To start with, installed https://www.kaspersky.co.in/total-security. It does provide a good view and control over 1) Screen time 2) Searches 3) Websites visited 4) Applications used
Is this good enough?
Which other ways or what else I could do?
The thing to do is talk with them about your worries. To tell them your concerns and seek their help in mitigation.
Open communication and trust are the only long term solutions. Not technology. There is no silver bullet.
It’s not a matter of key performance indicators. Screen time is integral to many lives today.
It would be great to get all the TPS reports you want. It won’t replace having a close relationship with your child. Developing trust. Providing safe room for mistakes. Good luck.
A comment commonly brought up here is if an employer has big brother software watching everything you do its a red flag and probably not a place one wants to work. You're essentially doing that to your kid. My kids are older but I don't monitor what they are looking at with software but I do ask what they're watching. At 10yo they probably just need supervision, not monitoring. I see those as different like I supervise employees doing work - check in on them, talk about how things are progressing, if there are barriers/issues, etc. Monitoring is more like automated micro-managing using time tracking.
Educating about having time for school and time for play/goofing off is important. I would suggest different device for the online goofing off or maybe a different login. Maybe even a different location in your house so its clear that its not learning time. Play screen time for us becomes an issue if grades are slipping then they get less play screen time. If they can keep up good grades and goof off in class watching minecraft videos, then so be it.
There is one thing probably that you are missing that the kids at this age should learn to respect and honour boundaries. They should known what is acceptable -vs- not. Just because you are in digital screen, does not mean you can do whatever. How would have teacher taken it if the kids watch a video during a live lecture.
Sometimes, talking with kids is one thing and having them to behave correctly is different. There are also cultural issues in place :-)
Let's be honest, your son is in an age with many changes and now or in the next 2-3 years he'll start to watch porn and just in general explore life.
If you have doubts of how to do handle this situation, go see a psychologist, they will help you to comprehend that situation.
Nobody really likes control and he'll likely have a hard time and even get into very bad behaviour if he figures out that everything he does you want to control and censor. Instead try to build a relationship of trust, that he can be open about the new challenges he has in life, about his love life and what he may share and want to discover and do in life.
He isn't a part of you and he'll do whatever he wants, the earlier you accept this and try to support him, the better.
https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-1-1-1-1-for-families...
Just found out there is a huge thread on HN:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22748141
Better if you get him a middle of the road Chromebook.
So blocking YouTube won't work, yet most of YouTube needs to be blocked.
It has worked really well for me
NextDNS[2] can also be another tool in your toolkit. It allows for more granular control than something like CloudFlare for Families.
1. https://www.lifewire.com/microsoft-family-safety-parental-co...
With today's technology you could also simply require your child to maintain an ongoing speakerphone call with you the entire time they are at school, so you can monitor emotional and age-related mental injuries caused due to unsound exposure to bullies and other students who have unrestricted internet access. That seems intrusive, just like active web traffic censorship.
For what it's worth OP, my parents' own netnanny experiment was what introduced me to the magic of Ubuntu Live CDs and from there, Linux and programming. So maybe circumventing parental controls can be a valuable learning exercise for the motivated student.
Having many conversations about sextortion, kids getting charged with under-ag-pron for taking or sharing pics and similar things that are in the news..
being open to listening about the silly stuff they get into makes it so they can open up to you about confusing stuff they may find I think..
I learned from a friend that there are subtle things being pushed in regular TV shows if you look for it - and to fight the propaganda hidden in media and games you have to watch and get to know the games and media..
skipping through a game walk through on youtube can be helpful..
I really really want to help create a listening device like alexa - offline recognition, that parses lists of words and only notifies parents if they hear a set of words on the list that was released a while back.. like the top 100 words used in discussions when people are suicidal.. sadly such a system would likely also be used to notify parents if their kids were talking about 'sex word / gay word / drug word' - and I don't think most parents are prepared for level headed discussions about those things - certainly not like a well trained teen counselor should be.
Most kids will find ways to surf the things you want to prevent - whether it's a vpn app - or surfing via other devices and networks.
I made it a point to show how to double check information whether it's health or sex or whatever and what good sources may look like.
I frequently remind to double check what other portals say before trying anything you hear or see online in the real world..
the 'bernie sanders glow stick pride' thing may have been a meme on fbook or tumblr or something - but the lesson applies to tiktok challenges or strange pron their friends may share - double check, and further research - cuz the glow stick directions actually made mustard gas that didn't glow, but the meme looked so cool -
luckily there is plenty of news on a regular basis that is not so prude and gives plenty of fodder to further discuss how these issues become serious problems for other people and how to avoid such in your own lives.
I am glad we can discuss deep topics, because there are serious things in simple games even these days - and I disagree with the ratings given to all of them -
in our house there are games and media that may be rated T for teen that are off limits and some that are mated M for mature that are okay with discussions -
There are no tech solutions to fix the indoctrination in assassins creed, broadcast TV, or the youtube rabbit holes - aside from turning off the TV / no internet.
I try to guide to wholesome media with life lessons and games with good messages - but the quick media of tiktok / snapchat and similar it's hard to compete.. it's best to be a good ear and open to discussions than to try to block it all imho.
/noncomplete random thoughts; ymmv for sure.
oh, and, discussions about how people in the internet can get a few bits of info over time and use that to pinpoint your location, your school.. exif data in photos.. oh so much to teach at that age.