Internet safety rules

What are the most common threats to a child on the Internet? We will analyze them point by point and determine how to protect children from them.

View inappropriate content uncluding https://argoprep.com/blog/restorative-justice-in-schools/. On the Web, a child may encounter scenes of animal cruelty, violence, murder, sexual content. Parents should ensure the safety of their children on the Internet. To do this, it is recommended to install parental controls. There are various programs that allow you to limit the time of your stay. Mobile applications allow you to control the use of a smartphone by a child. Namely:

when and how much time the child spent on YouTube or TikTok;
what is the age rating of the games the child plays;
how often he sits on Instagram, Likee, Twitter;
how much time he spends on the web.

Cybercrime. Represents a wide range of violations of the law – fraud, obtaining personal data, involving minors in drug trafficking and webcaming. Parents need to explain to the child that they should be careful on the Web, not transfer card data, documents, addresses and passwords to strangers. Do not buy goods or “improvements” for games on dubious sites.

Cyberbullying. Represents psychological pressure, threats and bullying. If a child becomes irritable, anxious, angry or aggressive after interacting with virtual friends, then you should ask him about the reasons for this behavior. Discuss with your son or daughter how to respond to online bullying. Help to blacklist the aggressors. If the situation threatens the life of the child, then collect evidence of threats (screenshots, photos, videos) and contact the police.

Learn to avoid chats and comments, but not about https://argoprep.com/blog/educators/fake-news-examples-for-students-and-how-to-find-the-facts/ as such communication can lead to a quarrel and negative remarks about a teenager.

How to recognize an intruder? Parents are advised to inform the young user of the danger signals:

you do not know the interlocutor in real life;
the acquaintance is much older;
the new friend has few or no friends at all, there is no photo either, the page is empty and “fake”;
the interlocutor asks for something: replenish a mobile phone account, a bank card, send an intimate photo, etc.

When meeting online, children should carefully check the information about the interlocutor before starting communication.

Consider the basic rules of Internet safety:

Maintain anonymity

Parents, together with the child, come up with a name for the profile on social networks, as far as possible from the real one. It is better to choose a gender-neutral one so that it is not clear to an outsider whose profile is a boy or a girl. Parents should make sure that the child does not put his photo on the profile picture in order to avoid communication with intruders or pedophiles. It is recommended that you create a private profile for other users so that they cannot see or use the young user’s photo and video content. Do not include an address, mobile phone number, or school number. This information is considered personal and may be used by fraudsters.

Avoid talking to strangers

Attackers actively use the Internet for their own purposes. How to avoid dealing with scammers? What to do if faced with an obsessive stranger? Know how to say “no”. The child must learn to defend his opinion and not do what he does not want to do.

Bullying is another danger on the Internet. These are intentional negative actions directed at the child by one person or group of people. On social media, young users

Futuristic integrated circuit, code lock and globe. The concept of electronic security

may suffer from angry comments towards their avatar photo, nickname, or chat behavior. You can protect the child by teaching them to ignore such people and add them to the “black list”.

Pedophiles often hide under the avatar of a peer of the same or opposite sex. First, they start a conversation, and then they ask to send intimate photos and chat via video link. They use blackmail and threats of physical violence.

Parents are advised to protect their child from communicating with such people by teaching simple rules: firstly, parents should be informed about such communication, and secondly, stop contacts with this user.

Fraudsters whose purpose of communication is to obtain personal data and use it. Parents should tell teenagers that they should never give their last name, mobile phone number, or home address to anyone online.

Maintain anonymity of the location of the child

Placing geolocation on pictures on the Internet allows attackers to figure out where the child studies, what places he often visits, rests, where he lives. To protect your child from scammers on the Web, geotags should be disabled in the settings.

Stick to online etiquette

The rules of courtesy and decency must be followed both in real life and on the Internet. The child should be informed that when communicating on the Web, one must write correctly, do not insult the interlocutors, do not compare them with someone, control their negative emotions and stop communicating if other people do not adhere to etiquette.

Passwords must be remembered

Children should be taught that it is safe to keep important information in a special notebook or memory. In no case should you use passwords to enter social networks and other platforms from someone else’s and unfamiliar computer. If a child used a classmate’s smartphone to view a page on social networks, then you need to exit it so that the classmate cannot enter it on his own. There are services that offer to automatically save passwords. If the profile contains important information, then it is not recommended to use this option. The user needs to be careful and prudent when using password login on unfamiliar sites and platforms.