Kids use a lot of different websites and products that can sometimes be hard to keep up with. Many of these websites have good, useful things on them. However, these same websites can have unwanted content such as pornography. Here are a few ways to activate filters on some of the most popular websites, apps and devices.

YouTube: YouTube has a “Safety Mode” that can be enabled to filter out unwanted videos. These are videos that Google has flagged or that have found pornographic images through their pornographic image detector. To activate Safety Mode:

• Go to YouTube.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
• Find the “Safety: Off” button and click it (Note: if the button says “Safety: On”, Safety Mode is already enabled) to open the preference setting
• Select the “On” option and save

Netflix: Netflix has settings that allow you to control what movies can be viewed and added to your queue. To activate these settings:

• Login to Netflix and click on “Your Account”
• In “Preferences”, click on “Parental control setting”
• Choose which movies are viewable by rating (All movies, R and below, PG-13/TV-4 and below, etc.)

Google: Google uses Google SafeSearch to prevent unwanted websites from coming up when you search for something. To set it up:

• Go to http://www.google.com/preferences
• Scroll to “SafeSearch filters” and click “filter explicit results”. To make this permanent, click on “Lock SafeSearch” (You will need a Gmail account to lock SafeSearch)

Instagram: Instagram is set to publically share all photos that you post. To set your Instagram account to “Private”:

• Open the Instagram app and tap on the “Profile” icon
• Tap “Edit your Profile”
• Find the “Photos are Private” on/off switch and switch it to “On”.

Apple Products: Apple products, such as iPhones and iPods, have settings that allow you to control restrictions on your child’s iPod. These settings can only be changed with a 4-digit passcode. To set up these restrictions:

• Find the Settings icon and tap it, then tap General, then Restrictions
• Choose what to restrict, such as installing or deleting apps, iTunes, Safari, etc.

While these settings aren’t perfect for filtering out everything on these websites, apps and devices, they are good starting points for protecting your children. For further protection, install NetNanny on your child’s devices to keep them from accessing inappropriate websites and to monitor your child’s behavior online.

Source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/40532465370410298/