The internet plays a vital role in all aspects of children’s and young people’s lives. But young people can sometimes participate in inappropriate, risk-taking, or illegal behavior online. It can be trying for parents and carers to know how to respond and support a child. Nowadays, people are more addicted to online games, especially children. The online world is different from the real world. Internet users spent an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019. By 2021, more than 3 billion people are expected to be on social media.
Many people worry about the amount of screen time, but there can be many positives about what your child is doing online.
Tips
Parents should know what kids are doing online
Some parents should have parental controls and should be aware of what they are watching online. Some are not aware of kids’ online activities. If they are watching online cartoons or searching study-related content, it is good. There are many tools to block inappropriate content. For example, Safe Image Search on images.google.com and equivalent devices on other search engines will block most sexually explicit content but can easily be changed to be restrictive.
Always check background
Especially younger kids are not aware of their backgrounds. Hackers can use malicious software like spyware to infiltrate your child’s computer and spy on you and your family through the webcam. Fix an area in your home for online learning that your child can use for school. In some schools, it is compulsory to put a common school background for all. Consistently monitor the tools your child will be using for school and their respective security settings.
Enable automatic updates
If your children’s devices aren’t updating automatically, there is a chance to be vulnerable to evolving viruses and malware. It is not possible to monitor a child’s devices if both the parents are working. You’ll want to make sure automatic updates for school apps and programs on your child’s learning devices are turned on for online safety.
Talk to your child about online safety and set some boundaries
Choose age-appropriate apps and websites. Whenever you log into the website or look at a website or a web page, look for a lock sign. If the lock sign is there, it means the t messaging between you and the webserver, from where you are downloading the information or fetching the data, is encrypted. Tell them everything online is permanent.
Cyberbullying
Nowadays, children spend a lot of time in digital media they’re more likely to encounter cyberbullies. You can collect evidence by taking screenshots of messages or cruel photos, record any harassing videos, block any messages from the bully, and tell your child not to communicate with this attacker. If the bully attends the same school as your child, contact the school. Then the school can change the passwords and login ids.
Show them how to keep themselves secure
Parents should teach their children how to keep them secure in real life and online. Always check if your child is giving location or personal information (mobile number, account details, etc.) to any website or game.
Encryption
Encryption is one of the most powerful tools for online safety. Encryption takes a message, transforms it into something that has no meaning( scrambled words). Then it will send it to the intended recipient, the person you want to talk to, or the person you want to share the information with. It will be decrypted into the actual message at the receiving end, and the recipient can understand it. Sender and receiver can understand quite easily. But nobody in the middle can read anything.
Other tools like Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp provide end-to-end encryption. So whatever message you send from your mobile phone can only be read by the intended recipient. Anyone reading the message in the middle will never be able to understand because it is encrypted. It has been converted into a form that is unreadable for anybody else other than the intended recipient. You use the application which offers encryption before you start using it.
Open DNS family shield
It is specially designed for home users Who want to keep their children from seeing inappropriate images on their computers and protect your family from pushing is free.
Conclusion
Children don’t need too much monitoring, instead teach them about online behaviors. Children regularly use different websites and apps from their parents, and it can be hard to keep up in this ever-changing digital world. But the things that help keep children safe online are often like the things that keep them safe offline. Encourage them to think critically and question what they see online. Talk to them about where they go to get the information they trust, talk about fake news, fake followers, and scams. Show them how to report any worrying behavior they see online, for example, through Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command or the Internet Watch Foundation.
