Children and the internet

The internet is part of everyday life for the majority of us, and that also includes a huge proportion of children and teenagers.  Staying safe on the internet is crucial at all ages.  It can be tricky to manage this.  But there are stacks of resources out available to help aid parents to talk about the different aspects of internet safety to children of all ages.

Firstly, as parents you can restrict the sites you can access online from your home, by locking down the parental controls in your internet service provider account settings, and that will block websites which have content on

• Dating
• Dugs
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Gambling
• Pornography
• Weapons and Violence
• Suicide and Self-Harm

But, as young adults/teenagers gain freedom and are browsing internet on mobile devices they could be most vulnerable outside of the home safe environment on WiFi with no filters, so need education on how to keep themselves safe and out of danger from internet predators.

Social media platforms:

At 13 teenagers can create accounts with:

-Pinterest

-Snapchat

-Facebook

– Instagram

– Twitter

– Reddit

– Google+

– Tumblr

At 14

– LinkedIn

At 16

– Whats App

At 17

– Vine

– Tinder

At 18

– YouTube

– Flickr

Although with parents permission both can be accessed from 13

Source: www.twinkl.co.uk 

How to keep teenagers safe online:

– Advice is for social media profiles not to be in their full name

– Never disclose their age, address, school or email address on any websites

– Never divulge information about their activities on websites

Celebrities and technology

In 2013 Jamie Oliver banned his children from using social media and using mobile telephones

See www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/03/internet-children-parents-safety

Credit: The Guardian 3/11/2013

Kate Winslet, mother to 3. Limits internet use and prefers children to play traditional games, climb trees and graze knees rather than being addicted to iPads

See www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/kate-winslet-busy-parents-losing-6746246

Credit: The Mirror 1/11/2105

Interesting article:

www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10029180/Children-using-internet-from-age-of-three-study-finds.html

A small selection of links for further reading from the huge range of websites which have plenty of information to help parents keep young children and teenagers safe on internet:

www.internetsociety.org/children-and-internet

www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html

www.nspcc.org.uk/onlinesafety

www.bbc.co.uk.cbbc/help/web/staysafe

www.ou.edu/oupd/kidtool.htm

www.microsoft.com/protect/parents/childsafety/steps.aspx

www.thinkuknow.co.uk

www.getnetwise.org