Online Safety: What You Need to Know

Parents worried about their children’s safety online have reason to be. There are dangers for unwary users of the internet. However, keeping oneself informed of the potential dangers online, as well as what one can do to protect the safety of the children while they surf the World Wide Web can go a long way in ensuring the kids have a great experience on the internet.

Top Dangers for Kids Online

Cyberbullying
Take the playground bully, add digital technology, and suddenly, kids can be humiliated in front of thousands of Internet users, not just the rest of the playground. Cyberbullying occurs in a wide variety of forums – from email to chat rooms to websites – but by definition always has a child on both sides of the encounter. Parents need to be aware of cyberbullying not only to keep their kids safe, but also to make sure they don’t engage in it. Unfortunately, thanks to the wonders of digital media, it is all too easy for even a passing comment or joke about another child to go viral and escalate into a case of cyberbullying.

Predators
Unless you’ve actually met him in person, it’s impossible to be sure that the “soccer-loving 9-year-old boy” in the chat room actually is a boy, much less that he’s really 9. The anonymity of the Internet makes it all too easy for a person to take on a fake persona. Predators are lurking in chat rooms and social sites, waiting for kids to reveal a little snippet of personal information so they can form a connection and eventually gain the kid’s trust.

Inappropriate Content
The Internet has information about pretty much every topic imaginable – and lots of it. Unfortunately for parents, this includes a large amount of content that is not appropriate for kids. Even worse, this content can crop up on seemingly appropriate pages in the form of banner ads and pop-ups.

Top Tips for Internet Safety

Between school, friends, and necessity, it’s impossible to shut the Internet out of our kids’ lives forever. But don’t panic, we are not doomed to hand our kids over to the bullies and predators of the Internet. Keep kids safe by teaching them to be smart, vigilant, and in control while online. Here’s how:

• Keep the computer in a central family area instead of in a child’s room. This will allow you to keep an eye on your child’s activity and intervene quickly if he or she strays into dangerous territory.
• Activate built-in parental controls or consider purchasing a separate control to weed out inappropriate websites. Many browsers, service providers, and operating systems are equipped with free controls for parents. These controls allow you to block or allow websites, view reports of your child’s online activities, and set limits for computer use. For a more robust system you can consider purchasing a program like Safe Eyes 5.0 or Cyber Patrol 7. Or you can download a free parental control toolbar from organizations such as WRACC, a non-profit committed to empowering parents with greater control of online content.
• Establish ground rules for Internet use including daily time limits and acceptable types of sites. What types of sites are your children allowed to frequent? Can they be online to play games? Get extra practice or research a school subject? Chat with friends? Make sure your kids know what you expect them to be doing while on the computer.
• Make sure your child is aware of the importance of keeping all personal information private – this means not telling anyone his or her name, address, phone number, or school ever.
• Open a dialogue about your kid’s online activities and be interested! Make sure you know who and what your child is interacting with online.
• Create a safe zone for talking about online activities. Never use loss of Internet privileges as a punishment for something your child tells you happened online. This will only encourage your kids to hide any uncomfortable encounters.
• Research the websites your child is visiting or joining. Visit these sites yourself to make sure they’re safe: check content, what capabilities they have (chat, gaming, profiles) and what other sites they link to.