Our increasingly digitized world allows us to connect and learn more than ever, but it also brings about new dangers with it, especially for children. It’s important to ensure your kids are using the internet safely to avoid scamming, cyberbullying, and other problems. To ensure your children’s safety on the internet, you must educate them about how to stay safe online. You can install child internet safety software on your children’s devices, but your children can always find other ways to access the content they shouldn’t be, such as on their friend’s device or on the computers at school. What’s crucial for child internet safety, is explaining to your children how they can ensure that they are safe online themselves. Below are 5 ways to educate your children on internet safety:
Often with age, routers stop working, or at the very least slow down their functioning, causing interruptions in your wifi connection. If this happens, first check the make of your router. The model may be too old and require change. Then try switching your router off, leaving it off for two minutes, and then switching it on again. Place the router in a position where nothing is obstructing it, and it is near where you are using your devices. If you still don’t get the promised speed of your router, you’ll need to change routers, to a new and updated model. If you are already using the latest model of the router, reach out to the customer service team of your service provider. They’ll help you solve the issue.
This is especially important for teenage safety on the internet. Young adults may post pictures and information about their lives online for the world to see without realising the consequences. Their pictures, opinions, and any information about themselves can be visible forever, even if they delete it. In the future, employers will be able to search them up and see what they’ve put out there. Teach your children to post content online that will not reveal anything about themselves, damage their image, or potentially cause them harm in any way.
This is one of the most important child internet safety tips. If your children post something and receive hurtful comments from strangers online, it can make them feel terrible about themselves. People say the most horrible things behind a screen, as they are anonymous. Tell your children this. The internet world is not the real world. There will always be trolls on the internet for whatever you post. It’s best to block these trolls and report them, rather than to engage. Tell your children to focus on the love and support they get from their friends and family, rather than to rely on strangers.
Kids often view content that they shouldn’t simply because they have been told not to, and whenever you tell a child, or even an adult not to do something, they’re naturally very curious about doing it. Explain to them why they shouldn’t be viewing certain content, rather than just telling them not to view it. They’ll be less likely to try and see something that they know is harmful to them..
If your children do reveal their personal details, post a picture or video they shouldn’t, or face cyberbullying, tell them that they should always come to you with the problem and you’ll help them solve it. Don’t be harsh and judgmental- kids these days are growing up in an entirely different world than you did. Help them report the bully or get the picture taken down, and remind them how to be safe on the internet again. For more on how to protect my child on the internet and internet safety for children/kids, see the rest of our blogs here.
