Cyber Safety - How To Ensure It Among Children?

Easy access to electronic gadgets like mobiles, tablets, laptops, etc. with an all-time available internet has children glued to their screens. A part of parenting these days is to hand the child a mobile phone and keep them busy for a couple of hours.

However, parents often forget that young minds are quick learners and copy everything from adults. It is very important to keep an eye on what children are watching and for how long.

An internet safety law protects children younger than 13. According to this law, if they are online, they should not share their personal information with anyone on the internet without their parents’ permission.

To save children from cyber-crime, there are several precaution rules for both parents and children. Some of them are:

Tips for Parents:

There are a few rules, which can be followed by parents for better security of their children on the internet. The rules are as follows:

Limited Screen Time: Internet has the whole world in it, but there is a world outside internet. Playing games and watching videos is fun, but it is very time consuming. Rather than playing on the phone for hours straight, they should be playing on the ground. Allocating Limited time to mobiles and internet is the first step towards internet safety.

Social Media: Most of the popular social media sites have an age limit criterion like minimum age should be 13 to surf these sites. It is not appropriate for children below that age to join such social media platforms. It's a parent's job to make sure that kids are exposed to kid-friendly platforms only. Also, keep an eye on suspicious messages.

Online Activity: Keep the computer in a common area so that it is easier to monitor the child. Put a parental lock on the websites which should not be visited by them.

Tips for Children:

Parents should guide their children to follow these steps to stay safe on the internet:

Don’t Share Personal Information to the Strangers Online: Internet is filled with criminals looking for an easy target to prey on. Children are very vulnerable and gullible. Sharing personal information on the internet can give such people access to children at a personal level. Things like this can lead to any unfortunate incident. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Use Strong Passwords: A strong password is that which has at least 8 to 10 characters including symbols and numbers. Make sure not to use the same password on every social media account. Do not hint the password in the username. It makes it easier for hackers to guess it.

What to Post: It is not necessary to post everything on social media. It makes easy to track someone. Being careful about what to post on the internet is important because everything stays on the internet, even when it is deleted.

Cyber Bullying: Cyber bullying is as harmful are real life bullying. It can be anything, a rumor spread across the internet, posting personal information about someone, or posting a private image of someone. Let the children know that they will get full support from their parents, if anything of this sort happens.

Conclusion:

Children may spend a lot of their time online for studies, gaming, or other stuff, but parents and children both need to understand that every benefit comes with a little flaw. Parents should teach and make aware their children about cyber-crimes and its safety.