When you’re on vacation with the family this summer, your kids are bringing along all of their friends. Not literally, of course, but more than likely they’ll be using their smartphones to stay in touch with all their pals and telling them everything that’s going on.
Posting geo-tagged photos, using check-in apps, and updating social pages with too much detail about their whereabouts are risky enough when you’re in town because of the value the information can have to a potential stalker. It’s an even bigger problem when they’re telling everyone back home that you’re away on a weeklong vacation. So unless you have 100 percent confidence in your home security system, ask them to tone down the social sharing while you’re away. You don’t want to ruin their fun, but you don’t want your home ransacked, either.
Make your vacation even safer
If you’d like extra peace of mind, ESET Parental Control can help. This app lets you block inappropriate apps or websites on their smartphone, and set limits on time usage. But it also allows you to grant additional time or access if your child requests it, so you can keep them and your family protected while you build trust and educate them about responsibility.
And, if you trust your older kids to go exploring on their own during vacation, you can breathe a little easier there, too. ESET Parental Control lets you locate them if you need to know where other family members are, and stay in touch with a feature that requires they acknowledge your call or text in order to continue using their device.
By the way, a survey of 50 ex-burglars found that 80 percent of them used information on social sites to target homes. It’s a real risk. You don’t want to have a great vacation ruined by what you find when you return home.