Exploring Internet Safety with Your Child – The internet presents many great opportunities. We can use it to connect with those all around the world, learn new things and help one another. It also has its pitfalls and dangers that both parents and children should be made aware of, like stranger danger and cyber bullying. As the age at which they’re using the internet gets younger, internet safety is something that you should also try to explore from early on. Here are some vital online safety lessons that were shared with us by a school computing department.
Exploring Internet Safety – Screen Time
There’s a concern amongst parents that screen time is taking over family time. According to statistics children are spending approximately 4 and a half hours every day behind their screens. Prolonged use can impact mental health. It increases the chance of children developing conditions such as depression and anxiety. There’s also the effect that it can have on the brain as it can inhibit the development of the prefrontal cortex and impair cognitive function. To help ensure that your child’s not spending too much time on the internet, you can put screen time restrictions in place via the devices themselves.
Exploring Internet Safety – Stranger Danger
Social media makes it easy to stay in touch with one another. Unfortunately, it’s just as easy for strangers to lurk on profiles. The best way to help protect your child from stranger danger is to teach them about the risk of adding strangers online and to educate them on how to keep a private profile and manage what they post online.
Exploring Internet Safety – Malicious Sites
There’s also the risk of falling onto malicious sites. To guard your child against harmful content like this, you can talk to them about opening any suspicious emails and links. To go a step further you can set content restrictions to prevent your child from landing on anything that they shouldn’t.
*Collaborative post