Do parents worry about children’s internet use and how do they manage it?

[Adrian58]

I am interested in finding out whether parents worry about what their children get up to on the Internet, and what they do about it?

I do worry a bit. I don't know if I'm being overcautious but whenever I leave the house with my children I dress them up in a disguise. One wears glasses with a false nose attached, one has a little moustache and wig and other two use a pantomime horse costume.

They do sometimes get too hot and those in the horse always argue about who is going to be the head/tail but it seems like a worthwhile precaution.

I am guessing this is posted because of the recent publicity. I do wonder why the mother who wants the police to allow her to access her dead son's phone did not simply look at it. Surely the first thing is to have all passwords to every device and site your child uses. To me that is simpe parental care.
Also be a friend of your child on Facebook etc so you can see what they post.

Do YOU worry op?

Yes. Mine are a bit older now and have left home, But when they were younger I had private Wifi networks set up, with some complex software that restricted what they could access and when they could do it. But then I have degrees in computing, decades of experience. But even I found it hard, like playing wack-a-mole with internet sites. Kids hated it at the time, but later said I was doing the right thing.

I am not convinced that legislation is either the right way, or the correct way. I can't honestly see the streaming and social media companies paying anything but lip service.

I also have a very string belief that this should be led by parents.But parents need help here.

If you want to have access to someone's iPhone, after their death set up the Legacy Contact. before the account holder's demise.

I don't know about Android, but would expect something similar.

I use the Qustodio monitoring app. You have to pay but it's really helped here. You can block/approve sites, have it alert you if your child accesses certain sites (if you don't want to block them), allows you to see what they watch on YouTube and what their search terms are, and alerts you of any possibly dangerous content / searches / messages.

When my children were younger, I used blocking and monitoring at the router level. It was very effective but alarming at times to look at the logs...