The internet is a dangerous place. There, I said it. Children (and adults for that matter) can be easily lured into inappropriate conversations (or relationships). There are so many inappropriate websites with content that can do permit damage that I shudder just to think about them. This is a subject my family takes incredibly seriously. We are always looking for the best resources to help our family avoid the traps of the world wide web. How can we enjoy the wonderful benefits of the internet while staying clear of the dark places we shouldn’t go. This is where the Family Plan from Accountable2You comes in.
Accountable2You is a web based program that helps your be accountable to their travels on the web over multiple devices. Their goal is to help you and your family build character. As we all know, if someone is keeping us accountable to our actions we are less likely to to do that which we know we shouldn’t.
This is what my comes to my email each day. I can see at a glance if the program thinks my children have visited any questionable sites.
By installing their software on all of your devices and computers, your family’s online activity will be monitored and a daily report will be sent to whoever the accountability partner might be. Along with accountability reports, Accountable2You also offers quite a few customizing options for use in your family, group, or even your business.
This is what I see when I click view app usage.
By installing the software (or app on a mobile devices) and determining who the accountability partner (or partners) might be, you set yourself for a powerful way to monitor the internet usage of your entire family. The accountability partner can receive reports daily or weekly. The emailed reports contain special alerts or indications if the user has traveled to a questionable website. You can even receive instantaneous alerts of highly questionable activity. Every bit of this is customizatable per device.
I love this, now I can clearly see if my son has used his laptop at a time that he wasn’t supposed to.
Other features include GPS tracking for some devices, time limit alerts, and the ability to customize with your own list of objectionable and non-objectionable words. You can even determine how strict the alerts will be per device because Mom and Dad should be able to visit some websites that a younger child shouldn’t.
Here I can see the exact places my son has visited.
There are four plans to choose from:
Individual Plan: Great for monitoring a teen, a spouse, or yourself.
Family Plan: This is the plan we chose. You are able to monitor up to twenty devices and multiple family members… including children away at college.
Group Plan: This plan might be well used by a youth group, homeschool group, or other similar groups. Each user can have up to 6 devices. The administrator for the group is limited in what he/she can view however each person’s accountability partner is not.
Small Business Plan: This plan is meant for the small business owner whose employees have internet access.
How We Use This
I love this program. It works very well for where we are right now. I installed it on each of my children’s laptop computers. Now I get a daily report that tells me exactly what they’ve been up to on the computers, even if I’m not in the room. I can now see if they are using them when they shouldn’t or if they are visiting places they aren’t supposed to be visiting while they SHOULD be doing school work (ahem… Lego.com). I can see if they visit sites I’ve specifically told them not to visit without my supervision (YouTube). I can see how much time they are online. And yes, I know instantly if they are attempting to stray any place inappropriate (whether innocently or on purpose). All of the information comes to me with a daily email. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I had contemplated putting the software apps on mine and my husband’s phones but truthfully we decided it wasn’t worth it for US. The app tracks your internet usages if you are using the app. If you use Safari or Chrome or any other smartphone web browser than it cannot track it at all. Some day, when our children have mobile devices this will be the first thing we install. We can remove the other browsers and lock down the ability to install anything. If they want to visit the web they’ll need to go through this app. I very much love that idea.
Overall!
Two thumbs up. What a great program. It is an invaluable addition to our home. I highly recommend this program.