Protecting Kids Online: A Parent's Guide | Antivirus Software

We constantly hear stories about how another technology has changed our daily life. Many of us have long pondered about how technology has changed us personally. But has anyone thought about the impact of technology on our children?

85% of mothers said they use phones, tablets and computers to keep their children busy.

The age at which children get their first online device is constantly decreasing. Research has shown that 83% of American households have tablets and 77% have smartphones.

It is impossible to hide from the achievements of progress even at school. Teachers give homework, for which you need to search for information on the Internet and use various programs.

Alas, many of us do not even think about cybersecurity: studies have shown that 68% of parents do not follow what their children are doing on the Internet at all. But every year children go deeper and deeper into the Net!

For many children, the Internet has become something even more real than the real world. For the well-being of their children, parents need to know what they are doing online (good and bad) and understand how this affects the emotional and physical well-being of children.

But there is one problem that many of us readily admit: we do not quite understand, so to speak, the online world. Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter? It's already difficult! And if you also remember about 2ch and TOR, then it's a bad thing! Moreover, many of us simply do not know how to work with the Internet or computers.

However, there is some good news. You don't need to be a computer genius to protect your kids online - parental controls are easy to install. More importantly, a simple conversation with your child will be the best protection! Just set clear boundaries on what you can and cannot do on the web, and be ready to help your child when he makes a mistake or goes too far. Actually, this is what parents should do, isn't it?

In this guide, we'll cover 8 areas that you should look out for when interacting with the internet world. Much depends on the age of your child. Think of this guide as a collection of tips on what to look out for as your child grows.

1. Smartphones and Apps

According to statistics, the average child receives the first smartphone at the age of 10. Of course, it is very convenient when a child has such a thing, the phone, in principle, makes life safer and more peaceful - for example, a child can call and say that he has reached home safely, or ask you to meet him, or call for help. By turning on the GPS in your child's smartphone, you can track his location. Indeed, the dream of any parent is to know where your child is now!

But smartphones can also be a source of danger to children. These are personal devices, so we cannot know exactly what for and how often children use them.

If you are going to give your child a smartphone, then it does not hurt to draw up a clear list of rules in advance. But even if your child already has a smartphone, it's never too late to tackle the rules. We need to show children that a smartphone is also a big responsibility.

Establish rules for your child's smartphone use. Encouraging your kids to use your phone will help keep them safe.

Here are some of the relevant precautions:

Hang this agreement in a prominent place at home.

Download parental control apps. With their help, you can restrict the use of your smartphone, determine its location and track your child's calls and SMS. 

Agree with your child how much time he can use the smartphone every day.

Set a personal example for your child. Don't eat dinner while looking at your phone, don't type SMS while driving, and so on.

Make it a rule to charge mobile devices in a room where no one sleeps - so your children will not stay up late at the phone.

2. Streaming and Smart TV

There was a time when the whole family gathered in front of the TV screen ... Of course, you and I probably had our own televisions in our own rooms, and we probably spent long hours in front of them, and absolutely without preaching from our parents.

But this is all lyrics. The reality is that streaming has become quite popular, and the amount of content available has grown almost exponentially. Of course, not all of this variety is worth watching for children.

Of course, streaming services have a lot to offer. For example, there are great educational programs for children and interesting documentaries. Many such services do not show ads, which in itself is a huge plus against the background of conventional TV channels. With streaming, you can open up a whole new world for your child! In general, the main thing is how you will use everything.

Most of the major streaming services have parental control systems, some of which are more advanced than others. So Netflix will let you create separate profiles for yourself and your kids.

With their help, you can ensure that your children only watch what is appropriate for their age. Since the Netflix Kids Menu is different in colour from the normal one, you can always easily tell if your kids are watching allowed content or not. Of course, this will not prevent your children from trying to access your profile over and over again, so be careful!

iTunes and Apple TV allow parents to set specific ratings for the content their children watch. Amazon Prime doesn't have any parental controls, so the only thing you can do is log out of your account all the time and not tell anyone your password.

However, all this cannot replace regular discussions of the films and programs watched with the child.

Control how your kids watch TV by limiting the number of hours they watch per day, applying parental controls, educating your child about the content of the TV they watch and organizing family watching TV.

3. Game consoles and online games

According to statistics, 91% of children from 2 to 17 years old living in the United States play video games. Game consoles have been causing parents ... concern, not to say fear, for a very long time. A lot of games exploit themes of violence or sexuality, so it's important to carefully monitor what your kids are playing.

Also, there are multiplayer games (aka "online games"), where children can become victims of bullying by other players. Many games give players from all over the world the ability to communicate with each other in chats, which can threaten the well-being of children: they can become victims of cyberbullies or perverts. Also, children can make friends with other players and tell them something too personal about themselves.

At the same time, computer games are a great way to develop a wide variety of skills in a child. Through play, children learn to solve various problems, pursue long-term goals, and work in a team. Fortunately, most game consoles support highly advanced parental control systems that allow parents to keep track of how and what their children are playing.

Make sure your child's profile is set to private. Consider installing the set-top box in a location that all family members will use. Study the age ratings of the games. Use parental controls when creating profiles. Explain to your child that not everyone can talk online.

4. Social networks

The format has changed, but parents still continue to worry about TV shows and computer games that their children spend time with. Now social media should be added to the list of concerns.

Teenagers in the USA use social networks almost without exception! Moreover, 71% use several social networks at once. Children spend too much time on these sites these days. A study by the nonprofit Common Sense Media found that children between the ages of 8 and 12 spend 6 hours a day online, with most of that time spent on social media. For teenagers from 13 to 18 years old, this value reaches as much as 9 hours!

As scientists from Harvard recently found out, most social networks require users to be at least 13 years old, but this did not stop 68% of parents surveyed from helping their children register.

It is especially easy for young children and adolescents to become addicted to social media. And this opens the door to a wide variety of problems - for example, cyberbullying, disclosure of personal information and conversations with strangers (read more about this below).

Access to social media is also central to the evolving social identity of adolescents: this is how they make new friends and how they can enjoy themselves safely. The main thing here is to outline the boundaries and avoid incidents.

Provide a safe environment. Don't let your kids spend time on social media until they're an acceptable age. Block apps from accessing the location. Change your privacy settings. Track your kids' online activity.

5. Cyberbullying

Alas, there are hooligans in the virtual world too.

Cyberbullying is a frequent topic of news coverage - usually in connection with teenage suicides caused by online bullying.

Cyberbullies are on all the platforms we have listed. They spread rumours and send threatening messages on social networks, by SMS or email addresses, pretend to be other children and post provocative materials on their behalf, make private photos public without permission, and write humiliating or derogatory stories about other children. offensive messages.

The publicity of cyber-bullies is what makes them so dangerous. If earlier the child was bullied on the playground, then only a few peers witnessed this. Now the most intimate secrets of your child can be published for the fun of the Internet! 

Cyberbullying has a negative impact not only on the victim's reputation but also on the reputation of the bullies themselves. It can also seriously affect a child's future, including university studies and work.

And you can't hide from cyber-bullies. If your child is bothered by common bullies, he may hide from them at home. But digital platforms are always available, and therefore there is simply nowhere to hide from cyberbullies.

It is often very difficult to know if your child has experienced online bullying or not. After all, everything happens on the web, so it's harder for parents and teachers to learn about it. According to i-SAFE, less than half of all children who encounter cyberbullying tell their parents or other adults. A study commissioned by the US government found that 21% of teens between 12 and 18 years of age fell victim to bullies, with 16% experiencing cyberbullying.

The easiest way to prevent or stop cyberbullying is to know your child's behaviour well and know what warning signs to look out for.

If a child becomes a victim of cyberbullying, then he can close one account on social networks and start a new one. The child may begin to avoid communication, even if he previously enjoyed it. Victims and perpetrators of bullying often hide screens or mobile devices; when other people are around them, they stop talking about what they are doing online. Also, the child may become stressed.

Talk to your child about cyberbullying.

6. Confidentiality and information protection

As parents, we cannot help but worry about the impact the Internet will have on the emotional and physical well-being of our children. Children can easily fall prey to a variety of data privacy threats, some of which can also cause serious financial damage. Adults, however, face the same problems - malware and computer viruses, phishing and identity theft.

The problem is, they are far more likely to trust strangers than we cynical adults. The child can give his full name and home address and not even think about the fact that this can cause big problems. Children can be easily tricked and forced, for example, to give out their bank card details to a malicious third-party application.

Hackers and thieves can extract information from children in a variety of ways. 

Hackers can pretend to represent, for example, Google by sending an email to a child asking for the password, or they can pretend to be one of his or her friends.

What needs to be discussed with your child?

Talk to your child about the most serious online threats today. Children need to know what a phishing attack is, and they need to be able to distinguish between a trusted game site and a dangerous one.

Make sure children keep their personal information private and never share their full name, phone number, address, or school number on the Web.

Talk to your children about passwords. Use a secure password generator to create the strongest password for your child.

Tell your kids not to use public wi-fi hotspots - hackers can easily break into their devices using such networks.

Install a reliable antivirus on your computer and mobile devices of your household.

Install an ad blocker so that your kids don't have to fight the temptations of fake ads, which usually hide only dangerous viruses.

If your kids use smartphones, make sure to set the maximum security settings.

7. Content not intended for children

There are no boundaries or barriers on the Internet, which means your kids can find content designed for adults. These materials may well rob them of their peace of mind. From bad language to violence and pornography, different people have different ideas about the inappropriate.

It will be quite difficult, but still one day you will have to discuss with the children what may catch their eyes on the Internet. Many children do not turn to their parents when faced with something they should not see - for example, because they are afraid that their parents will get angry, or take away their smartphones, or restrict access to the Internet.

But if your child decided to contact you with such a problem, then control yourself and calmly discuss everything. If we are talking about sexual content, then, most likely, the child is already quite embarrassed and confused, especially because he has to discuss all this with his parents. Let the children know that you are always ready to help them and answer their questions without judgment.

Teenagers can come across sexually explicit content on the web for a variety of reasons. Maybe by mistake, or by a link sent by another, or out of natural curiosity.

It will be very helpful to have an honest and open conversation with children about sex, in particular - discussing online porn. This is a very important point! Various studies have shown that pornography can be devastating to teenagers, misrepresenting their sexuality. Because of pornography, children may begin to perceive those around them as objects, and not as people thinking and feeling. However, it is absolutely normal to be interested in the topic of sex and relationships! This conversation will be a great opportunity to guide children on the right path to learning about sexuality.

Of course, there are many more ways to keep your kids safe from the content they are not ready for yet. For example, you can set up parental controls on your computer. But remember that nothing can replace a frank and sincere conversation with a child.

Talk to your child:

Tell the children that they can always turn to you for help and answers - in particular, about what they have seen online.

Tell the children that there is nothing wrong with being interested in sex. Give them links to the right resources on the topic (like Brook and Thinkuknow). Think now is especially suitable for young children, and you will also find resources and links for children of all ages. It may not hurt to read the site with your child and discuss any questions he may have.

Here's what you can do to block inappropriate content:

Set filters to block content (like porn). Your internet service provider most likely provides parental controls, like most game consoles. Setting up such a system will be quite simple.

Put Google in Safe Mode so kids don't accidentally stumble upon anything unwanted in search results.

Install an ad blocker to protect yourself from viruses that might spread unwanted content.

8. Online maniacs

In the final chapter of this guide, we'll touch on the darkest, most macabre threat: online maniacs hunting children. According to the US Department of Justice, about 13% of children with Internet access have been victims of sexual harassment, and an average of 1 in 25 children are faced with persistent requests to transfer communication "to the real world."

Such maniacs seek to "tie" children to themselves, to form a trusting relationship with them for the purpose of further exploitation.

The Internet has made life much easier for paedophile maniacs. Now they can track victims on the Web using social networks, email, instant messengers and so on. However, most often maniacs use online chats: in 76% of cases, communication with maniacs began in the chat.

These predators can create multiple online identities at once, pretending to be children and trying to lure victims into their trap. By studying accounts on social networks and analyzing the child's responses, maniacs are trying to learn as much as possible about him.

Criminals can simultaneously communicate with several children at once, but they will concentrate their efforts on the most vulnerable of all. And believe me, these maniacs will not be satisfied with just online communication with a child. Often they force children to transfer communication to a video messenger and exchange intimate photos. They may even try to arrange a real meeting with the child - with real consequences!

It is rather difficult to understand whether your child is communicating with such a maniac because almost always children hide such interlocutors from their parents. But there are certain alarming signs: children caught on the hook of a maniac can begin to behave very secretively since maniacs often demand from a child nothing and not tell anyone. Children can be sad, feel lost, and face sudden mood swings. It is imperative to let your child know that you are always ready to help and listen to him or her, no matter what comes up.

What should you discuss with your child?

Talk to your child about online maniacs. Make sure that children are aware of the need to be careful when communicating online so that they will not share personal information with strangers.

Tell your children that they can always turn to you for help, no matter what the issue is.

It makes sense to read some educational materials on this topic with the children. So, great videos are on the Thinkuknow website.

If you think your child is at risk, seek help from his or her teachers, social workers and police.

Conclusion

You can protect your kids' safety while online using a variety of solutions, from antiviruses to Internet content filters and parental control systems. Alas, none of this guarantees 100% child protection.

As we have said many times in this guide, the main thing is not to learn how to configure various applications (this is the simplest one, so you shouldn't be afraid and complain about your inability to work with a computer), not to track all the new trends that appear on the network (believe me, this is not under force).

The most important and most difficult thing is to regularly and honestly discuss his or her life with the child. Remember that with the help of a provider, social networks, gaming services and everything else, we can restrict the child's access to this or that content, but this does not mean that all of the above will take care of him.

Who should take care of the child in general and his online safety in particular? You and only you. Talking to your child about how to safely surf the web can help you build a trusting, positive relationship with your child.

The child's internet safety should be a priority for parents and guardians. And if this guide came in handy for you, then be sure to share it with your friends and family on social networks.

Posted by Ariel Hochstadt, Formerly Gmail Global Marketing Manager, currently a web entrepreneur. Co-founder of vpnMentor and an online privacy advocate.