The Internet has a wide range of great resources and
activities for kids, but they may spread risks and unsafe stuff. We discovered ways
to keep you kid online safely.
Today’s kids are digital people. They have grown up with the
Internet and don’t know how to manage to live without it. They are totally at
home with technology: using mouse or touchscreen to navigate like doing with reading
and writing.
Keep your kid
online safely
In fact, many kids have been learning to use touchpad and
touchscreen long, before they can read and write, use colors and icons to
navigate websites and have they video games they like.
No matter how old your kid is, it’s important to keep kid
safe when browsing webs, using social network like Facebook and chatting with
friends via instant messengers.
Though your kids can be better at using PC and Internet than
you, your charge is to ensure that they are protected from web’s aspects that endanger
them.
The majority of the Internet is hard-to-find resources for
children, regardless that they are using Wikipedia for homework, playing online
games, visiting social networks or enjoying videos and music… however, there’re
many websites that you don’t want them to wander around.
In this article, we are considering the risks and explain
how you can protect your kids from them. Most of our advices are common but we will
also consider some apps such as parental control which functions as a digital
baby-sitter, taking care of your kid when you are not around.
You surely heard lots of “frightening stories” about identity
theft, cyber-bullying and illegal download, yet the threats are real. You can’t
only sit there hoping everything will be okay.
Web’s dark side
Website
Although you didn’t see many evidences of it in your
web-browsing, it’s not hard to figure out which content you don’t want your kid
to see. Pornography is an example and web is full of it.
Your kid may, by chance, meet porn websites after clicking a
link or an image that they don’t know much about them; teenagers may find them
on purpose.
There’re also website involving gambling, drugs, guns and
other things that your kids shouldn’t find out.
Even YouTube is not really safe. Innocent searches can
easily turn out to be unsuitable materials. For instance, some people seem
liking to replace soundtrack’s lyrics with filthy ones.
Social network
Facebook and other social networks are great places to share
images and chat. They are especially good for kids to keep in touch with friends
and families in distance.
Social network
However, privacy is a big issue for social network. It’s
easy to wrongly configure privacy setting or accidentally draw unnoticed attention
by leaving them at default. You don’t want you kid to share any personal
detail, such as address or phone number, or let everyone know you will be on
holiday plus leaving the home without anyone.
Online game
Online virtual worlds are becoming popular with children aging
above 6. Websites like moshimonsters.com, clubpenguin.com and habbo.com allow
kids to become game characters. They can join for free, and you can pay to buy
in-game add-ons if desiring.
One essential feature of each game is letting your kids chat
with both old and new friends. Each click is monitored and every talk is known,
but you will never know, for sure, whom they chatted with. While the 3 websites
stated to offer safe environments for kids, you should keep an eye on your kids
when they are playing.
Instant message and
email
Although only older kids need access to these services,
email apps and instant messengers help anyone to connect with them.
Innocent-like messages from a naive-seeming youngster can be
really from a pedophile who is enticing your kid by gaining him/her trust. Such
talks resulted in real-life meeting where everything may happen.
Information
overloading
All of us knew that how long enjoying online contents took
us, and that your kid is catching up with the technology is becoming more
important. But “sitting tight” in front of desktop means that your kids don’t
have much fresh air and exercise, or they won’t sleep to chat on Facebook or
play games. Looking at computer screen in long hours is also not good for their
eyes.
Bullying
The ease of online contact has some clear downsides. Bullying
is bad enough at school yard, but it comes up to a brand-new level with
cyber-bullying. It’s easy for kids to bully other kids via social networks and
instant messengers, even emails. Bad images may be posted online, leading to
dishonor, tease and threat. More importantly, as the pain is mental, not
physical, you may not know if you kid keeps silent and you don’t intentionally pay
attention to.
Cyber-bullying
Illegal download and malware
There’re many website where you can illegally download
video, music and game. It shows great appeal to teenage kids who lack money and
even people don’t realize their misbehaviors. However, such actions can cause
problems to you, invoice payer, because you have to pay for internet connection
and be responsible for what is downloaded.
There’re high risks of accidental downloading malware and
virus, which becomes more popular when you take risk entering web’s endangered
sides. Searching any illegal contents, you will see a bunch of pop-up ads presenting
annoying websites, many of which are porn.
What can you do?
The threats are real, and they are fearful, but it takes just
a few minutes, effort and money to ensure that your kid is safe when online.
It’s common sense here. First, we recommend you not to allow
your kids to have either PC or laptop in bedroom. Ideally, you would have a PC
in living room or dining room, with the screen turns forwards to the room. This
prevents most of inappropriate actions, as just a glance can let you know what
they are doing.
Second, you have to talk with kids. Explain (in a way
suitable for their ages) the risks that the Internet can cause to them, and why
they can’t have any PC in private room.
Also, encourage them to tell what make them uncomfortable or
irritated, or what didn’t come up to their expectation. You can erase unsuitable
websites in browser history, and add URLs to parental control filter.
If the kids receive any threatening message, you need to
explain that confiding won’t result in prohibiting other kids and making the
situation worse. Instead, you can add more user’s address to email’s
app-blocking list.
You must bring out the meaning of acceptable and
unacceptable behaviors when online. Only are you able to decide these rules,
but you can’t expect your kids know what they did wrong unless no limit was
made.
For instance, you can tell you kids that they are not
allowed to download files from a website or share files without your
permission. You can set up the rules of online chatting, and ban them from answering
spontaneous emails or register free accounts which are not checked, by you,
yet.
No matter how old
your kids are, make sure that settings are suitable for their ages.
