Why is it so critical that you hide your children personal information? It’s because personal information is often traded online because there are a lot of things that can be done with it. Private details which could identify them in the real world – name, age, gender, phone number, home address, school name, and photographs – should only ever be shared with people they know. Personal information is everything about yourself.
It can include:
Spend some time together looking at the privacy
settings. It’s always best to assume that default settings are public and
should be changed accordingly.
Some content and sites can be encrypted, which means they’re coded in a way
that prevents the controls from knowing what the content actually is, so
filters will not necessarily apply. Use a Virtual Private Network
(VPN). A VPN can anonymize your browsing activity, making
it less likely that people are able to track you from website to website. If
you’re concerned about advertising or malicious attackers, a VPN can
help. They also don’t usually restrict purchases through apps or the use
of certain programmes that are already on the device. You’ll need to consider
setting your device controls and platform (such as Chrome or Netflix) controls
too.
Although children-friendly apps can make using the internet a more accessible, safer and enjoyable experience, the thousands of apps available for different types of people mean it’s important to make sure children use appropriate ones. You will probably use social networks yourself, but you might want to know about new ones that your child is using or wants to use. Use them yourself and set up your own account so you can experience what your child might see. There are also many child-friendly social networks they could use while they get ready for the likes of Snapchat and Instagram.
Check in frequently with your kids about whom they're interacting with, whether they've ever been contacted by a stranger, and if they ever "prune" their contact lists by deleting or blocking acquaintances.Talk to them about being cautious about what they share with people online. Remind them that even though people they’ve met online might feel like friends they may not be who they say they are.
It’s inevitable
that as your child gets older, you won’t be as physically present in every
aspect of their life. But you are still needed for emotional support. If you
want a window into what’s going on in their day, the key is to keep up
listening.
If something makes your child worried or uncomfortable online their best course
of action is always to talk to an adult they trust. You can also direct them to
organisations such as child-line.
In some games like Minecraft or Roblox people deliberately try to intimidate other players. In multi-player games where gamers talk to one another – you might find abusive language, harassment and there have been instances of grooming. It’s vital therefore that your child knows how to report abuse and talks to you if something is causing them concern.