Many people worldwide cannot imagine their life without the Internet and social media in particular. The age categories are different, which implies the fact that even the youngest people find social networks a perfect place for communication and sharing content. As a rule, children always express a strong desire to use social media and learn new information about the world. Unfortunately, kids often become victims of cybercrime because of experience and knowledge lack. In this case the most important parent’s task is to educate their offspring to protect them from all possible terrible situations. Most modern parents use parental controls on tablets to prevent some terrible situations. It is essential to be a friend to children and behave in a competent way when it comes to their privacy concerns. Let’s have a closer look at the most effective ways to make sure that your child is safe when using social media.
- Install a special parental spy application. Such apps enable parents to monitor the activity of their children on the Internet and detect unusual actions. Parents can also see the chats and messages of the target phone, which can be a helpful tool to prevent cyberbullying. It also provides the additional option to track the current location, so you will always know where the kid is without making annoying phone calls or texting.
- Talk openly about safety on social media. There is nothing better than being honest with the children because they understand when parents are hiding something or trying to impose their points of view. In this case, it is very important to explain what risks and dangers can lead to data theft or money laundering. Talk calmly and don’t be overprotective. Give the children the opportunity to grasp the most important points by themselves without being too persuasive. Make it clear why it can be dangerous to accept a friend request from unknown people and publish too private content on social media. If the child feels trust from your side, there won’t be any secrets and unsaid words.
- Make use of privacy settings. Here you can regulate who can see the account of your child and who is allowed to send messages. It will also be a great idea to make the profile private to reduce the risks to zero.
- Turn off location tracking. Most applications request GPS tagging and your kid may not even notice to turn it on. Hackers can get access to it and attack your child at any time. So it is better to deny the request for location tracking for safety reasons.
- Make some rules. A lot of control can worsen your relationships with kids, but it is still important to be the authority for them. So, set some limitations concerning the content they post, confidential information they share with friends, and the amount of time spent on social media.
Conclusion
So, kids can be very vulnerable and silly, so parents should do everything possible to protect them from someone’s fraudulent intentions. The best advice is to discuss the most important information about privacy on social media to make all points clear. Remember, that parents should give the right direction to their children and always be ready to lend a helping hand in any situation.
