Are Your Kids Spending Time on the Dark Web?

The internet is vast. There is so much information available on the internet that can be beneficial for everyone. However, not all the knowledge that you can gather from the internet is safe and harmless. The majority of the information on the internet is hidden, undetected, and stays invisible to the human eye. 

There is a dark side of the internet that can be extremely harmful and dangerous, especially for your kids. That dark side is known as the “dark web”. Most of the websites are open freely to the internet users. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Wikipedia, blogs, games—these websites can be accessed easily and come across as harmless if they are used by the kids correctly and safely. 

The internet pages and websites that can be accessed easily are referred to as the surface internet and it is mostly considered safe. However, the rest of the internet is known as the dark web or deep web that contains a large amount of information that is considered harmful and unsafe for kids. To know if your kids are spending time on the dark web, you can install the best free hidden spy apps for Android on their devices. 

What is the Dark Web?

The dark web is a collection of websites and data that cannot be accessed freely by searching for them on Google or simply typing in their web addresses. Special software is required to access those websites that exist in the dark web domain. This software makes everything and everyone completely anonymous on the internet.

The dark web is basically the internet’s evil twin. It is known to be the perfect place for conducting illegal or unsavory activities on the internet. 

How Do Kids Access the Dark Web?

Kids and teens can access the dark internet with the help of special software. Tor (The Onion Router) is the special software that allows you to hide your internet activity behind several layers of encryption. When kids become aware of this software, they can use it to access the dark internet and even those sites that are deemed inappropriate and harmful for them. 

When they are using Tor, it would be impossible for anyone, including their parents to find out who they are online as they surf the internet. One must think that this kind of software is only reserved for the most professional hackers and government agencies. However, it’s not true and is quite the opposite. 

Tor can be downloaded by anyone since it is free, open-source, and available for all the devices and platforms including Android smartphones, Windows, Mac, and Linus computers. As soon as your kids install the software on their device, they can easily look for the websites on the dark web. It has been found that around 2 million people are using this software to access the dark web daily. 

What Can Kids Find on the Deep Web?

Do you know what is on the deep web and what can your kids really find there? Let’s find out everything about the deep web here and also draw a comparison between the dark web and the deep web. 

An enormous amount of information is available on the dark internet. not of all the information on the dark web is bad. It totally depends on the person who is accessing the information on the dark web like how they want to use and for what purpose. Those who want to use the dark web for illegal, immoraland bad reasons can spend a lot more time on it. 

Now, let’s discuss the deep web. The deep web is a host to heinous content and criminal operations. Harmful and unsuitable content is available there. Several criminal operations also take place on the deep web. No person should hang out in the deep web, especially kids and teens. 

The following are some of the harmful and dangerous things that can be done on the deep web: 

• You can purchase drugs on the deep web and have them delivered to your doorstep.
• You can purchase weapons online and get them delivered to your address.
• The entire deep web is loaded with child abuse and predators. So, as soon as your kids go there, they are most likely to come across sexual predators. 

How to Know if Your Kids Are Spending Time on the Dark Web?

After seeing a glimpse of the dark web and the deep web, no parent would want their kids and teens to go anywhere near them. 

The first thing parents can do to find out if their kids are spending time on the dark web is to check all the devices that they are using for Tor. You can thoroughly monitor their computer and mobile phone to find out whether or not they have installed the Tor software on their device. If they have already installed it, you can remove it immediately and then interrogate your kid why they had installed the software and what they were doing with it and how they were using it. 

It’s important to have a conversation with your kids about internet safety. In case, you do not want to confront your kids so early, you can install Android spy software on their device and see what they have been searching for on the Tor browser. 

With the help of monitoring software and parental control apps, you can monitor your kid’s web browsing history and activity on their web browsers, including Tor. This is one of the best ways to find out if your kids are spending more time on the dark and deep web. 

As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, the internet is a huge place. Where it provides many advantages to the users, it can also put them in danger. Since the dark web is a controversial topic for discussion, kids may be tempted to look up for more ways to explore it. Therefore, parents need to take charge and set some internet boundaries for their kids. You should know how, when, and where the technology is being used by your kids. 

Last but not least, you need to communicate openly with your kids and talk to them about the online dangers that they must come across on the internet. Educate your kids about the online dangers as well as about the deep and dark web and how they can protect themselves online.