It is inevitable to keep your teens away from smartphones. Keeping them away from technology wouldn’t benefit them in any way. Rather, it will devoid them of any technological advancements and knowledge.
To live and survive in this digital world, it is important to hand over smartphones to your teens and let them explore the internet world so they can learn new things every day. While the world of the internet and social media broadens their wisdom and helps them connect with the rest of the world, let’s not forget that it can also expose them to severe online dangers.
Many parents are of the view that by installing hidden spy apps for Android or iPhone on their teens’ smartphones, they can monitor their activities and protect them from harmful internet dangers. But, do you think it is okay to monitor your teen’s online activities secretly? Is it right to keep an eye on their smartphone activities without them knowing?
Before we can further discuss whether monitoring your teen’s online activities is right or wrong, we need to talk about why parents find it necessary to monitor them in the first place.
Why Monitor Teen’s Online Activity?
Parents have valid reasons to keep an eye on their teen’s online activities. As the internet and social media platforms are laden with several online dangers, it is important to keep a check on what’s going on in your teen’s life.
Online dangers such as cyberbullying, pedophilia, sexting, pornography, violence, etc. are quite rampant on social media platforms. It doesn’t take long for your kids to become exposed to these dangers. These internet dangers can risk your teen’s life by affecting their mental and physiological health.
If you do not supervise, control, and manage their online activities, you can lose your teens forever. They can easily become influenced by their peers or get involved in something dangerous. Therefore, it is essential that parents keep a close eye on their teen’s online activities because that’s one of the best ways to protect them from harmful online dangers. For this purpose, parents can consider installing hidden spy apps for Android or iPhone on their teen’s smartphone.
Is It Okay to Monitor Your Teen’s Online Activity Secretly?
Now that you know why monitoring your teen’s online activity has become the need of the hour, let’s talk about whether it is okay or not to monitor them in a secretive manner. Many parents consider using stealth apps to track their teen’s smartphone activities to avoid any fight with them.
As most teens loathe the idea of their smartphones getting tracked by their parents, parents believe it is better to not tell them about the monitoring apps at all. They choose stealth apps and install them on their teen’s smartphone and then hide the app’s icon from their phone’s display so they cannot come to know about it.
These stealth apps have the ability to work secretly in the background of the target smartphone without disrupting their work. Teens cannot even tamper with these apps because they wouldn’t even know that such an app has been installed on their smartphone.
Surely, these stealth apps work just fine and help you fulfill the purpose of monitoring your teen’s online activities without them knowing but we wouldn’t recommend using them all.
It is better to take your teen’s confidence first and inform them about the monitoring apps before installing one on their smartphone. When you explain to them the reasons for using spy apps for Android or iPhone on their smartphone, your teens will likely understand your viewpoint and they might assist you in monitoring their online activities.
Some parents also believe in having a heart-to-heart and open discussion with teens about their internet activities. Parents who have developed a strong bond with their teens do not have to worry about their teens coming across any online dangers because they know their teens can tackle them wisely.
When teens are educated about online dangers and know how to handle them on their own, they do not necessarily need any monitoring apps installed on their smartphones. Parents should teach and educate their teens about online dangers and how to use the internet and social media safely and responsibly.
Even if they need to monitor their teen’s smartphone activities, they should inform their teen about it first, take their consent, and then install the monitoring app on their device. This is how a parent-teen bond can flourish and become stronger.
