During the holiday break, if you have kids, perhaps they’ll have more screen time than usual. Given the disturbing rise in online predators and cyberbullying, it’s a good time to consider how to keep kids as safe as possible online. For some helpful tips, keep reading.
Talk with your kids – Educate them on safe online practices, such as:
- Never reveal personal information such as their address and age
- Use screen names (not full names)
- Don’t share passwords
- Never meet anyone from online in person
- For threatening or hurtful messages, stop, block, and tell (a parent or guardian)
- For older kids that post on socials, discuss how it can be shared with anyone, at any time.
Controls – A child’s online experience can be controlled in various ways, such as:
- Confine device use to common areas
- Install child-safe browsers
- Set privacy settings to the highest level
- Cover webcams when not in use
- Install parent controls that block certain sites and restrict personal information from being sent
- “Follow” them on socials to monitor their online activity.
Notice if your child is spending long hours online, especially at night, suddenly turning off their device when you walk into the room, withdrawing, or is secretive about what they are doing online, as these could be signs that they are being targeted by an online predator.