Web Surfing
Search Engines, Portals, ISPs, URLs, WiFi, Spyware, Filters, Pop-ups, Browsers, and Blocks
Surfing isn't as tricky as it sounds. Basically, your kids connect to the Internet through an ISP (Internet Service Provider) using a dial-up modem, a cable modem, DSL, or a wireless connection (WiFi). This connects them to either a service provider's home page (AOL) or a home page of your choosing (you can set your home page using your browser's tools menu and selecting Internet Preferences). From there, your kids use a browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Safari, Firefox) to get to a search engine (Google, Yahoo, AOL Search) to get to a URL (Web address).
The best thing about Web surfing is that it puts a world of information at kids' fingertips. Kids can research anything anywhere in the world almost instantaneously. As a parent, you can also track the history of where your kids have been (until they get old enough to figure out how to delete the saved history files ...).
But in an unfiltered environment, they can (and will) type "sex" or "drugs" or "Paris Hilton" into their Google or Google Image search box and come up with all sorts of sites you would rather they never visited. This urge for exploration is entirely age-appropriate for middle schoolers and older. Given the explicit nature of some sites, you might want to investigate filters or, for younger kids, content blocks. Most ISPs have filters built into their programs, but commercial filters are also available (for a good list, see our resources section). Surfing also means pop-ups — these are unsolicited ads that often look "official." Clicking on one opens unwelcome sites and can also install worms, viruses, spyware, and adware (basically software that sneaks into your computer to track where you go on the Web and slows a computer to a crawl — or worse). Also, kids tend to believe what they read on the Internet. Not all information is correct, since anyone can post just about anything they want.
Surfing in an unfiltered and unsupervised environment can expose kids to really inappropriate content — violence, sex, hate, and more.
Common Sense Tips for Web Surfing:
- For younger kids, make sure the computer is centrally located, and keep computers with Internet access out of kids' bedrooms as long as you possibly can. This may not work for kids in high school, but as a parent, you can tell your middle school kids that where the computer goes is absolutely your business!
- Check the history to see what sites they’re visiting.
- Never click on pop-ups, and don't enter contests or answer questionnaires. At best, it opens up your computer to advertising spammers. At worst, your kids could be giving information to predators.
- Investigate Internet safety software that includes filters and blocks for young kids. (See our resource list)
- Explain that what kids read and see on the Web isn't always accurate. Help kids figure out how to do "reality checks" on information they read on the Web.
- Keep Internet browsers up-to-date for virus, adware, and spyware protection.
