Jururawat Masyarakat

The Internet provides wealth of information on virtually anything. This also includes information or content that is seen to be unsuitable for internet user, especially kids and teenagers. The nature of contents ranges from that is violent, misleading, unverified, false and menacing. The law and regulations for web content varies from country to country, whereas the Internet platform is an open and global platform. Anyone can create a website and post content of any nature. It is easy to say that it’s up to the user to view or read the content but kids and teenagers may not be able to assess the suitability and may be influenced from viewing or reading such information.

As parents and adult, following are some of the tips for educating your children on handling website contents:

Ask your children to share their online experience, e.g. the website they have visited and the friends they have made. This is a good way of monitoring their online activity. It is important that parents include this in their daily conversations with them.

It is good to educate your children when they are young on online safety and more importantly the content they can find or come across. They will know their do’s and don’ts as they have been nurtured at their earlier years. Just like in real life, parents tell us, “look before you cross the road”. This advice becomes a natural habit over the years because our parents have said so.

Whenever your child go surf the internet, parents should occasionally sit together and explore the internet with them. Parents need to guide them to the suitable websites or perhaps, bookmark some sites for them.

Computers should be placed in the common areas of your home, e.g. living room. Parents will find it easier to monitor their children.

Parents should check all file sharing software such as P2P. They should only download or send legal files.

Inform your children if they feel uncomfortable about a website they have visited, they must tell you, so you could verify or block the website. To block in Internet Explorer, refer to the following instructions.
Steps to block websites in Internet Explorer 7:

In the Menu Bar click Tools -> Internet Options -> Content. In the Content Advisor box, click Enable.


Click the Approved Sites tab. Enter the address of the website.

Keep in mind - if you want to block the complete website put * in front. For example to block myspace completely, type *.myspace.com Click Never and then OK.


Click on the General tab and sure to select Users can see websites that have no ratings.


Enter a password you can remember easily with a hint.

Click OK to surf the Internet safely.


Parents should consider using content/filtering software to monitor their children’s online activity and access. There are some good web filtering software such as K9 Web Protection, NetDog Internet Filter, and SafeSquid.

Do some investigation on your children’s online activities by checking their cookie, cache files and history on their computer.

Set your web browser to “block pop-ups”. This eliminates the possibility of children clicking on pop-ups that may lead to inappropriate website or download viruses.

Teenagers are creative, experimental and eager to explore new things. Parents should practice the same to study the current trends and issues. Parents should bookmark good websites that talk about internet safety and share this with their children and friends.