It’s time for parents to face reality: the internet has become a part of their children’s lives, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. The only way to mitigate the dangers of the digital world is to educate our children. In this blog, we’ll look at how different parents are dealing with this issue and how we can, overall, raise our children safely in the digital world.
Parents face numerous fears when raising children. But restrictions and strict prohibitions are not the best way to help our little ones develop into adults with coping mechanisms ready to go out into the world. The internet is one of the main concerns of parents today, and not without reason. A complete ban on the internet is not the right way to ensure the safety of our children’s digital world, experts say, because whether we like it or not, the internet is a new way to communicate, learn and have fun.
Knowing security rules, developing critical and perceptive skills and being able to recognize risks are essential tools for safe browsing on the internet. So let's take a look at the potential risks of the internet that concern us all the most!
Personal data
Personal data that is used on a daily basis as we browse the internet includes:
Name
Age
Residence
Profession
Education
Economics and
Marital status
Minors use social media every day and this creates a very attractive and interactive virtual reality, which however also hides risks in the attempt to maintain a perfect image, misleading news or fake news, violation of privacy, etc.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is any act of intimidation, aggression, harassment or authoritarian behavior that occurs via the internet and mobile phones. For an act to be classified as bullying, it must be done systematically, intentionally, with the aim of hurting someone and there must be an imbalance of power between the parties involved.
Internet Addiction
Internet addiction is also a matter of great concern. If our child spends many hours online, we should pay attention to the warning signs and find a way to manage the situation. It is important to set limits and rules for online use from an early age, so that children can develop the necessary self-control and self-discipline.
Sexual blackmail and coercion of minors
Minors often chat online with other known or unknown users. Malicious users exploit the innocence of children to convince a minor to send them personal information, produce original material (photos or videos), pay money, meet with them or take other actions.
How to help our children use the internet safely?
Setting the right example with our own online behavior by following the rules of safe navigation is the first rule to show our children how to use the internet safely.
Adults must act as role models for children.
Using the Internet together
Talking with our children about both their social and online lives and being informed about their online interests, social media accounts, online games and applications is also vital. We should also take the time to browse with them on pages and applications that interest them.
Check security and privacy settings
Check with your child the security and privacy settings of their accounts and make sure they have enabled two-step verification, and that the passwords they use are secure (consisting of at least 8 symbols, numbers, and letters).
Talk about the dangers of exposing personal data
Take time to talk to children about the dangers of exposing personal data (names, home addresses, phone numbers, schools, etc.), photos (obscene or not), and even emails on websites, apps, and online services. Emphasize that potentially sending photos to a known person at a given time can have negative consequences in the future.
Connect with real friends
Also explain that their friends on a profile should only be their friends in real life. Under no circumstances should strangers or "friends of friends" be accepted.
Limit access to unknown platforms
Advise them to avoid accessing pages, chat applications unknown to them, where they could chat with strangers, as well as those where a camera is used.
Advise them to avoid opening any link of unknown origin.
Parental control applications
At a young age we can support children in their autonomy on the internet by installing a parental control application, which can help children browse the internet safely, while protecting their data, while parents can control the content of the websites they visit.
However, we should remember that at older ages communication is based on trust and not on control.
What to do in case of suspicious activity
If we notice something worrying we should remain calm, listen to the whole story without interrupting the child, preserve any evidence (screenshots of photos/messages), report the incident to the authorities and seek the help of experts.
The internet is our children's world - let's not deprive them of the right to become the active and aware digital citizens of tomorrow.
