Keeping a child secure online

Both parents and many Internet platforms have become more vigilant about providing of keeping their young or teenaged children secure and safe while using Internet. This is become especially important since the arrival of smart phones and other mobile devices that also provide easy online access. At a time when more and more appealing Internet portals are available to attract young people to the web, from social media to chat rooms to texting and more, more avenues exist for them to be exposed to child predators, cyber bullies, phishing scams, and invasions of privacy.

This represents a threat to both the child and the household, depending on the level of damage done to a child's psyche by a bully, sex abuser, a con artist or malware laden site. Parents have responded by becoming more alert to questionable online surfing or interactive behavior by their kids, and taking advantage of consumer training both on and off-line that offer guidelines for how to combat or minimize exposure to dangers on the Internet.
These days, a child can go to any PC outside the house, or use a handheld device to reach an unsafe site, and may not leave evidence of their doing dangerous surfing on the home computer. They may also feel additionally motivated to explore the unsafe activity by the sense of rebellion they feel the zone of digital freedom the Internet allows them. What then, will help keep the child secure online? Experts are now trending towards instructing parents to teach children positive online behavior, rather than merely dictate rules to them or trying to lock out access to some web pages.

Among the more positive tips that have been suggested, include having the parent try to explain the difference between social media and social learning sites, while steering their web activity towards the latter. This will keep the emphasis of the child's web activity on learning, on platforms that are naturally child appropriate. Parents should look for sites, which assures they contain filters, and discussion forums that are well-moderated in order to avoid abusive discussions or language. Limiting the child's engagement to sites and forums that have access levels also helps control the level of communication, and may limit exposure to cyber bullies.

Even if the actual online behavior in question is benign, one silent danger of the Internet is the time wasting aspect. If the child or teen is spending way too much of their day online, the parent should discuss ground rules for how much of their life will be spent on the PC or mobile. Encourage the child to agree with you has to how many total hours of online gameplay, browsing or messaging is appropriate, and hold them to that schedule. Keeping a child secure online in this manner can be as simple as training them to restrict their time spent in front of the screen to a sensible amount.