ONLINE SAFETY GUIDE FOR YOUR KIDS

With the recent revelations that Cambridge Analytica and other third-party apps harvest our personal data and use it for profit, the issue of online privacy has been brought to the fore again. Just how safe is your data online?

Even Facebook itself scans the private messages you send through messenger. That a data breach could occur in one of the biggest social media sites should concern everyone and particularly parents since the job of keeping their children safe just got a little more complicated.

Keep your kids safe online with this guide!

Digital skills are essential today and you can’t ban your kids per se from ever using the internet. Instead what you should do to keep your children safe online is to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to identify, repel and report what could pose a danger to themselves and other people.

It is also important to let them know the extent of the personal information they can share online and if in doubt they should consult. As a parent, it is your duty to ensure that your kids are safe whenever they are online. Teach them how to stay safe while online and be responsible internet users.

Talk with them
Sit your children down and have a talk with them about the possible safety risks that the internet has. Teach them what online threats like viruses, malware and bullies are, how to identify and encourage them to report should they spot such dangers. This is only possible if you have a conducive environment at home here your kids feel loved and cared for.

Let them know that they should never share personal information like location and banking details with strangers online. More importantly, they should never agree to privately meet with people they have connected with on the internet.

Parental supervision
You should not leave the responsibility of online safety solely to your kids. As a parent you also have to do your bit and that is by supervising the use of their smartphones and laptops.

You can set periods during which your kids are not allowed to use their smartphones and laptops. This deters them from getting addicted to their devices – smartphone addiction -and encourages them to take up other leisure activities like reading.

With the explosions of apps on both the Google Play Store and Apple iOs, it has become more difficult to monitor which apps your children download, some of which are inappropriate for them. Set your internet settings to filter our inappropriate content. You can even improve everyone privacy by getting a VPN, which doesn’t require a Neurosurgeon Salary to buy a plan. You can get a VPN service for as little as $40 a year for a secure internet browsing.

Digital skills
Industry players like Google have come up with programs such as Be Internet Awesome that seeks to teach young children digital skills as well as online safety. It promotes the responsible use of technology among children as well as encouraging them to speak up when faced with online threats such as bullying.

A digitally-proficient kid is more likely to detect and avoid online threats than one who is not.

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