Keeping Safe on the Internet
Keeping our children safe from harmful material on the internet can be tough. Read on for some helpful tips.
The internet and the concerns around how to keep children safe online can cause a lot of stress and confusion for parents. We all know that there are some dark things out there on the internet and as adults we need to be proactive in supporting our young people and help them make good choices.
There are some fantastic apps available for entertaining and communicating but as with anything, it is important to make sure that we are being safe and sensible with their use and set-up.
Here are a few tips from Netsafe (www.netsafe.org.nz) to help guide you and keep everything as positive and stress-free as possible:
Understand: Read about the potential online risks, challenges and sometimes illegal behaviour young people face, to understand what may happen. Remember that some apps are age restricted (especially social media e.g Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat).
Learn: It’s important you understand more about the online activities and experiences your child has or wants to explore. Talk to them about what they do online, how they use devices and who they’re talking to. Ask them questions about:
Why they like certain apps or sites?
Who is in their network?
What information they share?
What they are enjoying?
Are they making music or videos?
What they are playing?
Take the time to tune into the conversation – what might seem like just a game to you might be the way your child is connecting and interacting with people they don’t know.
Research shows that parents are critical to the success of young people becoming safe, confident and capable in their use of digital technology. Regular proactive conversations at home help to minimise the damage if things do go wrong online.
Asking your child about the advice they would give to a friend facing an online challenge can make it easier for them to discuss. It also helps you understand what they know, what they do and how they behave.
Showing an interest makes it easier to have more difficult conversations if a challenge arises.
Explore: Explore the websites, apps and technology your child uses. This will not only improve your knowledge, it also gives you a greater understanding of the challenges they could face. Don’t ignore new technologies, as young people will use them – if not at home then at their friends’ houses or at school.
Ask your child to show you how their favourite website or device works as a way to start an online safety conversation. Ask them to explain how they keep themselves safe, what features they use and how they protect their identity.
Make sure you also take the time to read terms and conditions. They explain how old someone should be before using the service and what happens to the information your child provides.
Agree: Discuss the experiences your child might have online including the benefits and challenges. Talk to your child about the type of behaviours you’d like them to adopt and reinforce that what they do leaves a permanent digital footprint. Set expectations about:
A balanced amount of time online
The apps and sites that are appropriate to use
How their behaviour impacts on others
What types of information is safe to share online
Where they should go for advice including you, another trusted adult or a teacher
The approaches will be different depending on the age and stage of your child – and what you feel comfortable discussing. Technological options like parental controls can help, but they work best when teamed with online safety education.
Setting aside time to create a family code with your child about online activities is a practical step the whole family can be involved in. It allows you to talk about what you value as a family and what suits you all best.
Young people need to understand that everyone faces challenges online. Talk about the issues you have encountered even if it’s as simple as you forgot your password and explain how you resolved it.
Start: Recognise each child has unique needs, but some online safety concepts are universal. The Five tips to help your child thrive are some of the best online safety tools you can teach:
Keep it Locked: Passwords and Pin codes help protect your child’s profiles and accounts. Set up pins and passwords with them, – and reinforce they shouldn’t share it with anyone except you.
Keep it Private: Some information when shared publicly online can make your child more vulnerable to identity theft or grooming. It’s important to be cautious when sharing:
a. Passwords
b. Address
c. Birthdate
d. Bank account details
e. School details
f. Sharing their location on apps
g. Personal information that can be used to guess security questions
Keep it Helpful: A digital footprint is the trail of ‘electronic breadcrumbs’ you leave behind online and it needs to be managed carefully. It can last long after they think something has been deleted and may follow them into adulthood.
Keep it Real: It can seem like common knowledge to adults, but it is hard for children to understand that not everyone is who they say they are. It can be exciting when people want to friend, communicate or follow them. Talk to your child about invites or conversations with strangers, why this is not safe and how they should handle it
Keep it Friendly: Teach your child to be kind and respectful online, and to be careful talking to, or sharing information with, people they don’t know
Model: Be a good example to your child. Make sure you role model the sort of behaviours you want to see your child use online and offline.
Plan: Make a plan so everybody knows what to do if something goes wrong and where you will be able to get advice and support in challenging times.
The Ministry of Education, Network for Learning (N4L) and Netsafe have teamed up to provide a free online safety filter that you can use to help keep your children safe when they need to access the internet as we continue our nationwide lockdown.
The free N4L safety filter (by global cyber-security leader, Akamai) blocks websites containing known cyber threats like phishing scams, malicious content and viruses, while also protecting children from content deemed the worst of the web (like adult sites).
It is an extension of one of the many safety and security services that are in place at schools and is a valuable layer of protection to help keep children safe online. Please remember that technology is not a silver bullet and the filter should be used in combination with Netsafe's online parent safety toolkit.
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