Tips for Keeping Kids Safe Online

The proliferation of social media, online games, online forums, and the use of cell phones has given today’s children a technology access never dreamed of a generation ago. Children now have access to an astonishing amount of content, people, and information online. With these advancements, parents now have even more challenges when it comes to keeping their children safe and happy. They want them to be safe from predators and happy in the sense that they are free from online harassment. Both of these concerns are the most important in the minds of parents, as their children create Facebook pages, play online games and send text messages incessantly.

Here is a summary of some of the main threats to the well-being of your children. In a constantly connected world, knowing where the danger is is the first step in prevention and safety.

Predatory adults

According to enough.org, there are currently more than 600,000 registered sex offenders in the US and more than four percent of all children, while online, will be exposed to some form of suggestive request from an adult. Naive or rebellious children could be the victims of these online predators.

Bullying between peers

The media has covered some high-profile cases of teen suicide and online bullying in recent years. According to some statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 52% of students report being cyber-bullied at some point, while 25% report repeated bullying through their cell phones or profiles. of social networks (statisticbrain.com).

Inappropriate content

Pornography and inappropriate content are everywhere on the Internet. According to Alexa.com, four of the top twenty sites with the highest web traffic are pornographic in nature. When you consider what often shows up in a search engine when entering a seemingly innocuous search, or the number of inappropriate spam emails you receive, it’s not hard to see why this is a problem in keeping kids isolated from the inappropriate content.

Narcissism and compulsion

Children, and especially teenagers, are very aware of social status and image. This mindset can lead to unhealthy periods of time on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. Kids get stuck trying to constantly stay in the loop, connect, and interact online in hopes of gaining acceptance or becoming more popular.

Secret

More data from the US Department of Health indicates that only 52% of teens exposed to bullying or inappropriate solicitation report incidents to their parents. There are no figures on exposure to inappropriate content, but it’s probably a safe bet that many of those incidents also go unreported.

All of these threats are very real, and considering the amount of time kids spend online, they could come up on a daily basis. Here are some tips to help keep your children safe, while bridging the gap between parental control and proper education for your children.

• Children should be “friends” with their parents on Facebook and allow them to “follow” them on Twitter. As teens get older, parents are sure to get rejected, but this is a surefire way to see what their children post and what is being said about them. It is a fine line between monitoring and interference, so caution is advised.

• Do not allow children to create their own personal email addresses until they reach a more mature and responsible age. Any account created online must be linked to the parent’s email. Not only will this allow you to monitor which sites your children sign up to, it will generally require you to authorize the use and give you time to discuss any concerns with your children or decline the request.

• Make sure your children are informed about what is appropriate to post online and that they never provide contact information or post suggestive or inappropriate photos of themselves. In today’s world of social media, kids can be your worst enemy. They shouldn’t post anything online that they don’t want on a billboard, as this is essentially what online posts are. And removing or controlling Internet content once it is available is not a simple matter.

• Young adults tend to want to add as many peers as possible to their social media circles. But the reality is that many of these “friends” are not in your child’s best interests and often become a source of ridicule or cyberbullying. Make sure your children only accept requests from friends they know and trust.

• Strict rules and guidelines must be established and agreed upon before allowing children to connect to the Internet. These rules and guidelines should also be reviewed frequently as your children’s online experience increases. You need to set limits on what is acceptable, limit the amount of time they spend online, and make them understand what you will and will not accept in terms of behavior.

• Children are naive, curious, and trusting by nature. This is dangerous. So monitor your children’s activities. Check your browsing history through browser tools. You can also buy programs that will improve your monitoring capabilities.

• Set up your parental controls on your computer. Each operating system and browser has a set of parental controls. You need to make sure you set the appropriate limits or settings for each one. You can also adjust the settings on Google and the other search engines to be strict, ensuring that only appropriate content is returned regardless of the search.

Educating yourself and your children is ultimately the most important step you can take. Sit down with your children and establish ground rules. Review those ground rules every time your kids get a new device, create a social media account, or sign up to play online. Parents have the unenviable task of walking the fine line between building trust and keeping their children safe. Applying a combination of education, counseling, and follow-up should help.

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