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SALT LAKE CITY -- Parents know how important it is to watch their child's activity online. But which tools are the best at helping parents do this?
We've heard the advice analysts give parents about becoming their kid's friend on their social media sites. But Google+ For Dummies author Jesse Stay says that's the very least parents should do, and even that is not enough.
"Your kids, any time, can adjust their privacy settings and prevent you from seeing things that they're doing," Stay said.
So, there are some tools out there designed to help parents keep a better eye on what their kids are doing. At first glance, these tools can seem pretty invasive. Some teens may say, "You're invading my privacy," but, many parents may proudly respond, "You bet I am."
For those unapologetic parents, Stay has a few recommendations.
Alert Tools
While Facebook may allow teens to pick and choose which items their parents will see and which items they won't, Stay says programs like SocialShield can help you find what is private and what is public about your child.
"It'll give you notifications of new updates that your kids post, of people that your kids are interacting with and commenting on, the chats they're having on Facebook and other social networks," he explained.
He also says the Piggyback application from Media Chaperone has similar alerts, as well as programs like TrueCare and YouDiligence.
Screen Grabs
Stay says you don't have to be watching over your teen's shoulder to see what they're looking up online. If you want to get a look at the exact thing your teen is looking at, a program called ScreenRetriever may work well for you.
"At any given point, remotely, you can look at the screen of your loved ones and of your children," he said.
Monitoring Smartphones
The programs designed to help parents keep an eye on what their kids do online will track the things that are posted using a smartphone, but Stay recommends one specific tool that works on most mobile phones called My Mobile Watchdog.
"It allows you to get full control of their phone, get notifications on your phone when they're sending text messages [and] get notified of where they are. It'll take their GPS coordinates and show you where they are," he said.
Of course, there are tools that help parents be more proactive than reactive in preventing their teens from misusing these kinds of devices. For instance, the iPhone has settings that allow parents to keep their kids from texting or logging on to the app store.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
