As the price of technology drops, younger and younger children are both expecting and being given smartphones. There is no doubt that cell phones can actually help keep your child safer in some ways, but they also open up a greater number of potential risks in others.
In addition to an increased potential for exposure to inappropriate adult content or pornography, unsupervised cell phone use also puts them at risk of becoming a victim of cyberbullying, cybercrime and even child predators.
While a parent might be able to carefully monitor a child’s time on a home computer, the very nature of mobile smartphones increases their ability to use technology away from the protective and watchful eyes of parents. That doesn’t mean, however, that parents are completely helpless.
Thankfully, as technology has advanced, so have the resources available to help parents protect their children online – even in a mobile world. Here are some tips to help keep your child safe online – whether they are with you or not.
Set Some Ground Rules
Some of the biggest names in the tech world, including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, severely limited the amount of screen time their kids were allowed years ago. That alone should be a cautionary tale to today’s parents. While tech is certainly a valuable tool and an important part of the learning process, it should also not consume your child’s whole life.
In addition to setting limits on how much time your child spends on the internet, you can also set limits on what sites they are allowed to visit by setting up parental controls on your wireless router. Of course you will also need to set up parental controls on their cell phone as well and possibly on a number of different devices.
Also remember that social media sites and other content providers set age restrictions on their content. You would be wise to respect these limits even if their friends’ parents are not. If you allow your child to utilize social media before the appropriate age and they become a victim of cyberbullying, cybercrime or a child predator, you may find your legal recourses severely limited.
Make Time for Face-to-Face Time
Getting your child or teen a cell phone may give you a greater ability to communicate with them more regularly, but it is still no substitute for good, old-fashioned face-to-face time. As parents, it’s not only important for you to limit their screen time, but for you to carve out time for them where you put your electronics away as well.
One of the very best ways to protect your children is to stay informed of what is going on with them – including what’s going on in their own head. Talking to them one-on-one without any interruptions may be the very best safety measure you can take.
It doesn’t matter how many times you tell them they can come to you with anything, if you are busy and distracted every time they do, they probably aren’t going to when it really matters.
Set a Good Example
Children don’t listen to what you say, they watch what you do.
The best way to teach your children appropriate behavior is to model it. If you are constantly online, checking your cell phone or even worse, texting while driving, these are the habits you will pass on to them.
Just remember, children that watch you text while you drive will one day be teens learning how to drive.
You also need to beware of behaviors like oversharing or engaging in inappropriate behavior on social media. For instance, you might think twice about posting pictures of yourself online wearing a bikini on your recent vacation, particularly if you have a teenage daughter.
While you may be particularly proud of how you still look as a mom, and you should, just remember that your teenaged daughter may not be equipped to handle the attention that posting the same type of pictures might bring her.
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether you would want your child or teen to post something you are about to post and if the answer is no, don’t post it.
Parental Control
When it comes to how much control you should exercise over your child’s online life, expert opinions are mixed. Some security experts choose to exert no control over their children’s online activities whatsoever, but stay in constant communication with them instead.
Others exert very rigid controls, such as not allowing their child’s devices to save passwords, so they can’t use the internet at all without a parent or adult present. How much or how little control you choose to exercise is up to you and will often depend on the age of your child.
For those who prefer to carefully supervise and monitor their child’s activities, here are some steps you can take to do so:
- Keep your home computer in a visible location
- Purchase specialized software that monitors your child’s online activities and can generate reports
- Use screen sharing options to monitor their computers on yours
- Use specialized software to monitor social media sites
- Make sure you have access to all of your child’s social media sites and check them regularly
Cyberbullying
While protecting your financial and personal data may be your #1 online concern, cyberbullying is likely to be of far greater concern for your child. Unlike other online threats, however, there is no software available to protect your children from this one.
Again, one of the best things you can do is be available and accessible to your child and stay in close communication with them as well as being informed of potential risks. Like any other type of bullying, it is almost impossible to completely protect them from it, the best you can do is teach them how to manage it – and to ensure they are not the ones doing the bullying.
Wrapping-up
Ultimately, you cannot protect your children from everything, but that doesn’t mean it is not important to try. Most parents will make very different decisions when it comes to protecting their children. Some feel it’s important to give them freedom and trust while others feel it is more important to exert a high degree of control.
Whatever choices you make, however, the two most important keys to safety are staying informed of potential risks and staying in close communication with your children.
BIO: John Porter is a Southampton-based freelance writer. He enjoys writing about business and technology. You can find the largest guide he’s ever written here. Find him on Twitter @johnpourter.
