In this digital age, kids go online to study, access information, play games, watch movies, do their assignments, interact with peers, take online classes, etc. According to research, 95% of teenagers access smartphones in the United States and use the internet to learn and grow. While the internet is a wonderful place where everything is at your fingertip, it is also a place with predators, identity thieves, and other online criminals eager to steal your information and harm you. Even though risks are associated with the internet, it is impossible for kids growing up in the digital world to avoid exposure online. While you cannot restrict your kid from using the internet, you can ensure their safety. With the growing use of the internet, cyber safety for kids has become essential to protect them from various threats.
If you are a parent or guardian and struggling to keep your child safe and secure, here are some essential tips that you should know. These tips will help you navigate your child safely through the web and mitigate the risk of being a cybercrime victim.
Understanding Common Online Dangers
Before we dive into the cyber safety tips, it is crucial to learn about the prevalent dangers of the internet. There are several risks in cyberspace that kids face when online. Here are some security risks that you must know about:
- Cyberbullying: It is one of the most common forms of threat that targets almost 34% of kids between 12 to 17. This threat involves bullying, threatening, or harassing kids over the internet. At a younger age, girls are more likely to be victims of cyberbullying.
- Online Scams: Things such as providing free access to games, upgrading gaming features, unlocking further levels, etc., are common scams that children fall for. Criminals ask kids for card details or other personal information in return for such prizes. This lures the kids and makes them the victim of cybercrime.
- Exposure To Inappropriate Content: It is another common threat that kids encounter online. The internet is filled with inappropriate data like sexual content, vulgar language and hate speech, pornography, cruelty to animals, etc. Such data will have a harmful effect on any child.
- Online Predators: Online predators use the internet to lure youngsters or kids into indulging in sexual and other forms of abuse. These days, such predators target children on the internet because they are innocent, lack adult supervision, and are more likely to trust strangers. Such predators look for children on social media and gaming platforms and make them victims of online threats.
How To Ensure Cyber Safety For Kids?
Today, the question “how to keep kids safe in cyberspace?” has become highly discussed. Parents these days believe that they need substantial technological understanding to safeguard their children. But in reality, this is not the truth. While keeping kids completely safe online is challenging, it is still possible. To help you out, we’ve got some tips that you can use to prevent your kids from the dangers of the online world.
1. Talk About The Dark Side Of The Internet
This is one of the most essential tips for cyber safety for kids. To keep your kids safe, you must talk to them and help them make good decisions online. The discussion will make them familiar with the internet and its dangers and assist them in using it responsibly and safely. By doing so, your child will build digital resilience that will protect them from being a victim of online threats. So, take some time and make your kids comfortable talking to you about anything.
2. Choose Strong Passwords
Passwords are the primary defense against cyber threats. They are critical in securing your account and electronic devices and preventing your personal information from being accessed by cybercriminals. While it is easy to use and remember a single password for multiple accounts, it is also easy to guess them. So, make sure you take some time and talk to your child about the importance of creating hack-proof, unique passwords for all the accounts. Also, teach them not to share their passwords with anyone.
Here are some tips for creating strong passwords and remembering them for safety.
- Use a long password of at least 12 characters
- Never use the same password for all your accounts
- Avoid using birthdays, names, or common phrases in the password
- Use at least one of each: number, special character, upper case letter, lower case letter
- Make use of a trustworthy password manager for creating strong passwords and remembering them.
3. Set Up Parental Control
Parental control software monitors and controls what a child does online. Being a parent and using such applications will help protect your child during online learning and provide you with control over all the aspects of their internet experience. These apps allow parents to set limits on internet usage, block inappropriate websites, track their kid’s location, manage their screen time, backup their data, and more.
While choosing the parental control application, make sure you pick reliable, high-quality apps that are easy to set up and provide ultimate power with complete transparency.
4. Teach Them To Be Mindful While Using The Internet
When it comes to cyber threats, kids are most likely to be targeted as they are very naive. They are mostly unaware of the secure usage of the internet. So, it is the duty of the parents, teachers, and adults to teach kids to be mindful online. Tell them what to post, whom they should respond to, whose friend request they can accept, etc. Teach them never to share too much information, talk to strangers, and get trapped by fraudulent offers or rewards over the internet.
5. Have Set Rules And Boundaries
Before handing the computing or mobile device to your child, you must set some ground rules to use the internet. It is crucial to clearly define the boundaries so that you can protect your child from the potential risks of the internet. For this, you should start by setting a time limit for internet usage, restricting their calling or texting time, and more. To keep them protected, you must ensure that they follow all the set rules and don’t break any.
What To Do If Your Child Becomes A Victim Of Online Threats?
While the above-mentioned ways will help maintain cyber safety for kids, they don’t provide 100% safety. Unfortunately, if your child has become a victim of such online threats, here are some ways to deal with it.
- Check their past online activities and keep track of their future actions
- Politely ask them the questions and try to learn about the incident
- Block or unfriend any bullies and add a layer of protection to their accounts
- Seek professional help who can help your child emotionally
- Acknowledge their feelings and be there with them
- Change your child's online credentials like username and password
- Report the activity to law enforcement
- Don’t blame your child
- Block any dangerous websites or content
- Restore a sense of safety and security in your child
Final Thoughts:
The internet is filled with information that can enrich our lives. Especially now, the internet plays a more crucial role than in any other generation before. Although the internet provides a wealth of knowledge and enjoyment, some real dangers lurk there. There are several risks associated with the internet that make it challenging to stay safe in this connected world. However, you don’t need to fret about it. The above-mentioned tips will ensure that your kids will stay safe online.
