On line safety – Do’s and Don’ts for the teens

By: Satya Gopal Dey and Keisam Pradip Kumar
In this era of information, technology, life is at a halt without internet and smartphones. The Internet, mobile phones and other electronic media and gadgets provide children and young people with levels of access to information, culture, communication and entertainment impossible to imagine just a few years ago. With many of their extraordinary benefits, however, come hazards. The Internet and associated technologies have made abusive images of children easier to create and distribute, and provide significant new opportunities for abusers to access and make contact with children and young people online. While information and communication technologies (ICT) have not created crimes involving sexual abuse and exploitation of children, they have enhanced the scale and potential of some old and familiar ones.
As parent and guardian, the role is to keep a friendly yet close vigil on the children. As soon as the child starts accessing the internet, talk to them about what they are reading, watching and who they are communicating with online – and keep the conversation going as they grow older. Ask your child what sites they visit or apps they use, write a list, and look at them together. Talk to your child about what you think is appropriate, and remind them that this may be different for other parents and their children.
Listen to your child and reach an agreement about what is right for your family. Remember the time will come when they will access the internet outside the safety of home and you want them to be prepared for that.
It’s vital to teach them about their online reputation, too, and how they must be careful about how they behave, interact with people and represent themselves in such a public forum. They must always remember that the internet isn’t private
According to Laura Easterbrook .it is obvious to monitor your child’s time online, particularly younger children. Keep the computer in a central spot in the home where it’s easy to keep an eye on what your child is doing and viewing online. For mobile devices, you can set them to forget Wi-Fi pass codes so your children can not go online without you knowing. You can also try to make an agreement that there are no tablets, laptops or gaming in bedrooms.
For younger children, you might also consider checking browser histories after your child has been online to see what sites they are visiting. This approach obviously gets harder as children grow older and work out how to clear histories – which is more reason to open the lines of communication about internet use at an early age
Guardians and parent need to know the parental control systems , Innocent searches online can lead to not-so-innocent results, so it’s wise to know how to use the parental controls, search restrictions offered by web browsers, internet service provider and devices. For example, the Safe Search Filters feature on Google will block sites with explicit sexual material. To turn it on, go to Settings/Safe Search Filters. Although not 100 per cent accurate, parental controls can help prevent your child from seeing and accessing most violent or sexual material.
Other significant areas are every picture and personal detail that is posted and shared on social media and the internet contributes to someone’s digital footprint. The big risk with this is that once information is shared publicly, it can be used in ways you may not expect and cannot control. You should also assume that anything that is put online is permanent (it can sometimes be deleted but not always before others have seen it and saved it). For this reason, children and young people need to be smart about protecting their images and information. The same goes for parents who regularly post pictures of their children online.
Teach your child to stay in control of their digital footprint, by only sharing with people who they know and trust. Rather than posting to all their friends on social media, encourage them to be selective and use the privacy settings on the social media platforms they use.
It’s the role of the adult to educate themselves on ways to be safe on social networks so that one can give the best advice to the children. Sign up to the social networks and apps your children are using and find out how to use the privacy settings and reporting mechanisms. Talk about how they can stay safe on social networks, including talking to a trusted person when they are worried, and being aware of what constitutes online bullying – both as a perpetrator and a victim.
Lead by example and always model the kind of positive online behaviour you would like your children to use. If they see you being cautious and respectable when you are online, they are more likely to follow in your footsteps. And, yes, this includes limiting your own screen time.
Ultimately, you don’t want to instil fear in your child or prevent them from experiencing the many educational, entertainment, social and other benefits of the internet, but rather give them the skills and knowledge they need to know how to make the most of it and avoid the dangers. Each and every one need to know about the cyber safety legislation in India, whom and where to report.
(Satya Gopal Dey – Is an acclaimed Child Protection Specialist, and Head – Child Protection, Advocacy and H.R – Vikramshila Education Resource Society and Keisam Pradip Kumar : A Journalist and Former member of Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights)