Terri and I are raising seven children, currently ages 11 months - 15 years. I am often asked about how I protect my family from Internet dangers.
I think about it in terms of "risk management" -- a field of study that I picked up in the aerospace industry. The only guaranteed way to avoid dangers on the Internet is to not have it in the house at all. In the same way, the only sure way to never have a Space Shuttle destroyed and its crew lost is to not launch one at all. However, the advantages are worth the risks. Therefore, you mitigate the risks.
Here is my risk analysis and mitigation plan. Yours might be different.
| RISK | MITIGATION |
The kids could accidentally browse to a harmful website.
The older kids' (especially boys) might let curiosity lead them to a harmful website. | Install some kind of Internet, family safety software. Don’t rely on the “we’ll setup the computer in a visible location” technique. |
The kids might be exposed to too much worldly influence, pop culture, secular values.
The kids might see sensual, inappropriate advertising. | Use a "white list" approach to Internet safety. |
| The kids might meet a dangerous stranger online. | Talk to them about this danger.
Limit the websites they can visit. |
| The kids could spend too much time on social networks. | Don't allow social networks (Facebook, MySpace, etc...) |
| The kids could spend too much time instant messaging. | Currently, I'm just informally monitoring this. |
| The kids could spend too much time playing games. | Assign plenty of school work and chores.
Limit game playing to 30 minutes / day. |
The older kids might be online too late at night, instant messaging for example.
(This is particularly an issue now that we have Internet-connected handhelds.) | Use our router's "Filters" feature to disable the Internet from 10 pm to 5 am. |
| The kids might receive unpleasant email spam. | My email client is setup to download any messages that they receive which is from someone I don’t know. |
We use the “white list” approach to filtering websites. Only websites that are on the “white list” can be browsed to. YouTube is not on our “white list.” It is foolish for parents to allow their children access to YouTube.
We use Microsoft’s Internet Family Safety, which is a free and provides a white list feature that can be managed online. It is far from perfect and still evolving, so I keep a close eye on it.
My son has an iPod. We disabled the Internet browser and YouTube application which mitigates some of the risk. The Apple AppStore has “family-safe” Internet browsers available. We have not invested in one. He still has full access to the Apple AppStore, which presents some dangers. I have decided to trust and test him with that freedom.
