Are kids too tech-savvy for their own good?

For many children today, the era where smartphones, tablets, laptops and wireless access didn’t exist seems laughable. They were born into this technology revolution. So it’s hardly surprising that countless kids are far more tech-savvy than their parents and teachers.

This is worrying because kids have a habit of finding a way around most obstacles – particularly the ones we as adults put in place to “protect” them. Take the education system, for example. It makes sense that web filtering is a basic technology needed in schools and educational institutions. However, there are cases when either web filtering is not deployed or kids have bypassed the technology.

Sometimes, it’s not even a question of people being tech-savvy. It’s simply a matter of accessibility to information. When doing research in this area, I often come across forum users asking for tips on how to bypass their web filtering technology – a good number of these people seemingly children in schools.

It is not such a surprise when we read a story like this one, where fourth- and fifth-graders in Illinois accessed pornography using a school computer. Although it is possible that these kids went to great lengths to bypass the school’s web filtering software, the truth is that too often cash-strapped schools are making it easier for these kids by not installing a robust, full-featured solution.

Cash-strapped is no longer a good excuse, because there are solutions like ControlNow that are affordable, and when properly set up, will block access to pornography and other unacceptable websites in a school environment. While schools should be taking the initiative, parents can also do their part by encouraging schools to be proactive and install the necessary protection.

In the US, there is specific federal funding under the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) for educational entities to implement robust web filtering and other protective technologies. Sometimes this can be as simple as deploying particular group policies on computers and removing administrative rights to prevent tampering with the technology. However, it is also a good idea for the company implementing the web filter to actually think like a kid and look for potential ways to bypass the filter.

ControlNow can help schools and other educational institutions achieve CIPA compliance, by enabling them to implement good web filtering technology on each computer. If a child takes a laptop off campus or just bypasses the school network via an alternative Internet connection, ControlNow is still there to provide what’s needed: protection.

Find out how ControlNow can help you by starting your free trial today.