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The internet is filled with great, educational, and mind-blowing information and activities. From researching for school projects to passing the time with games and chatting with friends, there are so many reasons why your teen would need to use the internet. Statistics show that about 75% of young adults in the UK actively use the internet and can’t spend a day without it! 43% of these teenagers claim that they use their social media accounts without side guidelines from parents.
There is a dark side despite the benefits, and you need to protect your child against such risks. For many adults, the issue has been on how to ensure their teen’s safety online. If you are stuck wondering how to safeguard your child against the dangers of the online world, here are a few practical tips to help you do just that.
1. Educate them about meeting new people in person
The concept for most social networking platforms is to connect people. Your teen child can make great new friends on the internet. However, security agencies strictly advise people to be extremely careful when meeting new people. They further suggested that teenagers provide enough information about this “new” friend they have met on social media. Your kid needs to give you information like the name, age, picture and location of the supposed new friend they want to meet. If possible, you can call your teen’s new friend on the phone and establish a friendly relationship with them. Better still, you can call them on a video call to be sure they are who they claim to be. To be extra careful, you may go with your kid on the first day they want to meet their new friend. You can also use a tracker to monitor your teen on their first meet up with an online friend.
One pointer to note is a new friend from the internet who wants to meet your kid for the first time but rejects the idea of interacting with any other member of your teen’s family. As a parent, once you see such signs from your teen’s new friend from the internet, you should raise the red flag on them ever meeting your child in person. You need to choose locations where it is easy for you to protect yourself and your child from a new friend who may be a predator.
2. Set restrictions
Most teenagers are independent users of the internet now. However, this should not prevent you from setting up the necessary measures to ensure their safety online. Most parents form a family media plan when their children start using the internet frequently. Such programs usually include restrictions in various parts of the home regarded as “screen-free” areas. Doing this limits their activities and prevents them from being entirely addicted to the online world.
Another form of restriction you can use to protect your child online is by following them on their various social media platforms. While this may make you and your child a little uncomfortable, knowing you would see the post’s content and their behaviour online puts them in check. However, this is easier said than done. If your teen isn’t so excited or open to this idea, you should try talking to them about the reasons why this is important. Suppose your teenager still isn’t available to this idea and is defiant to adhere to your restrictions. In that case, you may have to take some measures to ensure their safety. You may need to hire a hacker for cell phone monitoring to track and protect your child from internet safety risks.
An area to enlighten your teen on is the privacy settings policy of most websites they visit. Once you give them an education on where to find and read the privacy policy, they can make informed choices on the internet. You can teach them how to report inappropriate and offensive online content.
3. Talk to them about online reputation
In a generation where online life is increasingly becoming a part of our daily lives, it is essential to consider your reputation in this space. The importance your child builds online can either protect or expose them to threats online. Online reputation can be likened to our prestige in real life. Although many people create contrasting characters of themselves on the internet, it will be best to educate your child on staying themselves and representing themselves appropriately online. Your child needs to understand that the content posted on the internet may take forever to disappear. There is a famous saying that says, “The internet never forgets”. You can frame it and hang it near walls to quickly be reminded of the contents they post online.
Help them understand they should not publish that content that you, their teachers, and potential employers will frown upon. Many corporate entities request job seekers to add their social networking handles in their CV preparation. They then ask their hired hackers to do background checks on applicants to see if they have ill reputations online that can ruin the company’s image.
4. Show you trust them
It is natural for adolescents to be rebellious sometimes. Your teenager may not appreciate your parental guidance on their use of the internet. It gradually becomes a challenge if the teen starts revolting against any suggestions or rules to regulate their on-screen time. You can save the situation by showing them you can trust them to make the right decisions for themselves on the internet. You may start by allocating a stipend for their online activities. Your child can use the wage to download any networking apps, movies and other related content of their interest. Once you make that first step of trusting them, they can now start trusting your parental guidance on the safe usage of the internet.
5. Encourage them to keep their online identity private
With the dangers lurking on the internet, it is advisable to encourage your teens to hide their identity on the internet. Many social networking users hide under the guise of connecting with people, but their real intention is to prey on them. The Federal Trade Commission advises that the slightest clue given by social media users on their profiles can be enough for predators to figure out their identity. Advise your child to keep information about their real name, age, and school they attend a secret. They may not share such information with strangers they meet on the internet. If possible, your teen should avoid posting their pictures online. Some predators target young people on the internet, trace them to their locations. By encouraging them to keep such information private, you keep them safe and sound.
6. Teach them the dangers of disclosing sensitive information
Another way to ensure your teen’s online safety is by encouraging them to safeguard their username and password. Social networking sites require their users to create an account by signing in with their usernames and unique passwords. Therefore, you must educate your children on the dangers of disclosing such information to unauthorised persons. It would help if you also encouraged them not to login into accounts with sensitive information on multiple devices. Doing this makes them open to even more threats. Various browsers ask to keep login details into accounts- imposters and hackers can easily access this. Such cybercriminals can cause significant damage.
Be sure that they take advantage of the security options available on various sites and apps. For example, Facebook and Instagram have security measures that protect users from hackers. Additionally, you should make your email address their recovery address if they forget their password or need to reset it.
7. Get involved
It is challenging to keep up with what your teen may be doing on the internet. An effective way of overcoming this challenge is by getting involved in your child’s online activities. You may feel like you are invading their privacy. Still, Anne Collier, executive director of Net Family News Inc., suggests that parents getting involved in what their kids do on the internet makes them proactive. You should explain to your children that your involvement is out of love and your duty to keep them safe. Discuss complex issues such as pornography, sexting and cyberbullying and inform them of its adverse effects on their development. It would help if you also created an environment that makes it easy for your child to talk to you openly about their online activities.
Be sure to ask them about their reaction to inappropriate content and, where necessary, educate them on the appropriate sites to visit and how to avoid content that is not suitable. You can do this by sitting them down and searching for a topic your child is interested in. With your child by your side, select a few sites and educate your child on how different websites project topics uniquely and which ones will be safe to visit. The first-hand experience on how to fish out platforms with inappropriate content will teach your teen child a lot about online safety. You can now monitor their activities online effectively.
You are entirely responsible for grooming your teen to be safe on the internet. Prioritise keeping your teen safe before the unfortunate happens because of their activities on the internet.
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