EvaDec 20, 2022

When I tell parents that secretly spying on their kids' internet activities is not a great look, they ask me "Well, what SHOULD I do?"

There is no all-purpose parenting answer, but this report from Malwarebytes outlines many of the key considerations: https://www.malwarebytes.com/resources/attachments/parenting-and-growing-up-online-10-2022.pdf

Show threadDave  🇺🇸🇺🇦
@evacide Look, I'm not actively spying on them all the time, but as a parent, I reserve the right to have a glance at the browser history once in a while. It's a healthy enough thing to know your kids aren't into something dangerous.
Dec 20, 2022 at 10:12pmWeb
Show threadfraggLe!Dec 20, 2022

@heydaave @evacide You don't "know" anything of the sort though, the history is trivially manipulated (they can start with incognito mode, which is easy enough to do they can find out about it on the school playground).

So you violate their privacy and gain nothing substantial. You'd be better off with an honest relationship with your kids, and you don't get there by snooping.

Show threadDave  🇺🇸🇺🇦Dec 20, 2022
@fwaggle @evacide Why does this always turn into someone on the internet telling me about my relationship with my kid? Go fuck yourself.
Show threadfraggLe!Dec 20, 2022

@heydaave

For the same reason you're telling me about mine: "It's a healthy enough thing to know your kids aren't into something dangerous" - you and I have the same level of understanding of what our kids are up to, and I'm not about to rat through their browser history... but you're effectively pretending that I don't.

You have a lovely day though.

Show threadJODec 21, 2022
@heydaave @evacide I do this too but I dont do it secretly and we have discussions if something comes up that seems like we need to talk about it. My kids are younger though and I do have parental controls on everything, wifi, TV, devices and they have set screen time limits by day and time. Their freedom will grow as they get older, and more responsible, and mature just as it is with everything else.
Show threadDave  🇺🇸🇺🇦Dec 21, 2022
@LittleYetFierce @evacide It's pretty clear that every parent should talk to their kids, be able to show respect and trust for their kids, especially as they get older. I totally get where you're coming from with the parental controls, etc. It's one thing to trust your kids, quite another to trust everyone they might interact with online. I don't get to say, "Well, I was respecting their privacy and that's how this happened." That's being irresponsible as a parent.
Show threadJODec 21, 2022
@heydaave @evacide thats exactly it! We talk about internet safety, and to the extent that they can understand they do, however, I do NOT trust the strangers that can get into to my house via a device.