With our 5 kids we have learned some hard lessons about the internet. Most of them have been by accident. Go figure. Some of my friends have NO idea what is going on in their children’s lives because they don’t understand social media. So most of these tips are just easy tidbits about being online. I am not an expert and would appreciate any tips you may have in the comments. 🙂 Don’t upload or share anything you wouldn’t want your parents, carers, teachers or future employers seeing. Once you post something, you lose control of it, especially if someone else screenshots or shares it.

Although many of the tips to stay safe online are the same for adults and children, they are not easy or straightforward to explain. Often, children can accidentally be a gateway for malicious actors to gain access to your digital systems. It is thereforeOur ‘Parenting in a digital age’ series includes an article on ‘ The real cost of online gaming', which provides some general information around things to be aware of in relation to gaming. Cyberbullying — if you receive a mean message, or a message that is mean about someone else, try not to respond and don’t forward it. Your antivirus software will also come with a firewall - however, you can only turn on one firewall at a time.

We have a special service, called Report Harmful Content, that provides advice about all types of harm online, and helps you find the best way to deal with it. Online Video We’ve developed a resource – ‘ So You Got Naked Online’ - that offers children, young people and parents advice and strategies to support the issues resulting from sexting incidents. Social Media Users sometimes have the same names. Make sure you are friending a true friend before accepting or sending a friend request. Sadly, fake news, misinformation and disinformation are all present on the internet. It's easy to feel lost with the flood of information we're exposed to every day. If you read something you are unsure of, do your own research to establish the facts. The internet can be accessed from not only computers but televisions, phones and even speakers. Downtime is a must, certains times of day.

Devices

Two-factor authentication, also known as two-step verification, is made such that logging into online accounts requires more than one access key. SafeSearch.net is a way to use Google without bad images or posts. However, there are a few bugs when I tried to use it. Avoids the obvious – such as using sequential numbers (“1234”) or personal information that someone who knows you might guess (or that might already be online), such as your date of birth or a pet’s name. YouTube is the biggest and most widely used video service. Over 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, so there’s a wealth of great content that kids can access. Of course, there is also inappropriate content, and parents have a couple of options to control what children can watch.