Still in its infancy, the internet is a growing community, home to everything from recipes for the most outlandish dishes to books that are no longer in print. As use of the internet has exploded, so has the content it exists as a medium for, with no boundaries on what?s available to those entering its domain.
This includes content that some might deem objectionable.
Guarding your family against this has been difficult, the near unregulated structure of the internet serving as a platform for what many would find highly offensive. While there are safeguards that monitor internet use, they?re not always effective, a result of the internet?s unceasing growth.
Given the internet is almost inextricably tied to the development of our children, at home and school, it?s unreasonable to assume that they will not make use of its function. As any responsible parent knows, protecting our children against harmful material is paramount in the process of nurturing them into well-adjusted young adults. However, preventing children from using the internet does them a disservice that has been shown to stunt development in this information age.
With Google?s search engine being the most popular of its kind, it?s? likely that your children will put it to use at some point.? Whether it?s a search for the latest videogame tips or rumors about their favorite teen starlet, there?s plenty of safe content that?s available for them to search for. Unfortunately, the chance of them happening upon search results of a questionable nature can be high.
Google has always allowed its users to filter the results of their searches, removing content that is deemed inappropriate. Helpful as that feature?s been, the ability to lock those settings has never been available until now.
Today, Google launched an improvement that allows one to lock the SafeSearch setting to the strictest level of filtering. To prevent a minor from tampering with this feature, it will be password protected, leaving only the guardian empowered with the ability to change the setting.
As seen below, results generated by any future use of the Google search engine will be observably different, the page on which they?re normally displayed accompanied by colored balls that sit on top. This serves as a reminder to parents and teachers standing from afar that their children?s content is being filtered.
For a demonstration of how to use this feature, Google has provided a video:
This is but one of several measures you can take to protect your children during their time on the internet. While Computer Geeks encourages responsible use of the internet, we understand that many children aren?t informed about the dangers that lurk about its corridors. Use of this option in combination with other measures and discussion with your children about online safety should ease that concern.