(NAPSI)—If any of the nearly 51 million schoolchildren in America today
is someone you care about, you may find this information on kids and the
internet quite intriguing.
To help your young students make the most of the online world while
staying safe, heed these hints:
1. Share Space: Have a shared
family computer in a common space. This lets you supervise your kids’
online time without hovering.
2. Limit Time: The length of an
online session should match your child’s natural attention span.
School-age kids’ brains can focus for about 30 minutes at a time, so
they won’t really get much from sessions longer than that. A good idea
is to set a schedule of computer time with dinner acting as a halftime.
3. Increase Freedom: Gradually
give your children freedom to decide how to use the internet as they grow
into teenagers. They will probably push for more freedom, a natural part of
preparing for adulthood. Trust your teens to make good decisions and
appropriately manage time online.
4. Turn To Technology: Everyone
has preferred shows or spaces online and can watch anywhere via tablets and
laptops. Instead of each family member staking out his or her own corner of
the house, encourage everyone to gather in one room. This encourages you to
share online activities and encourages conversation. When possible, seek out
shows or online sites that appeal to all family members so at least some
online activities become shared experiences and a focus of learning with and from
each other.
5. Be In Control: Use the
computer system’s parental controls to manage kids’ access online
and prevent accidental exposure to content for which your children aren’t
ready. For example, the nation’s largest internet provider, Comcast,
has new technology called Xfinity xFi that makes this easy.
6. Let Tools Help Teens:
Teenagers need to prioritize and manage their time, making sure that a
healthy amount of sleep, an “unplugged” family meal, and academic
and family obligations come first. A tool such as Xfinity xFi can help by
letting you set and manage scheduled Wi-Fi hours. You can also use it to
monitor how often and when your teens are connected and, if they do spend too
much time online, you can temporarily pause their Wi-Fi use.
Available to millions of Xfinity internet users at no extra charge, the
system provides a simple digital dashboard you can use to set up a Wi-Fi
network, find a password, see which devices are connected, troubleshoot
issues and set parental controls. It can all be controlled via a mobile app,
website and on the TV with a voice remote.
It also offers:
• The ability to monitor activity so you can see who’s using
your network and when they’re using it.
• A way to see all connected devices and nickname them for easy
reference.
• Personal profiles and a way to assign devices to individuals.
• Text alerts whenever new devices join your home network.
• The ability to instantly pause Wi-Fi access on your home network,
by device or by user, for 30 minutes, an hour, two hours or until you unpause
it.
• A troubleshoot mechanism so you can see when devices are not
working properly and get advice on how to fix them.
• Cloud management so you can see and control your network from
anywhere.
• A first line of defense against phishing and malware known as Safe
& Secure.
Learn More
For further facts or to sign up, go to www.xfinity.com/myxfi or download the
xFi app.
On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)