Remember the Fire Swamp from The Princess Bride? It’s a normal forest you can travel through, but there are dangers along the way. If you’re careful, you can avoid those dangers. But they’re easy to fall prey to, even for the most heroic.

For kids, especially, the internet is a little like the Fire Swamp. It’s surprisingly easy for children to stumble on inappropriate content even when they’re not looking for it. Whether it’s a video that’s not meant for kids, an unexpected internet search result, or social media pages and posts, there are plenty of pitfalls that might have your child seeing words and images you don’t want them to see.

Most parents are, rightfully, concerned about their children seeing inappropriate content. Consider these statistics:

• A 2022 Pew Research study showed that, when it comes to social media, parents’ top concern is that teens will be exposed to explicit content: 71% of the parents surveyed said they were worried about this issue, with 46 being “extremely/very” worried.

• The website Internet Matters reports that 56% of kids 11-16 have seen explicit material online. (Other statistics put the number anywhere between 42% to 90%).

• KidsHealth reports the astonishing statistic that “The average American child will see 200,000 violent acts on TV by age 18.”

• A 2020 Pew study related that 89% of surveyed parents said their 5- to 11-year-old children watch videos on YouTube, even though “majorities of parents are concerned about the types of videos their child may encounter on YouTube, and some report that their child has come across unsuitable material.” The study showed that 46% of parents said their child age 11 or younger had encountered inappropriate videos.

While there’s reason for concern when it comes to kids and inappropriate content, there are also tools that can help you. With Apex WIFI, parents and guardians have multiple ways to keep their kids safe:

• Set content filtering and site restrictions by user and device. This allows you, for example, to create settings based on your individual kids’ ages and maturity.

• Restrict all mature content from any devices, including family TVs, computers, tablets, etc.

• Take a granular approach and block individual sites or apps like YouTube or social media that may have questionable content or language for young viewers.

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