing that happens on Instagram and most parents think it is just a photo sharing app. However it is a social networking tool as well where people can comment, join and like other’s comments. Most parents try to keep teens away from major social networking websites like Facebook, however to their dismay there are only so many options today that they feel quite helpless. They are the only ones who wish the best for the child and when they are not able to ensure and provide for their safety, parents often start to lose on their temper and patience. This becomes a very difficult family situation as no one is ready to compromise and come to a conclusion. It is best to let the things as they are and start monitoring kid’s activity so that if they surf on the wrong waves on the free internet, they can be held responsible.

Balance is the key

Parents need to understand that providing an environment where tweens and teens can grow safely and with all the resources available is the only way out. No blaming and pointing the drawbacks is going to scare them off from using such tools and they will only become thicker skinned. Kids often suffer from peer pressure and they have a greater need to follow trends. Most kids are also responsible and seldom over share and come in contact with a predator. Those are the times when parents need to know who is trying to befriend their little one and what they have been chatting about online.

Parents can install an incredibly effective safe browser like SmyleSafe for a safe browsing experience and for clean internet activity in the family. They can issue blacklist and whitelist of websites and issue time restrictions. This will help kids to have the night sleep they so need and also help them keep away from porn and online predators.

Better online sources for school and college research

There are better ways to look for research content on the web and parents can also guide their teens about it. They can help them find an academic-oriented subject directory like Subject Directories page for suggestions. Kids can consult school and college department websites for the same purpose. They can look up for Google book search, LibraryThing, and even SlideShare for knowledge transfer among kids. There is Infomine and many such websites that offer trusted content pages on the web.

Surfing the internet is not fool-proof

Google’s auto complete function is an example of how the internet is a platform where anything goes. If one types the word ‘is’ we get to topics about religion and sex. Was Michael Jackson killed or who won the NBA championship last year, etc. These questions are some of the most looked up questions on internet and that is why they show up on auto complete feature. It is surprising why so many people look for such answers and as some experts have to say that people will look up just about anything on internet. Parents have to be utterly vigilant about what their kids are looking up on internet as filth is everywhere on the internet that can wash away any good knowledge kids had.

Kids as edgy individuals

Most kids are edgy about what they want and want to be left alone. In one real story of a girl who became famous online as a gothic beauty and a model was actually very introvert in real life. She said that she never found any respect, liking and acknowledgement in her real life and online she could be her real self who she really valued. When her principal found out, they called her parents and her mother had her delete every single photo which they considered explicit. One thing that the girl said was she had found worst photos and videos of girls doing worst thing on the web and what she did was not all that bad. That is the problem when kids start exploring the wild web and don’t realize where to draw the line.

Far important lesson to be learned here is that these parents knew nothing of how their daughter felt as an introvert. Perhaps they lacked on encouragement, friendliness, love and good parenting that is why the 15 year old child felt she had no worth. Indeed there is a far more cry today about internet and its many evils however parents and families need to bond stronger in these virtual social networking environments. Parents also need to monitor what kids are doing online and that is possible with a user friendly computer monitoring/browser software like SmyleSafe that will assist parents with monitoring websites, emails, chats, apps, games, social networking sites teens/tweens are visiting. They can have time restrictions, know GPS locations, and even block content per their kid’s age.

A recent study shows that half of the parents who think they know about their children and what’s going on their mobile actually know very little about children’s activities. “It is only a mobile phone and what can possibly go wrong with it”, some parents may think. But today’s smart phones are nothing lesser than computers and a lot of things that parents are not aware of, happens every minute on children’s mobile phones.

Critics may argue that children have a right to maintain their privacy at any age and parents need not know every nook and cranny about their lives. But the fact that parents are seriously concerning themselves about their children’s mobile activities is mainly because of their security. Lately, a lot is going on with mobile phones and its various hazards. Several cases of child abuses, identity theft and child trafficking have emerged due to the unsolicited activities of mobile phones.

Smart phones of children are often internet connected and this alone makes them vulnerable to online predators. When children face identity theft, it is usually done by their so called friends. Once betrayed it deeply effects their personality as it becomes hard for them later in their life to trust anyone. This should not be happening in the first place. It is a parental responsibility to communicate with their children all the issues regarding their mobile behavior.

Social networking sites which have millions of live users also have among them hundreds of pedophiles and online predators. Even such things like mobile porn too can affect children’s future to a great extent. Children out of their ignorance of being the right judge of people fall into bad company and remain at the risk of health and reputation.

The reasons that children keep their mobile activities hidden from parents can vary. Sometimes a child who’s severely bullied online feels ashamed to discuss the matter with parents and remain aloof with the secret. Parents need to know the best they can about their children in order to help in the course of their life as well as to protect them from several dangers. At times, parent may believe that their children are all fine but it is highly possible that if they’re keeping anything away from you, they’re probably in some trouble.

Parents should keep a two way communication with children and share their own experiences with them in order to understand them better. These ways children come open about their own problems. Apart from that, parents can effectively monitor their children’s mobile phones to check it themselves whether or not they are safe. A safe mobile browser like SmyleSafe helps parents become more informed and gives them the tools to take actions if required. They can apply age-based content filtering through it or they can also restrict any application which they deem hazardous for their children. Once installed, parents can be assured about their children’s secret activities.

The proliferation of sex-related forums is much more problematic. Undoubtedly, there are many reputed forums created genuinely to discuss sex-related issues and also keep a watchful eye out for troublesome trolls and ghosts, but it is not the case with every forum. Many parents allow their children to access forums freely without their supervision as they consider them safe, and this absolutely what predators waiting for.

Online Forum – The True Predators Paradise

The objective of a sex-related forums is not necessarily wrong, but an underage teen is too young to understand it. People hoping to find the “right” mate, often chat in these places. And, it here that often, the worst crimes are committed and severe damages done. Instructing kids for not accessing such websites, forums or anything else is not fool proof, as chances are there your teen can stumble across such places accidentally. You need to install a child-safe browser with advanced categorized web-filtering features to block specific website categories. Just select the categories, and prevent any websites related with that category from running on your kid’s smartphone.

Predators seeking minors often haunt these chat rooms for their hunting victims. Minors used to have very little protection from these individuals or indeed, the forum themselves. It is pretty much possible that your teen started visiting such rooms frequently to get an insight, start chatting with a stranger (predator) and provide his or her personal information. Keeping a watch is necessary and that can be done through the online control panel of a mobile safe browser. Such browsers send regular email-alerts notifying you about your kid’s online activities and ensure you about his or her safety.

Assuming That the Owners of Forums Care Is Erroneous

When it comes to the internet, there is nothing safe and secure. Be it minor or adult, all are vulnerable to dangers. Predators or pedophiles pose themselves as caring-loving-charming individual, and it is possible that your child assumes that he or she “knows” the person they are chatting with and start treating him as a close friend.

If you’re looking for a parental control that not only keeps your kids safe online, but also ensures their security in real-life, SmyleSafe browser is the option to opt for. This safe browser combines geo-fencing features that allows you to create a virtual boundary for your kids. Simply, enter your address, and specify the distance within which you think he or she is safe. An alert will be triggered and sent to your email address immediately if you child tries to bypass the boundary. Install SmyleSafe browser and Keep your kid safe.

To tell or not to tell they are being monitored

I know the word spying sounds hideous to most parents, and honestly it is not the best practice but only a last resort. When kids are sensible enough to understand the wildness of the web and internet, they make it easy for parents to just monitor any symptoms of sexting, bullying, alcohol, drugs use, excessive lying or finding predators in disguised profiles. Some parents wake up late to child problems and it is possible that they have already become addicts and victims of porn, sexting or bullying, then the only solution is to know the truth and gets the facts correct. We need to know who the culprit is and then form our next course of actions, that could range from stricter rules and more policing.

Internet activity is a way to know your child

Most parents try to follow each tweet and update of their child on social networking sites, they want to be sure they are not posting inappropriate content or photos. But our kids are smart and they find ways to do things they wish to like, for example they can use Wi-Fi or hot spots to access internet at night or get a friends phone to use internet. There are a million of ways to do a million things and kids will definitely know a few of them better than us, parents need to get wiser and more resourceful.

Parents have filtering options at hand

Concerned and non concerned parents can install a monitoring and tracking software which tracks all website, chat, texts, email and apps on the mobile phone and tablet. It is a great way to know your child and what is important for him/her. You can know if at all there are any warning signs of dangerous liaisons or obsessions. So without a second thought going by, invest in safe browsing experience as soon as possible with SmyleSafe. It will help you to filter content per age and add white/black lists of websites for your child’s browsing needs.