Monitoring Third Party Apps
Deciding to give your teenager a smartphone can be a hard decision for many parents. Not only does the parent need to monitor the teens smartphone activity, it also becomes a necessity to monitor all third party apps. A third party app, is simply one that does not come pre-installed on a smartphone.
This can be difficult because not all monitoring software will work for every app. The first thing you need to do is determine what you will allow your child to engage in. From there, list out the apps that they are allowed to use, and the ones they are not allowed to use.
Look for a monitoring tool that will monitor all apps they will be using, as well as one that allows you to list out apps they are not allowed to use. If the teenager tries to download an app that is on their no access list, then the parent will be alerted.
This is the best and most efficient way for parents to monitor a teenagers smarphone. All good monitoring software should allow you to make a list of forbidden apps.
Even with a teenager smartphone monitoring tool in place, you will still want to do random spot checks to ensure the monitoring software is doing its job. Remember, teens use lots of third party apps to text, such as iMessaging and WhattsApp. These are platforms you will need to monitor, as a lot of misbehaving can occur over text.
Parenting is not an easy job, and teenagers can really push you to the limits. Ensure that you are open and honest with your teen when you give them a smartphone. Let them know that there will be consequences if they misuse their phone.
Things such as sexting, talking to strangers, or bullying can all have life long consequences. It is our jobs as parents to ensure our teenagers are safe. An effective monitoring tool will help you know what is happening while your teen is on their cell phone.
The digital age is upon us, but don’t be afraid to allow your teen to embrace technology, as it is a part of our daily life. Just have all the necessary tools in place to monitor their smartphone behavior. Even the best kids can be persuaded to do bad things, so you want to be proactive when monitoring their cell phone usage.
There are a lot of great third party apps out there, so don’t hinder your teenager from using technology for good reasons. Teach them to be responsible while engaging in activity on their smartphone.