internet safety Archives

This post was inspired and sponsored by Domain.ME, the provider of the personal URLs that end in .ME. As a company, they aim to promote leadership to the tech world.

We are a social universe. You walk down the street and what do you see? People with their faces in their phones. Do you see people talking to each other while waiting for the bus, no, they are checking their email, or watching the latest youtube video. Today, information is at your fingertips and with each generation that passes, this becomes more and more commonplace. Soon, our youth will be learning how to “Google” before they completely know how to read, or so it seems.

This information overload and technological overrun, has both a light and dark side. Being able to access information and knowledge at a moment’s notice can lead to the genesis of a literate overall society. However, it also opens the door to safety concerns that all parents must be aware of and thus be able to make their children’s digital safety a priority. A part of this requires parents to take an active role in teaching their kids about what digital safety is all about, and what to watch out for as they are online.

3 Ways Your Kids Could Be At Risk?

Not All Search Terms Mean What Kids Think – Too often young kids spell items thinking that they mean one thing when in fact the search results bring up things that are not what you would want them finding. This is particularly true on sites like Youtube.com. However, if you are savvy enough to turn on some of the security and filter options, you can safeguard your kids from many of the most inappropriate sites that they might find on their own.
Not All People Are Who They Say They Are – Just like adults have to be wary of who they give their personal information out to, you have to teach your kids the same. Kids must know to never give their full name out to anyone, let alone their address or any other information that would allow someone to find out where they live.
Cyberbullying is a Real Thing – There have been story after story lately about many situations where this has occurred. Especially in social media, sometimes people that your children will be “friends” with may be there with ulterior motives that are contrary to what you would teach your own kids.

3 Ways You Can Help!

Get To Know Security Features – Get to know the security functions of the programs on your computer. BY knowing these you have the ability to augment and adjust to either cut back access to information or at least curtail specific information to make sure that family-friendly content reaches your children.
Talk to Kids About What To Share – There is something about social networks that can draw you in. You can get to be a bit manic as you watch for the most up-to-date followers, comments or the like. It is important to talk to your kids about what these things are and what they stand for. Once kids understand this, it is also important to talk about what you respond to and how to respond, as too often people can take post sentiments to heart and beat themselves up over small trivial matters.
Set Up A Safe Space For Your Kids – Make sure to set up a safe environment for your kids to talk to you about their concerns, questions and the like – no matter what they are. Make sure that no question or concern is out of bounds because you want your kids to be comfortable approaching you with things they are seeing, hearing about and the like as they begin to search for themselves.

While these risk factors and tips are just ones that scratch the surface, as a parent you have to take control of your children’s digital safety so that they can learn great strategies and habits that will stay with them as they get older and want even more access to information. Setting up boundaries and parameters now, you will have the ability to get them ready for a lifetime of good habits in the future and keep them safe too!

Some Additional Resources & Articles

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
Common Sense Media
National Children’s Advocacy Center
Babble
Huffington Post
The Guardian

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The child-parent digital knowledge gap: what can you do about it?

Research from Nominet released this week confirms what every parent suspects: that there is a definite gap between generations when it comes understanding digital matters. For instance, “fraping” – the practice of updating someone’s Facebook status without permission – was unknown to 49% of parents, while at the same time 30% of teenagers admitted to doing it.

Similarly, the specifics of misusing technology were not properly understood by parents; 65% were unaware of, or unconcerned by, torrenting – that is, downloading video and songs illegally. Again, the teenagers questioned were not only aware of torrenting, but over half (52%) were doing it, helping themselves to copyright-protected content illegally.

To help your children stay safe online, it’s important to try and stay abreast of technology and the way in which they use it. Here’s how you can up your own knowledge of all things digital.

Keep the channels of communication open

More than anything else, the very best way to narrow the digital knowledge gap is simply to talk about technology and its uses with your kids. Children are exposed to new concepts and online tools all the time, thanks to games consoles, smartphones and social networking. As soon as something new and exciting becomes available, your kids will probably know about it.

Feel free to ask your kids questions about anything you don’t understand, but always try to avoid the appearance of prying.

Educate yourself

One of the great things about the Internet is the sheer number of free resources available to help you get to grips with almost anything. Tools such as the Knowthenet Jargon Buster can help decode unfamiliar phrases, whilst the Netspeak search engine can help understand weird abbreviations such as ROFL, LOL, YOLO and anything else you might see your children using online.

If you need help getting your basic computer skills up to scratch, the BBC runs a free WebWise online course. Not only will you get a better understanding of what your kids do online, but you will also learn skills that may help you get ahead in the workplace.

Get involved

Another way to learn how things work is simply to try them out yourself. In the unlikely event that you are not registered with Facebook (1 billion people worldwide have an account), why not join and see what you learn?

As most kids are expert users of social networking platforms, they should also be able to help you familiarise yourself. By encouraging your children to help you, the scene is set to have conversations about how they use social networking and technology in general. You will learn something about Facebook and your kids in the process.

Once signed up and using Facebook, you can then connect with many of the people you know offline, and also “friend” your children. In doing so, you will be able to keep an unobtrusive watch on what is going on in their lives and the sorts of people with whom they are mixing.

A Nielsen study suggests that 41% of parents make their kids add them as a friend on Facebook as one of the house rules for using the social network. Parents can then ensure that their children are staying safe online.

Be public at home

The discovery that more than half of teenagers are using the Internet to steal copyrighted material should be of concern to parents. Few kids would openly steal, but most appear to be ‘torrenting’ safe in the knowledge that their parents simply do not understand the term, or what it involves. They are also unlikely to torrent when sitting next to their parents in the living room.

As a result, a lot of families choose to encourage (or enforce) the use of computers and tablets in shared rooms of the house, rather than in bedrooms. In doing so, parents can engage with their kids as they play games or chat to friends. This public use of computing also helps to keep channels of communication open, as advised above.

Think like a sneaky adolescent

If you have rules and guidelines in place, or you have implemented parental controls to prevent your kids from misbehaving online, they will at some point try to circumvent those rules. Unlike normal offline rule-bending, however, your children will probably need some assistance, which usually comes from one of two places: friends or the Internet.

Figuring out what kids say to each other is difficult, if not impossible. Far easier is to put the Internet to work for you. Think like a teenager and try Googling for ways around your household policies, particularly with regard to things such as “free mp3 downloads”, “anonymous proxy”, “delete web history” and “unblock websites”. You will turn up all manner of step-by-step guides, such as “How to Get a MySpace Account without Your Parents Knowing”, which teach kids sneaky workarounds.

Knowing how to circumvent your rules will help you spot when your children are trying to do it. Such research helps narrow the digital divide and helps keep your kids safe.

The digital divide between generations is common across the UK, with a similar disconnect between kids and parents from one end of the country to the other. However, these tips should help close the divide in your own house, helping to keep your children safe and giving you some peace of mind.

Image of teenager using computer from Flickr

3 Ways Your Child Can Be At Risk – Take Control Of Their Digital Safety

The child-parent digital knowledge gap: what can you do?