5 Tips for Keeping your Kids Safe Online
In the present age, being online has become more of a necessity than a leisure for most people. This means that your kids may end up being online a lot more often than you’re comfortable with, leaving you anxious about their safety. Here’s how you can keep them safe online and make sure that their experiences online are safe.
1. Let Them Know About the Danger of Downloads
Online safety has a wide reach, and part of it is in the downloads that can be made. Sometimes, a malicious virus may be attached to an innocent-looking video clip, music file, or even an image. Downloading it could set you up for trouble down the road when your computer or even home network gets infected and you end up having your data held at ransom, or even get stolen.
Teach them about this early enough to ensure that they don’t ever fall for a trap, and let them know that it’s important to always be protected by a good anti-virus program. With over 525,000 software and IT service companies in America and about 40,500 tech startups established in 2018 alone, it will be easy enough to find apps and programs to secure your family’s devices.
2. Enforce Appropriate Limits
Kids will generally be kids, so it’s a good idea to set up some protective limits to ensure that they use the internet appropriately. These include having certain times set aside to use the internet and having it off limits the rest of the time.
Controlling their screen time will not only be great for their general and mental health, but it will also help them to be safer online. Let them know the importance of these limits so they don’t put up as much resistance and can browse safely and balance their online and offline lives.
3. Have All Computers in a Common Area
You could also let your family know that while indoors, any use of devices like laptops and tablets to get online should be done in a common area. Doing this will encourage openness and honesty, leaving less room for mischief and trouble. It will also make it easier to enforce a screen limit as there won’t be anyone using their devices while in their bedroom, where they can end up staying online for extended periods of time.
Check online to see if you can find a good working desk with seats that your whole family can make use of. With 87% of consumers in recent estimates saying that they read online reviews for local businesses in 2020, this was an increase of 81% since 2019 and is a good trend.
4. Remind Them Not to Friend Strangers on Social Media
Social media may be a nice way for different people to meet each other and interact, but sometimes, someone may have ulterior motives.
They may not even be who they claim to be and so it may be dangerous for your kids to interact with everyone they come across on the different platforms online. Let them know that it’s not safe for them to friend people they don’t know on social media as this may set them up for a bad experience.
5. Use Parental Monitoring Apps
Finally, shop around for a good parental monitoring app that will allow you to stay aware of what your kids are doing online. A good one should also offer you the ability to apply safety filters and more, so that you know your children are safe at all times they go online and they won’t browse areas of the internet that they shouldn’t.
With cannabis being the third best-selling product after lobsters and potatoes, it’s a good idea to have filters that ensure your child won’t go onto age-inappropriate websites, such as those selling cannabis or other things you don’t want your kids to interact with.
These five tips will enable you to keep your kids safe at all times they go online, so put them into practice right away.
