What You Need To Know About Internet Safety
Internet safety is crucial to keep up with. For parents, this can be a very hard task. First of all, children want independence and privacy with their communication online. Even if your children are open to you looking over their shoulder, another issue is the time a parent has to accomplish keeping a watchful eye with their computer use. Finally, a parent must have a technical know how to be able to accomplish watching their child when their child may know more about the computer than the parent. Safety is far too important to overlook though, so here is what you need to know about Internet Safety.
he Dangers
- Predators
Predators roam the Internet looking for children, especially children that aren't being well watched. They are smart people that could fool parents and your child is no match against these despicable people.
They can easily disguise themselves to look like children their age and they will get your child to do something wrong. Once they have something over them, they convince your child that they can't go to you because they will be in trouble.
- Pornography
Your child accidentally seeing pornographic images that can be quite disturbing for children.
- Viruses and Spyware
This is obviously not as important as the safety of your child but your computer is a big investment. Wild behavior online can ruin a computer, sometimes beyond repair.
Keep The Computer In A Central Location In The House
The computer should be in an area where you can keep an eye on the what your children are doing.
Computers Are A Privilege Not A Right
It is tough for parents to take things away. But if your child can't follow your rules then they should lose the privilege. Their safety is too important.
Age and Maturity Level
A child that is four-years-old and a fifteen-year-old should have different rules. For instance your four-year-old may have to wait while you turn on the computer and open it to the program they want to play while your fifteen-year-old may go online at specific times of the day. Evaluating maturity level is also an important issue to consider when creating the rules and modifying them as needed. Some twelve-year-olds are more gullible than others. Because every child matures differently, parents need to try and be as objective as possible to evaluate their maturity level.
Tell Your Child Upfront That They Should Not Expect Privacy On The Computer
This can be difficult for a child to understand because they want privacy to talk to their friends, just as they would if they were having a telephone conversation. I recommend that you explain to them that no communication is private if it is sent online. An email or instant message sent over the Internet is the same as sending a postcard in the mail. If they want something to remain private, a computer isn't the way to send it. They should expect that anyone can read it, even their parents.
Lay Out The Rules And Agree To Them
Every school, ISP and most companies require that you sign a computer use agreement. It lays out what the rules are and it what happens if the user doesn't abide by the rules. As a family sit down and agree to what the rules are and what will happen if the rules aren't followed. Computer Use Agreement To Sign
Watching Your Child When You Aren't There
Parents are busy and parents sometimes have to leave older children at home alone. This is a fact of life but it also makes your child an easier target for predators. You can get filtering from your Internet Service Provider or install filtering, monitoring or even time limiting software.
Warning Signs of Potential Problems
If your child has become secretive about what they are doing on the computer, parents need to investigate. Here are some warning signs:
- Passworded Files
- The history file and/or cookies have been erased
- When you walk into the room, your child suddenly closes a window
- Your child protesting about privacy
What To Do If You Suspect Problems
Talk to your child! That's easy but as parents we know, the problem is getting them to talk to you. A couple of things may be a play here if they don't want to tell you why they are being secretive.
- It may very well be that they are getting older and want privacy. This is natural and they have to gain independence from you in order to grow up. Remind them that there is no expectation of privacy on the computer. If they can not abide by that rule then they lose their privilege. Plain and simple.
- They could have accidentally viewed pornography. On the other hand they may have been curious and viewed pornography and they don't want you to know.
- The other option is much scarier. They are conversing with a predator they have convinced them that their parents are trying to ruin their lives and if they go to you, you will find out what they have been doing wrong.
