The halcyon days of imagined safety have all but diminished under the microscope of today’s media and the sobering reality that the world is dangerous. It’s not safe to let children play outside without supervision; and, the Internet is like a sandbox, so it’s not safe to leave them alone with it. In fact, lots of technology poses a threat to young kids, and it’s up to parents to protect them from the dangers of their devices.

Parental Protecting Your Television

Not all cable providers are the same; the one that stands out to you as a parent should be the one that protects kids from viewing dangerous content. DirecTV is a great example of a satellite cable provider that has extensive parental protection options, such as password protection for certain television programming. You can learn more about DirecTV here.

Television has changed a lot since when you were a kid, and the only real worry was a PG13 movie airing late at night. Today, R-rated movies can be accessed at the click of a button. Moreover, reality television is full of swearing, screaming, and all around unsavory behavior. You’re not going to be around to watch every second, so it’s imperative you access parental protections to ensure your kid is watching age appropriate content.

Parental Protecting Your Internet

Your ISP should have some parental protections. Feel free to call the local customer service department to inquire about these features. Or, you can look at help pages online to see how to program your Internet options to block dangerous sites.

Parental controls scan the site for images and words. For example, if swearing is determined to be on the site, your child will be blocked from accessing. Of course, porn sites and social networking sites will be inaccessible too.

Parental Protecting Your Consoles

Gaming consoles are easy to protect; although, protecting your child from dangerous predators may be difficult on these devices. You can pick and choose which games to purchase for your child, which gives you all the power and ensures games are age-appropriate. The difficulties arise when your child is playing online games unsupervised. People who are predators may target your child; that’s why it’s essential to supervise.

The ESRB offers detail instructions on how to set controls for nearly every gaming system. Remember to set passwords for master accounts because savvy kids will log in as you to change their own settings.

At a certain age there must be trust involved, in which case you have to afford them some online gaming time without supervision. If you’ve talked to your kids about the dangers of online people; perhaps, he will make smart choices. Remind him never to give out personally identifying information and to avoid anyone who isn’t around his age.

All in all, technology is growing so rapidly. It’s beneficial for the world, but it’s dangerous for your kids. There are many concerned parents, but there are solutions in parental controls and supervision. Once your child is an adult, he will be free to make his own choices. Hopefully what you’ve taught him about safety will make a difference.