How to Protect Children From Cyber-bullying and Online Strangers | Antivirus

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How to Protect Children From Cyber-bullying and Online Strangers | Antivirus


Half of the children aged 4-6 today already have their own smartphone or tablet. At the same time, parents themselves actively teach children to gadgets: most of them use devices to teach kids, and almost half entertain their children with a mobile device on the road. It is not surprising that now children feel comfortable online, it has already become a second reality for them.


During the pandemic, when education - school and preschool - switched to a distance format, the time that children began to spend in front of screens has predictably increased. According to statistics from our solution for online child safety alone, the total number of clicks of children on the web in May this year compared to January increased by 150%. Just like offline, on the Internet, in addition to educational and entertainment, there are all kinds of threats.


On the Internet - for entertainment and not only


According to our survey, children most often communicate on the Internet, play games, watch various videos and pictures. At the same time, 85% say that they cannot do without their gadgets.



Economics of innovation

During the period of self-isolation and distance learning, children's interest continued to be focused on the category of resources related to audio and video content. The guys still listen to music, watch TV shows and bloggers. Also, schoolchildren actively use social networks, preferring this method of communication with their friends to everyone else. Interestingly, on average, in 2019, the share of visits to news web resources in the total number of clicks on sites was 2.5%, and in March 2020 it had already reached 4%. This means that children began to follow the news more because the surrounding reality directly affects their life, changes plans, habits and regime.


What children may face on the Internet


Dangerous "friends"

According to the same survey, 43% of children in elementary school have a social media profile. Among high school students, there are already 95% of them. At the same time, more than half of schoolchildren admitted that they receive invitations to “make friends” on social networks from strangers, while 34% of them receive invitations from unfamiliar adults. And more than a third even met with those whom they met on social networks. Criminals often go to various tricks to get into the child's trust: they declare that they know their parents, offer to participate in the drawing of valuable prizes and help with some problem.



In real life, children are often warned: "Be careful with strangers, don't go anywhere with them." On the Internet, this rule also works, but here it is easier to introduce yourself as another person - you never know who is on the other side of the monitor.


Cyberbullying

In the network, the bullying may not stop even at nightfall. And the offenders, among whom are often adults, will not leave alone either in the comments or in the "PM".



Heard or encountered cyberbullying, according to our survey, 33% of children. The consequences of such online bullying include severe stress, withdrawal, low self-esteem, and even depression. Moreover, children often hide the details of virtual relationships from adults, because, based on the data of the same study, only every tenth parent noted that the topic of cyberbullying is familiar to him to one degree or another.

add offenders to the blacklist on social networks or chat;

report a serious case of bullying to the administrators of the social network;

try to distract yourself, talk to friends.

If parents know that their child has been the victim of cyberbullying, they must explain to him that he is in no way to blame.


"Traditional" cyber threats


Like any user of the network, children can fall prey to phishers, spammers, or cybercriminals distributing malicious software. Guys who have not faced deception, believe in huge winnings, can enter bank card details on a suspicious site, follow a dubious link from a friend in a messenger, or download an infected file.


Will we feel safe on the Internet?  

For example, one of the most relevant schemes for cybercriminals today is a scam. These are scam ads that promise large cash rewards for completing a survey or participating in a promotion. To receive money, you need to pay a “commission” or “fixing payment”, usually a small one, about 200 rubles. But the person, of course, will not see any payments, and the "commission" will go to the attackers. Often, such ads appear on popular social networks and advertise them allegedly on behalf of popular stars, including among children, to increase user confidence.



Top 3 Tips for Modern Parents


Explain to your child the basic rules of digital literacy and ethics: do not follow dubious links in social networks and instant messengers, do not communicate with strangers, come up with complex passwords for your accounts (12 characters or more, with letters in a different case, numbers and special characters), unique for each account, and periodically change them, do not share a lot of information about yourself, do not download films and programs from dubious resources. Tell your child about the threats he may face if he does not behave accurately on the Internet.

Stay on top of current threats, constantly improve digital literacy - yours and your children. For the smallest on YouTube, there are, for example, special editions of "Fixies" and "The Adventures of Robot Casper". In Russia, school online classes are held annually as part of the federal project "The Lesson of Figures", which, among other things, addresses issues of online security.

Use technical solutions, programs for online child safety, especially when a child is just beginning to learn about the digital world  - in order not only to protect him from information that is not age-appropriate but also to keep abreast of his interests (but by no means personal correspondence). Such solutions allow you to block access to unwanted sites and applications, as well as regulate the time the child spends with the gadget: you can, for example, prohibit using the phone during lunch or at night. Also, some solutions will warn if a stranger with a large age difference knocks on a child's friend on social networks.

It is not an option to completely protect the child from the Internet. Today, it is important to educate him in ethical online communication skills and develop digital literacy so that his online experience is not only useful and interesting but also safe. install an antivirus to save your pc and laptop. 







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