Technology is being utilised by everyone more than ever before. Children, in particular, are utilising technology for all aspects of their lives. Whether this is education, socialising, or entertainment, technology can be used in a whole variety of ways. As a recent Computer Science graduate, I both love and hate technology. It is fantastic when it works, it can be a perfect way to supplement every part of your life. However, when it goes wrong, it can go really wrong... This is why I am here today to share with you some tips and tricks for keeping children safe online.
Starting with one of the best tips I could tell you, it is to have a good, open communication channel with your children. Whatever measures you choose to take to keep your children safe online, making sure that your children feel as though they can trust you and talk to you if they ever have any questions or issues is the most important thing you can do.
You can promote open communication by having regular conversations with your children about what they are up to on their computer. I would recommend keeping these conversations really informal, less regiment, and more inquisitive to show interest in what your children are getting up to on their devices. Having these conversations allow you to keep informed and also learn about what your children enjoy doing on technology so that you can look for opportunities to enhance and engage with their interests.
This next tip is quite controversial and is completely up to you whether or not you feel the need to set up parental controls on your children’s devices. Personally, I feel that being too strict on parental controls can break the trust that you have between you and your children and could contribute to damaging the open communication you have between you and your children.
One approach could be to observe how your children interact with technology when there are no parental controls on their device. If things start going pear-shaped quickly, this is when you step in to have those important conversations about staying safe online and/or set up parental controls. There are multiple different approaches you can take, but remember that if a child really wants to access something, they will most likely find a way to (restricting their access could end up making them want to access it even more).
As much as I love technology, it’s important to also not become reliant on technology. Keeping children safe online is as important in the online world as it is in the offline world. Make sure that your children have time completely off technology, doing things that they really enjoy, whether this be going to the park or meeting up with school friends, ensure that your children get that time completely away from technology.
My final tip for keeping children safe online is to teach your children good cyber hygiene practices. This ties into my first tip, the open communication between you and your children should be informal but also informative.
Firstly, I would recommend getting familiar with good cyber hygiene practices if you aren’t already, then spending some time with your children to share these.
There are loads of great resources out there, I’ve listed some of my favourites below. You can make it fun, watch the videos together, make it into a game. This is something that is important to keep returning back to, too, to ensure that your children are not only learning what good cyber hygiene is, but also ensuring that they know how to maintain good cyber hygiene.
Here are my favourite cyber safety resources:
Thinkuknow: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
Band Runner Cyber Safety Game: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/
Play Like Share Video: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/watch/
NSPCC Online Safety: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
That’s all from me today! I hope you enjoyed reading some of my top tips about how you can keep children safe online. If you have any top tips and tricks, please feel free to share them in a comment. This is a really important topic that we should all be talking about more.
Contact us
Call
01904 628449 (Monday-Friday, 9am-3pm)
Email
enquiries@theislandyork.org
Address Regus House, Oakdale Rd, Tower Ct,
York, YO30 4XL
Registered Charity 1120420 | Company Reg No. 5698045