DNS Monitoring vs. Content Monitoring: What Parents Should Know

You're about to hand your kid their first phone. The stress can be overwhelming. A flood of what ifs can cloud the senses and cause a tangible anxious reaction. Looking through the options doesn't help. Every solution makes promises and the features are technical and confusing. What do you actually need? One app wants to read every text message. Another just watches which sites the phone connects to. They're both called "parental monitoring." The truth is, not all of these options are created equal. It is necessary to understand the differences before making a decision regarding your child's digital safety.

Full monitoring is a challenge. On one hand it gives a parent knowledge of any searches a child does, any text message they send. It can even block websites. On the other hand, DNS monitoring can grant enough information to give context, without the issues associated with full monitoring. DNS operates transparently. It does not block things or do extra analysis by design. Being able to see everything a child does online may sound appealing, but by utilizing a minimal approach, trust can be maintained and balanced with the peace of mind of knowing at a high level what is happening online.

Full monitoring of all activity requires invasive technology that is installed directly on the device. Because of the nature of the solution, it then has to be locked in place to prevent children from uninstalling it. Kids are known for always fighting against all things that stand between them and games or videos online. This can create a constant cat and mouse game of always trying to stay one step ahead of the most recent circumvention technique. Beyond this, there is the potential of legitimate sites being blocked by accident. This could, in fact, inhibit creativity and curiosity. For DNS monitoring, the setup is easy. Locking it in place becomes a choice, not a requirement as the child will have no idea it is even there. So, creativity and curiosity can be explored. Any potentially disturbing site can be flagged, all without the risk of interfering with the online exploration.

DNS monitoring is uniquely positioned to only see domains themselves. This can come from internet sites or from apps. Background noise of apps will also register as activity in the system. This is designed to give insight into what is happening without betraying trust and becoming a surveillance tool. Because of this perspective, it will not pick up things like messages, photos, search terms, keystrokes, passwords, and full URLs. The lack of visibility into these areas is by design. Going that far creates a trust void with children. They know you are watching and will purposely change their behavior. It is more important to understand what they are doing so you can have a real connection with them based on their actual activity, not just what they "want" you to see. Cultivating trust requires also giving trust. ParentSEE allows you to give that to your kids while updating you on enough information to identify real issues. You still give your kid a helmet when you take the training wheels off. Not because you think they are going to fall and hurt themselves, but because you want to make sure they are safe. ParentSEE is the helmet for when the training wheels come off the devices.

With ParentSEE, you stay aware of your kids' digital life without driving it. In most cases, ParentSEE does not require any interaction beyond the initial setup process. Parents receive a daily email that they can read while enjoying their morning cup of coffee. Weekly reports provide deeper insights and any on-demand activity review or newly generated insight can be obtained by opening the app and clicking twice. We want parents to know that not everything that happens on devices is negative. So, we have created a milestone update that arrives by email and will give you information regarding new interests and positive changes in your child's online behavior. Of course, any safety related alert will generate a push alert right to your phone so you can react immediately if necessary. The real value from ParentSEE is not in constantly opening and interacting with another app. But in what is provided for you automatically. As a father, I know that time is precious. Between work and taking care of a family, I personally do not have time to check apps. This is what makes ParentSEE so special. It is something that can be useful, without being another distraction to parents. ParentSEE is not designed to prevent them from accessing sites on the internet, from playing too many video games past bedtime, or from messaging their friends. It will give parents visibility and suggest meaningful ways to form a genuine connection with kids again. If you feel like technology has created a rift in your relationship with your child, you are not alone. ParentSEE can help to bridge this void while maintaining the trust you have built with them.