Lifestyle

Kid Friendly Internet Searching

TRY “KIDDLE” Stories about internet searches fascinate us.  Sifting through the vastness of the world wide web has become a part of the daily human experience – with an entire industry devoted to satisfying our thirst for knowledge. Hold up … did we say knowledge?   We meant our search for something…

TRY “KIDDLE”

Stories about internet searches fascinate us.  Sifting through the vastness of the world wide web has become a part of the daily human experience – with an entire industry devoted to satisfying our thirst for knowledge.

Hold up … did we say knowledge?  

We meant our search for something to offend us … or distract us … or arouse us.  Because let’s face it, those are as often as not the root motivators of our online queries.

A quarter century ago, this process was simple (albeit unsatisfying) because fewer than 3,000 websites existed.  Today there are more than one billion websites.

Such an exponential proliferation of information is unprecedented in the human experience – and it has far-ranging consequences on our global civilization.

The good?  Our public debate has been opened up … people are making connections based on shared interests … and all sorts of commercial innovations have been spawned.

The bad?  It’s become far easier for government to spy on us … and there is also concern that increasingly isolate “silos” of intra-lingual communication are evolving online among various communities could one day turn the web into a modern-day version of the Tower of Babel.

The ugly?  The proliferation of the internet has empowered predators and scammers of all stripes.

Is this the sort of world we want to throw our kids into?

No …

Enter Kiddle – which is basically Google for Kids.  This site not only shuts down age inappropriate searches …

(Click to enlarge)

kiddle

(Via Kiddle)

… but it also filters results so that kids can access content that’s been written especially for them.

“Since Kiddle results are either handpicked and checked by our editors or filtered by Google safe search, you know you get kid-oriented results without any explicit content,” the website’s authors noted.  “In case some bad words are present in a search query, our guard robot will block the search.”

Do moms approve?  Yes …

“My kids love playing with Google and Kiddle appears to be a fantastic and safe alternative,” Valerie Williams wrote for the website Scary Mommy. “Hopefully, once they get past the thrill of typing in naughty words, they’ll actually look up subjects that interest them. And when they do, Kiddle’s got their back.”

Obviously there is no substitute for keeping a watchful eye over your child’s online searching – especially searches that lead to online interactions.  That’s Parenting 101.

But it is nice to know there are sites out there providing layers between them and the unfiltered internet.

***

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18 comments

Tazmaniac February 29, 2016 at 1:12 pm

Test it by searching FUPA, hat tip to TroubledBaby.

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shifty henry February 29, 2016 at 1:29 pm

2.3 million kids have asked their parents “isn’t query a bad word”?

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Rocky Verdad February 29, 2016 at 10:29 pm

I blocked Trump from our home browser.

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Flip February 29, 2016 at 11:00 pm

That won’t fully stop the Trump virus.

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Yea!!! February 29, 2016 at 1:40 pm

I just got Fitsnews.com blocked by Kiddle. It really is a good thing!

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Flip February 29, 2016 at 11:02 pm

Why? There’s no titties to be found here now, let the kids bore themselves.

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Nölff February 29, 2016 at 1:43 pm

That robot doesn’t look too friendly.

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Flip February 29, 2016 at 11:01 pm

He’s Rubio’s cousin C3bio.

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shifty henry March 1, 2016 at 10:20 am

that’s funny! (and robots don’t sweat)

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shifty henry March 1, 2016 at 10:20 am

evil..!!

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erneba February 29, 2016 at 1:58 pm

In the end, nothing can replaced parental involvement and monitoring. I would Imagine most preteen boys will be trying to press the limits and evade any parental controls put in place.
“Gee, I have never seen one of those before.”

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Tazmaniac February 29, 2016 at 2:16 pm

Well boys it is back to National Geographic.

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erneba February 29, 2016 at 2:45 pm

My father subscribed to National Geographic all his adult life. When I was a kid, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

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Tazmaniac February 29, 2016 at 2:50 pm

Yeah you would think Victoria’s Secret would have a line of grass skirt lingerie, beads and bone jewelry for us boys of the sixties.

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shifty henry February 29, 2016 at 3:44 pm

NG — that’s when I began collecting maps. One summer when I was cutting grass for cash I came across a trash pile at the curb where someone had thrown out about 15(?) years of NG with all the maps — boy, were my parents upset at me when that showed up at home!

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TroubleBaby February 29, 2016 at 2:59 pm

It’s why I had to hide my Playboy’s that were stolen by my friends from their Dads.

Damned parental involvement!

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Flip February 29, 2016 at 10:59 pm

Too kid friendly: Pogoogle

LMAO!!!

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shifty henry March 1, 2016 at 10:27 am

just tried it at Fitsnews.com and got 23,200 results. It’s kind of screwy though, cause here’s one interesting article —-

516 articles from South Carolina
14 suspected Cowboys, Wildboys gang members indicted on federal charges (Charleston, SC): Fourteen suspected gang members were indicted on a range of crimes including murder and racketeering, dealing what authorities called a “tremendous blow” to a criminal enterprise that reached into three counties.
Source: The Post and Courier Date: February 24, 2016
http://www.postandcourier.com/

Reply

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