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With increasing availability of digital devices to children and the swiftness with which they adapt themselves to use it, it is the children who use the digital devices more than what parents do. While Digital world opens up a lot of opportunities to them it also exposes them to certain risks which they are not equipped to handle at the tender age and parents do not have the knowledge of their interactions to help them. The problem becomes bigger if we also take into account the tendency of a child to hide his / her digital interaction with parents. According to a survey conducted by Intel – McAfee – 64% of the pre-teens hide their online activities (and this is a percentage of people who admitted it in a survey). Couple this with the fact that Parents these days are busy surmounting the challenges posed with extended hours of work, demands of life and surviving in an increasingly competitive world, etc. The task becomes daunting. India is also fast emerging as the “Child Bullying capital” with more than 42% of the kids getting exposed to cyber bullying in India (Intel- McAfee Survey). This brings to the fore the needto de-risk the digital interactions of the kids and to help them when they need it.
Existing methods of monitoring the physical interaction of kids – that parents are aware of, do not work in the digital world. Use of a technology based solution that assists parents is the only solution.
FamilyHawk has launched a Digital Interaction Monitoring and Management service through their app FH-Junior that sits on child phone and helps parents monitor and manage Voice Calls made and SMS sent to and from the kid’s phone, App Installed on their phone and their Usage, putting geo-fence around their expected location and raising alerts in case of violation, monitoring web access and putting family rules around them. The ‘Family Rules’ could be around calls they can receive depending on Caller’s Idor day and time of week, Max App Usage Per day, App Usage restriction based on day and time of week, Website access based on time and day of week and blocking of specific category of websites or specific websites or any combination of these rules.FamilyHawk also launched the parent app – FH Senior, through which parents can monitor the reports and set ‘Family Rules’. Parents can also utilise any desktop / laptop to access the portal https://app.familyhawk.com and view the reports or set the ‘Family Rules’.
FamilyHawk lays emphasis on the fact that before the digital device is handed over to the kids, it is important that parents explain kids their expected behaviour vis-a- vis the usage of digital devices. Parents should guide kids on when and where it is appropriate to use the digital devices and explain them the family rules for responsible use of digital devices. Family rules could relate to usage of device at dinner table, at night, when they have to complete the homework and when they are supposed to be sleeping or etiquette of interacting with others in the digital world. Kids can be the target of bullying / they should be guided on treating others in the same way that want to be treated. The manner and ethics of digital interactions would be similar to their physical world.
Once the guidance to the kids is set in place, the same should be monitored and managed through FamilyHawk apps – FH-Junior and FH Senior, and its exceptions should be used as an opportunity to reinforce the principles of good digital citizens.
We at Awfis think that FamilyHawk’s journey is motivational and we are proud to have such inspiring stories building in our centres!
This story is based on the interview of Mr. Sudhanshu Tewari, Founder – FamilyHawk by Awfis Editorial Team
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