By Josh Gilman:
Once upon a time, an evil empire attempted to enslave the people of earth by developing poison affecting the minds of all who consumed it. The poison was highly addictive and its genius was that it could be self-administered. Taken once, it would bury itself deep within the mind of the victim who would then seek out more and more poison. The poison was produced in unknown locations, and distributed through seedy shops or simply from person to person. Sometimes, young men would discover their father’s or brother’s stash and try it out. But it was always quietly hidden away.
One day the empire found a new way to spread their poison. Instead of making it necessary for people to go out and obtain it, they sent the poison directly to people’s homes. Few could resist. Next, they developed the ability to drop the poison straight into everyone’s hands. Soon no home was without a sample, and nearly all children had been exposed to the poison before they were even ten years old.
This transparent parable tells the story of the current state of our world and its tangled relationship with pornography. You no longer need to want it, like it, or even seek it out. It will find you – wherever you are, in whatever lifestyle you live. If you ever come into contact with the following, pornography has a direct line to you:
- Every Smartphone
- Any Computer
You probably checked off two to four of those. So ask yourself: how can you protect yourself and those you love from this awful poison? Over the last 5 years I have used at least 5 different programs and have finally found one that I like: Covenant Eyes.
Covenant Eyes is:
- Excellent for accountability
- Very good at filtering out objectionable content
- Easy to use, customize, and fairly priced
Accountability
There are a lot of internet filters out there that do not have effective accountability set-ups. Covenant Eyes (www.covenanteyes.com) records every single website you view and gathers the information into an easy to read, comprehensive accountability report. This report is then sent to an accountability partner of your choosing. In my experience and that of many of my friends, simply removing the hidden nature of our online lives is not only helpful, but freeing. We were not born to be autonomous, private, and secretive individuals. Breaking out of that false pressure is freeing.
Filtering
Covenant Eyes allows for several different levels of filtering. The excellent part of it is that you can have your filter set to “Mature”, meaning that it will allow certain website through while still reporting website usage from a lower level to your accountability partner(s). I myself am able to tell my accountability partners to watch for certain sites that, while appropriate, turn into mindless timewasters. If they populate my report too often, they call me on it.
Another helpful feature is the ability to add any site to a block list. Many sports and news related sites contain pictures that, while not technically pornographic, you do not want you or your children to see. You can add these sites to your block list.
Most importantly, Covenant Eyes filtering is reliable and very rarely lets any inappropriate content through.
Usability
One feature that is very helpful is the account administrator’s ability to override a blocked site. Sometimes certain sites get blocked that are not actually inappropriate. The site www.PornFuelsRape.ca, for instance, contains the words “porn” and “rape”. and therefore always gets blocked. I can override this. However, it will still show up on my report so my accountability partners will still see any site that is overridden. Remember, the point of accountability is to live an online lifestyle without secrets. Covenant Eyes does this the best.
Will it work?
Covenant Eyes is better or equal to all other programs in terms of its reliability. I have used several different filters and accountability programs over the years – on PCs, MACs and Smartphones. Covenant Eyes would receive a 9.5 from me on all computers; a 9/10 on androids and; a 8/10 on iPhones (iPhones do not allow filter and accountability access to other apps and browsers, so one must adjust their own phone settings to disable certain apps). iPhones DO however have great restrictions settings that can be turned on to make the iPhone with Covenant Eyes by far the best filtered & accountable phone option.
Affordability
Priced at $10.99 (USD) a month, Covenant Eyes is slightly pricier than some comparable programs. For Smartphone users it works out well, however, because there is no separate charge for downloading the Covenant Eyes app on the same account. You can use the same account on as many devices as you want, or add multiple users for less than 5 dollars. This keeps the service affordable not only for yourself but also for your family.
Filtering is extra? Why can’t I just pay for accountability and not go to bad sites?
The year is 2017, and the internet is out of control. You have no idea where a link on Twitter or Facebook will actually go. The other day I clicked on a news article on a reputable news site and the link was hijacked, taking me directly to a porn site.
The Devil hates you and hates your children. If you do not think an investment of just over $100 a years is worth it to try to protect your family and yourself from the most evil of poisons, I would call into question how much you value human beings. We no longer fight porn by staying away from the sleazy corners of our world. We can no longer un-invite it and think it will leave. We must aggressively take a stand against it and fight back its repeated attempts to invade our homes and our lives.
Get Covenant Eyes today!
Use this link to protect your family with covenant eyes today and you’ll get your first month free!