How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online in 2022
Being a parent is tough. It is your duty and responsibility to raise, educate, nurture and protect your children from harm. But dangers in the online world can be just as real as dangers in the physical world, and protecting them from danger can be a full-time job.
So what dangers might they face online? How can you protect your children from these threats?
The Internet is a vast place and it is impossible to estimate the number of websites that exist. Away from the major players like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, there are tens of thousands of independent and interactive social media platforms that cater to specific niche interests.
A 2022 survey conducted by Censuswide on behalf of the International Cyber Expo found that a quarter of parents say they don’t know who their children are interacting with online; More than a third do not know which online accounts their children use, and 15 percent allow their offspring complete online autonomy.
The results of the survey are not entirely surprising. Few kids want an adult looking over their shoulder as they interact with their friends in inappropriately named chat rooms, while spitting fire about their teachers and how hard it is to be 12 years old. Children have secrets; it is natural. It is also understandable that many parents respect their children’s privacy and do not want to intervene in their private lives.
Unlike previous generations, where danger was mostly confined to the neighborhood you lived in, today’s connected society means your child can be at risk from anywhere in the world.
What threats do children face online?
As your child moves through the online world, they’ll be talking to people they know in real life—and people they’ve never met before. They join groups, espouse hopelessly naïve political ideologies, generate and share memes, and suck deep air from the YouTube hose.
Here are some of the dangers they will encounter along the way.
- Dangerous Challenges: Children love to take on a challenge or challenge. Some of them, like the Ice Bucket Challenge, are relatively harmless and help raise money and awareness for a good cause. Other challenges and trends are more dangerous. The cinnamon challenge left some children with severe breathing problems; the “salt and ice challenge” can lead to scarring; and the fainting challenge, also known as “the choking game,” as reported by the CDC, has resulted in dozens of deaths — mostly among boys between the ages of 11 and 16.
- unhealthy behavior: It’s not uncommon for teenagers to have physical problems and seek help online. When a child who feels overweight is placed in the wrong online community, they can be encouraged to adopt unhealthy behaviors. Communities that advocate for eating disorders are among the worst offenders and can support youth to the point of anorexia or death.
- bullying: Children are mean to each other, and it doesn’t stop at the school gate. Cyberbullying means they can be bullied anywhere. The relentless harassment on social media has led to several teenage suicides.
- sexual exploitation: Sometimes it’s possible to form deep and meaningful relationships with online-only friends. Sometimes it’s so deep and meaningful that your child feels comfortable and loved enough to engage in sexual behavior through words, pictures, and videos. The person they share these intimate moments with may not be the person they appear with and may continue to share them. Children can also be tempted to meet abusers in real life.
- bribery: If your child does something online that they would rather not know about, they are subject to blackmail and extortion. Children who are tricked into engaging in sexual activity online are often threatened with disclosure of the material unless they provide more.
What you can do to protect your child online
Keeping your child safe when they are online is difficult and requires a level of trust between you and your children, as well as a little technical know-how. Here are some actions you can take.
Monitor network traffic and restrict access to specific sites
Keeping an eye on the traffic coming in and out of your home network is easy with a tool like Pi-hole. Pi-hole offers you an easy way to block access to any website or web address. If your kid goes to dark places online (or even just TikTok), you can detect and block them.
Restrict access to devices
Kids don’t usually have a lot of money, so it’s unlikely they’ll be able to go out and buy their own gadgets. That means they have whatever you let them have. This can be access to the family desktop or Amazon tablets – important is that you are the administrator of these devices and they cannot install apps without your permission.
It’s easy to set up parental controls on Android, iOS, and Amazon devices.
Limit the times they can use devices
Malice thrives under the cover of darkness, and after bedtime your kids shouldn’t be using their devices online. Pi-hole is the answer once again, and with a little technical know-how, Pi-hole can be used to regulate access to websites between specific times.
Talk to your kids about online dangers
Children are not stupid, but they can be naive. Since nothing really bad may have happened to them, they believe they are immune. When something bad is going on, they may be scared or too ashamed to open up about it.
Communicate openly with your children about potential online dangers and let them understand that they can talk to you about anything and that you can help without judgment. Make sure you walk the talk.
Keeping your kids safe online is difficult, but not impossible
The online world is a potentially harmful place and can lead your child down dangerous rabbit holes. Make sure you are there to support them in case they get into trouble. listen to their problems; and if all else fails, you can resort to technical measures to keep them out of places where they shouldn’t be.