{"id":5095,"date":"2016-07-12T12:06:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T17:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=5095"},"modified":"2016-07-12T12:55:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T17:55:41","slug":"keep-kids-safe-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2016\/07\/12\/keep-kids-safe-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Your Kids Safe With Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"

My kids are online, and I\u2019m sure that many of your children are, as well. There are a great number of choices when it comes to monitoring Internet activity for your home. I have implemented solutions for clients and their families that work, but weren\u2019t simple to implement, monitor and manage.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s become easier as technology improved, a new product has captured my attention as an easy-to-use solution for monitoring your family\u2019s Internet activity: Circle with Disney.<\/p>\n

Available at a number of retailers like Amazon (amzn.to\/1NFeJg0) for $99, Circle with Disney is simple in design and implementation. A small cube, once plugged in and configured on your Wi-Fi network, gives parents control over the Internet in their home. Paired with an app for your iOS device (an Android version is in the works), it gives parents a simple interface with which they can monitor and maintain the Internet usage in their home.<\/p>\n

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Setup is easy, requiring a power outlet and your Wi-Fi network information. Once configured on your Wi-Fi network, the app allows you create an account that will require an email and a phone number that accepts text messages.<\/p>\n

Then, you can create profiles for your family. Ideally, you should create a profile for each family member you wish to manage, maybe even one for yourself. While creating your first profile, you can poke around the settings and see the various options available to you.<\/p>\n

Filtering is easy to implement, with five levels: Pre-K, Kid, Teen, Adult and None. Each of these can be customized with toggle switches to allow and disallow various types of content. Time Limits are a great way to control how long your kids are spending online or on a certain platform (Minecraft, YouTube, Netflix) or category (Social Media, Games, Blogs). BedTime allows you to cut off their Internet connectivity between certain times, so they can\u2019t sneak some playtime in after hours.<\/p>\n

Once configured, these limits apply across all their devices, so switching from their iPhone to their iPad to their computer doesn\u2019t help them escape that limit.<\/p>\n

To accomplish this level of control, and keep these filters across all your children\u2019s devices, you\u2019ll assign these to the profile you create for them. Most often, a simple name will suffice for identifying which device belongs to whom, but sometimes the name alone won\u2019t work, so MAC addresses are also available for identification.<\/p>\n

You can easily view all the devices that are connected to your network and rename them for easier identification. For smart devices like TVs, Blu-Ray players, and other Internet capable devices, I didn\u2019t assign to a profile, and chose not to filter them so as to not cripple their functionality.<\/p>\n

Once I had everything configured, and the kids were sufficiently upset about the new filtering applied to them, I explored the monitoring capabilities of Circle with Disney. \"Circle-with-Disney-1\"<\/a>Insights presents the activity for each profile by day, week and month, allowing you to see what sites the kids visited, and how long they spent there, and filter out that site, if need be. The default filters do a good job, but having the ability to filter further to specific sites with a simple click is really handy.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most powerful feature of all is the Pause button. With a simple click, you can turn off access for the whole network, an individual profile, or even an individual device. Time for dinner, and the kids aren\u2019t coming? Pause the Internet and they appear, as if summoned by magic. Circle will also remind you if you\u2019ve paused someone, just in case you forgot to turn them back on. Or maybe you didn\u2019t \u2026<\/p>\n

The challenges of filtering the vast amount of information, both bad and good, that\u2019s available to children online can be hard for a parent. Circle with Disney is the first technology package I\u2019ve found that makes this easy. If you have a child online, an iOS device, and a Wi-Fi network, invest $99 in Circle for Disney, and make parenting a little simpler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My kids are online, and I\u2019m sure that many of your children are, as well. There are a great number of choices when it comes to monitoring Internet activity for your home. I have implemented solutions for clients and their families that work, but weren\u2019t simple to implement, monitor and manage. While it\u2019s become easier [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[36,66],"yoast_head":"\nKeep Your Kids Safe With Circle - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2016\/07\/12\/keep-kids-safe-circle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keep Your Kids Safe With Circle - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My kids are online, and I\u2019m sure that many of your children are, as well. There are a great number of choices when it comes to monitoring Internet activity for your home. 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