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Privacy

What a filter can do, and what only a conversation can.

A filter keeps the worst of the internet out. It can’t explain what your kid saw at a friend’s house.

We build a filter, so you might expect us to say a filter solves everything. It doesn’t, and families who expect it to are the ones who get caught out.

What a filter does well

A good filter stops accidents. The misspelled search, the ad that leads somewhere ugly, the link a classmate sends as a dare. For younger kids, accidents are most of the risk, and a filter removes them quietly, without anyone having to be the bad guy.

What it can’t do

It can’t follow your kid to a friend’s house, onto the school bus or into a group chat where someone shares a video. It can’t explain why something was upsetting. And it can’t tell you that your kid is sad.

A filter buys you time. What you do with the time is the parenting.

Using both

A division of labor

  • Let the filter handle the accidents, so you don’t have to hover.
  • Use the calm it creates for the conversations that matter.
  • Say it early and often: if you see something awful, you are not in trouble.

Smartie’s tip

When something gets blocked, treat it as a conversation starter, not as evidence. “What were you looking for?” has a harmless answer nine times out of ten.

A filter that knows its job.

See what the KidsProxy web filter covers, and how exceptions work.

TagsWeb filterTrustFamily rules

Hannah Brooks writes about family life for KidsProxy. She has two kids, one shared tablet and strong opinions about dinner-table phones.

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