INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
Keeping Your Child Safe Online
What risks might my child face?
There are four categories of potential online risk, these are:-
Conduct
Children need to be aware of the impact that their online activity has on themselves and others. It is easy to feel anonymous but it is important for children to be aware of who is able to view and potentially share the information that they post online. They also need to be aware that everything they say and do is there forever – a trace is left behind. This is known as their digital footprint and it could come back to haunt them in the future.
Content
Some content is not suitable for children – it could be hurtful or harmful – especially when using social networks, online games, blogs or websites. Some information online may not be reliable so children need to be aware of how to assess the content. Then there is the issue of downloading copyrighted content without asking for the owner’s permission. This brings legal implications.
Contact
This is important because children need to be aware of who they are contacting and it is necessary to make them realise that people may not be who they say they are. Adding friends through friend requests may mean that personal information is shared with them too.
Commercialism
Being online means that children are exposed to advertising and marketing schemes, which can inadvertently lead to spending money e.g. In-app purchases. It is important that in-app purchasing is turned off and that children know how to block pop ups and spam emails.
How can you help?
Talk to your child about what they are doing online.
To help maintain their privacy, encourage them to….
To help create a positive digital footprint, remind them that ….
Ask them if they know how to block or report anyone who posts nasty messages or inappropriate content or even deactivate or delete an account.
So what can you do right now? Top Tips for Parents
A Parents' Guide to Technology
For useful information on the kinds if devices that your child is likely to come into contact with, click here
Setting Parental Controls on Devices
It is important that you know how to set the parental controls that are available for internet enabled devices in order to keep your child safe when online, especially with the increase in inappropriate material such as pornography, violence, cyber-bullying and image sharing.
Internet matters have produced an easy to use interactive tool that provides a step-by-step guide to set filters on a number of different devices and platforms in conjunction with the industry’s biggest broadband providers BT, Sky, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media.
In addition to this there are a series of powerful video clips have been created by Internet Matters which highlights the real risks of children using the Internet without parental controls. Find out how to set parental controls and watch the video clips here
How to Create a Strong Password
For information on how to set a strong password online, please click here