Heather Goelz - Wellness Advocate

Kanisa Fambro - Claims Auditor

Rochelle Howard - Energy/Utility Careers

Yvonne Gast - Sign Language Interpreter

Bob Lukat - Business/Engineering

Kristin Carman - Dog/Cat Groomer

Vince Harris - Firefighter

Lori Stevens & Police Officer - 911 Operator, Policeman

Ellie Betsill - Dog Trainer/Sitter

Tommy Ross - Ordained Minister

Dr. Mejia's Orthodontics

Lacey Gwyn - Organ Donation Counselor

Kaylen Kuhn and Sherry S - Opticians

Basic Internet Safety

DID YOU KNOW?

95% of teens (ages 12-17) are online.

Lenhart A, et al. Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites. Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2010.

The Internet has drastically changed the way that children interact with the world. They have access to in-depth knowledge, tools to express their creativity, and people from all over the world. Yet along with offering a fascinating, new way to connect with the world, the Internet also offers new risks

• Cyberbullying
• Exposure to inappropriate material
• Online predators
• Revealing too much personal information

Learning to recognize the warning signs of these risks will allow trusted adults to intervene and lessen potential negative impacts. By acting as a resource, parents and guardians can help make the Internet a safer place for their families. As a parent or guardian, you should stay well-informed about current issues to understand what your children are experiencing on and off the Internet. If they are social networking, instant messaging, using webcams, or blogging, help them use these tools safely by learning how to use them yourself. Children whose parents and guardians regularly talk to them about personal safety are more likely to exhibit responsible behavior on their own.[1] NetSmartz invites you to learn about the issues surrounding your children’s online lives. Then use the discussion starters to help you begin a dialogue about safety with your children.

[1] Cox Communications Inc. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® and John Walsh. Teen Internet Safety Survey, Wave II. Atlanta: Cox Communications Inc., 2007.

Our kids are using the internet at an increasing rate. It is vitally important for parents to stay up to date on the technology children are using and monitor online activity. There are also many resources to assist parents in monitoring online activity. The internet is a powerful learning tool, but it is also very dangerous for our children. Below are some awesome apps to assist parents from tech-vise.com:

1Nischint (Android and iOS)

Nischint is a great app if you are looking to monitor not just your kids’ online activities but literally everything they do on their cell phones. It has web browser monitors, as well as ways to show who your kids talk to on social media. Nischint also shows parents what kind of apps their kids are downloading on their phones. For those who are interested in their child’s safety in general, there are also SMS and phone logs, as well as geolocation options. As of right now, there are four plans, that you can take your pick from.

2mSpy (Android and iOS)

Available for both iOS and Android, mSpy offers numerous packages and bundles to suit your needs. Their basic plan is enough for parental controls to keep a discrete watch over your kids’ activity without being intrusive. You can monitor text chats, call history, website history, emails, bookmarks, installed applications, GPS data, photos and videos among other things all without jailbreaking the phone. If however, you want access to indepth app activity such as iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, ability to geo fence, block calls, apps and websites then you’ll want the more expensive premium plan. All plans are for a month, quarter or year, with yearly plans yielding maximum savings. Basic plan costs $59.99/quarter ($19.99/mo) and $99.99/year ($8.33/mo). Premium plan costs $119.99/quarter ($39.99/mo) and $199.99 /yr ($16.66/mo). Bundles include premium features with desktop monitoring and are slightly more expensive at $135.99/quarter ($45.33/mo) and $229.00/year ($19.16/mo).They also give family subscription plans for desktop and mobile covering 3 devices. These are discounted at an additional 20%.

3Watchover (iOS)

This one is an iOS exclusive, but it’s awesome safety measures certainly deserve a spot on this list. Basically, once you download Watchover’s configuration software on your PC or Mac, as well as the app on your iPhone, users will be able to monitor any and all activity on that device. Watchover takes screenshots every minute and stores them for 48 hours so that they can be viewed at a later time. It also compiles all of your kids’ computer’s data in a report to show what programs were used and for how long. The best part is you can view everything right from your phone. There is no reason to get on the other computer. $4.99 is well worth the simplicity of this app.

4Mobicip – $39.99/yr (Android, Windows, and iOS)

For those who a want simple way to monitor online activity, Mobicip is a great option. In essence, Mobicip is a software that allows you to monitor activity, filter search settings, block content, and even view app use. These features are available on the premium edition, which is only $39.99 a year. If you aren’t looking to pay that, you can just as easily download the Mobicip app on your Android or iOS device for free. This app is meant to replace the current web browser and has easily manageable content block and filter settings. The best thing about this app is the sheer simplicity of it.

5uKnowKids (Android, iOS, and PC)

For the most comprehensive online monitoring experience, look no further than uKnowKids. This is the end all, be all experience of monitoring your kids’ online activity. uKnowKids is the perfect software/app service if you want to protect your kids while also giving them their privacy. In essence, uKnowKids will monitor everything your child (or children) is doing, and display it all in a simple overview. If there is suspicious activity, you can dig deeper and find specific details like texts and social media interactions. This is great because the overview gives you a simple check up, without giving too many details about exactly what your child is doing. But, it also records all of this information if you ever want to look into it. For the parent concerned about safety and privacy, uKnowKids is a great option. In terms of pricing, there is a monthly option of $5.75 for one child or $6.50 for up to four children. They also have a 14 day free trial if you want to test out their service first.

6NetGear Parental Control Router

This one is new and one of those great router devices that is aimed to be setup by parents. So really this one comes with a hassle free setup and where you won’t have to call in your own kid to help with the setup. So what does this do? NetGear is a powerful router which is compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa – that will control your home network using voice commands. Of course, the great add-on of Circle Smart Parental Controls limits daily internet time for websites, apps, and more, further than this, it creates a filter, limits usage, controls pausing the broadcast time and schedules bedtime for kids as well.

That’s our list for now. All of these apps & devices are great because they give parents the peace of mind that their child is safe online, but most of them also offer the freedom that so many children desire. So choose according to your budget, requirement and number of devices. Keep in mind that the trade off between a monitoring app and a filtering / parental control device is that the app monitors activity on the device itself regardless of the network it is connected to while the internet filtering device can only monitor and keep your kids safe when they are in your home, where the router is. Once they’re using another network, they are out of any monitoring range.