Where social media has helped us connect with so many people around the world, it has also brought us closer to several online risks and challenges. Adults may be able to walk past these risks but it can be slightly difficult for the kids, owing to their naivety and poor decision-making. That is why the best social media monitoring tools are used by most parents so they can watch over their kid’s online activity.
They may not be able to understand whether or not the person they are interacting with on different social media platforms is harmless. they can be contacted by an online predator who just wants to become friends with them and take advantage of them for their evil intentions.
Similarly, someone on social media may hurl abuses at your child or use foul language with them. This indicates your child is being bullied online. Cyberbullying is another major threat that children are exposed to on social media these days.
What’s more, many tweens and teens are engaged in sexting on instant-messaging apps without their parent’s knowledge. They think their parents won’t be able to find out what sort of messages they are exchanging with others on social media apps so they continue doing so unabashedly. Find out more about how the dangers of social media are affecting your child’s mental health.
To stop this from happening and to ensure your child does not get involved in any inappropriate behavior online, you need to start monitoring their social media activity. For this very purpose, we have curated a list of best social media monitoring apps that let you keep tabs on what your child is doing online.
Let us dive deeper into the best social media monitoring apps parents can use to closely monitor their kid’s online activity and help them from rising online dangers.
We couldn’t have started the list of best social media monitoring apps by not mentioning Mobistealth. This app is an advanced monitoring app that lets you monitor someone’s digital device. When you install the app on your child’s phone, you can not only monitor their phone calls, text messages, and web browsing but also find out what they have been posting and sharing on their social media accounts especially Facebook, WhatsApp, and Snapchat.
The best thing about Mobistealth is that it does not let your child know about its presence on their phone. It means the app will stay undetected on their phone without making them aware of its presence. They wouldn’t know you have installed a monitoring app on their cell phones. You can carry on monitoring their social media activity without them knowing. How good is that!
This app is available for both Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded from their respective online stores. Try the free version or download the premium version for more advanced features. If your child is using an Android device, you need to get physical access to their device to be able to download the app on it whereas there is no need for any physical access for iOS devices. Only your child’s iTunes credentials would do.
Zift app has also made it on our list because it does more than just help parents monitor their child’s screen time. This parental control app carries out instant reporting of online searches, notifies if your child views inappropriate content and updates on newly installed apps.
Zift also suggests parents’ tips on hazardous apps and commonly-used social media phases to know through their online parenting community. Besides, its popular Net Nanny Smart Filter technology has the ability to observe individual web pages to find out if the content uploaded there is safe for your child or not.
This parental control app not only blocks the inappropriate web pages but also observes them in real-time so your child cannot view unsuitable content. And if you do not like what your kids are doing on social media, you can immediately block their internet access.
Norton’s popular parental control software is also available to the users in the app form. Using this software, parents can keep tabs on their children’s activity including their web browsing history and social media activity.
By monitoring your kid’s online activity, you can know who your kids are in touch with, what are they posting and sharing on social media, and how often are they viewing inappropriate content on social networks.
For those who are using Windows devices, they can get personal information protection from Norton Family and ensure your child does not disclose endangering and sensitive information on the internet. The “Instant Lock” featured offered by this parental control app also lets you unplug your kid from the online world during dinnertime.
Qustodio offers a beautifully displayed online dashboard where you can know everything about your child’s screen time. Standard features like the Smart Web Filters can block inappropriate content and establish limitations on games. It also offers a device time schedule so your kids are unplugged from the online world whenever they need to be.
Furthermore, you can also receive Smart Activity Reports to stay alert of your child’s online activity and be able to monitor their social media platforms, text messages (for Android devices only), phone calls as well as their real-time location.
The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store, Amazon as well as iTunes. You can also sign up for three family plans. The Small Plan costs $54.95/year, the Medium Plan $96.95/year, and the Large Plan $137.95/year. You can decide which plan suits you the best and then start monitoring your kid’s online activity with Qustodio.
We shall conclude our list of best social media monitoring tools by mentioning Net Nanny. This parental control app is available for Android, iOS, PC, and Kindle. You can block inappropriate apps and websites, filter inappropriate content as well as manage your kid’s screen time using Net Nanny.
A Family Feed lets parents instantly see what apps are being used by children and also offers real-time alerts on online content involving porn, drugs, weapons, and suicide. Therefore, if you want to be a real Net Nanny and monitor your kid’s online activity, you need to get your hands on this parental control now.
As explained by Perri Klass in an article published in the New York Times, digital addiction can be a real threat to your kids. So, be sure that your kids do not overuse the internet and spend too much time on social media.