VHS PARENTS’ PAGES
December 2013 #1
Dear Parents,
Many of you may feel the need to monitor and supervise your
child’s use of technology more closely but may not know where
to begin. I suggest you read the following two articles, one from
the New Yorker, and the other from the New York Times.
I’m also attaching a list of resources that you may find helpful.
These and other resources can be found in the Parents’ Resource
area of the Student Assistance Web Site.
Articles:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_levy
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/fashion/cyber-parents-accessing-perhaps-tmi.html?_r=0
***Please let me know if you would be interested in an evening
presentation on this subject.***
Supervision Resources:
For Android phones there is an app
called AppNotifier (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.chronosweb.android.appnoti
fier&hl=en), which sends you an e-mail each time a new app is purchased and block apps from
being downloaded.
Family Locator & GPS
Tacker ( www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/Family.Locator/Family-Locator ),
allows you to monitor where your kids are at all times. The application connects to 3G or WiFi
and alerts you when your child arrives at school or home.
Kid Mode ( www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.zoodles.kidmode/Kid-ModeFree-Games-Lock ) is an app that locks your phone so it's impossible for them to call, look at
your e-mails or chat. Every week, the application sends you an e-mail letting you know which
functions they accessed.
Here is a site that ranks and provides info on cell phone parental controls - http://cell-phone-parental-
control-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
Kids Place ( www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.zoodles.kidmode/Kid-ModeFree-Games-Lock ) helps you set up access to only child-friendly apps. The application also
disables the wireless networks.
For Mac, KidLogger ( http://kidlogger.net ) is free and a key logger and activity monitor. The
application logs every keystroke your child types, the applications opened and website history.
K9 Web Protection at ( http://www1.k9webprotection.com ), provides filtering, monitoring and
time restrictions.
The free Mac app, DansGuardian ( http://dansguardian.org ) does not filter content only by
URLs, but also by phrase matching. The Web is full of new sites each day with new URLs that
you may have not blocked. This tool has a list of keywords which are associated with different
categories, such as "drugs" or "porno", and sites containing those offensive phrases will be
blocked.
The free site Mirror Monitor ( http://www.minormonitor.com ), helps you keep track of your
child’s Facebook and Twitter activities.
At Pure Site ( www.puresight.com/ ), for $60 you can overwrite offensive words in incoming and
outgoing messages, end a potentially dangerous conversation immediately, while blocking the
other party and notifying the parents immediately. It has a list of offensive words, and constantly
tracks IM slangs to weed out crude language used in the conversations it monitors. Parents can
add their own words, which may have escaped the list.
Safe Web ( safetyweb.com ) highlights red flags on potentially dangerous actions, like their
friending someone suspicious as their friend. It also has a monitoring system that is triggered by
topics and keywords related to bullying, drugs, alcohol, and even eating disorders. It runs $10
per month or 100 per year, but it is a very convenient tool for you to monitor almost every social
networking account your child has.
NetTrekker ( www.nettrekker.com ) is an educational search engine that blocks offensive
content, and is essentially a search engine built to access only educational results.
Internet Safety ( internetsafety.com ) is a parental control tool for families with more than one
children. At $50, each copy carries a license you can use on three different PCs or Macs, and you
can manage up to 10 different profiles with customized settings.
Intego Content Barrier ( intego.com/contentbarrier/ ) blocks unauthorized sites, offensive
languages in chat, impose time limits and keep logs. It restricts access to streaming media and
file sharing. It costs $40 for two Mac licenses.
As always, your comments and questions are welcome.
Regards,
Jeffrey M. Hunt, LCADC, LPC
Student Assistance Coordinator
Voorhees High School
256 Route 513
Glen Gardner, NJ 08826
(908) 638-2175
http://www.nhvweb.net/vhs/guidance/jhunt/default.htm