An article by guest writer Rosie Shelley
Do you know who your child has been talking to today?
Do you know where your child visited today?
Do you know what they will be doing tomorrow?
In the real world we would want to know what are children are doing, where they are going and who they were talking to, and we would certainly warn them of the dangers of taking to strangers. So in the virtual world why should it be any different? The internet is a great place for children to keep in touch with their friends, but are they aware of the dangers that exist online and how to keep themselves safe? More importantly are you?
What are the risks?
Unsuitable content
There are over 50 million sites on the internet. Many are highly informative and great for helping with homework, researching topics and learning about the world. However others are not and contain information that is inaccurate, or offensive, racist or even pornographic. These may include news websites, or sites expressing political views that you do not agree with and so would not want your child reading. It is possible for children to come across these sites completely innocently, for example by receiving junk email with links to these sites, by visiting a website with links to sites which are not suitable for children.
Entering words into a search engine can bring up a range of sites which would be unsuitable for children. So very often children are coming across these sites completely by accident. The good news is that there are search engines designed for children that can help avoid these problems – check out the BBC search facility www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/search and the Yahoo search engine http://yahooligans.yahoo.com
Not all information is accurate either and children should be aware of this. Anyone can publish anything on the internet and often it is not checked to ensure it is accurate. Not all websites are reliable.
Inappropriate contact
One of the biggest risks for children and young people is giving out too much information to the wrong people. Many do not understand the internet fully and the fact that once information has been posted on the internet it can be easily copied and forwarded to anyone. Personal details such as names, telephone numbers and addresses posted on to a website or sent in an email could end up anywhere. The same applies to photographs and even personal thoughts and feelings that would normally be kept private – these can be read by people who do not have good intentions.
It does happen that strangers will make contact with children via the internet and arrange to meet. If you are concerned that an adult is trying to contact your child online then abuse can be reported to The Child Exploitation and Online Centre (CEOP).
Commercialism
There are a lot of shopping opportunities on the internet and children may be tempting to use you credit or debit card online. Companies also target children via the internet to sign up for ringtones and other ‘offers’ which turn out to be extremely expensive and end up added to their mobile phone bill.
The good news is that there are steps that can be taken to help keep children safe. Here are some suggestions:
Tips for keeping children safe online
1. Educate them about the internet and explain that not all information out there is accurate.
2. Discuss the importance of keeping personal information private, and the risks posed by posting details such as their home address, email address, the name of their school, their phone number, passwords, and of posting their personal thoughts and feelings, and personal photographs online.
3. Ask them who their ‘buddies’ are on Instant Messanger and whether they know them in the real world.
4. Ask them who their friends are on MySpace, Bebo or Facebook and if they are real friends or just ‘Facebook friends’ that they don’t really know.
5. Explain the dangers of unwanted emails – called Spam or junk mail, and how to deal with them – delete them and do not reply to them.
6. Set up a family email address so you can monitor incoming mail.
7. For younger children add a list of safe sites in the browser so only these sites are visited.
8. Check your parental controls facility and find out more about how to use them if necessary.
9. Draw up a family agreement stating the rules of using the internet – where they can visit, what information can be given out. The website Child Net contains an excellent facility for designing your family agreement which can then be printed out.
10. Ensure security software is up-to-date.
11. Investigate filtering software which can filter out unwanted sites.
12. Finally, keep up to date with technological developments so that you can keep up with your child and know what they are doing online.
Did you know?
- MSN’s Instant Messenger has options that allow you to block certain people and keep a record of conversations.· Your internet service provider can give you details of the parental controls they can offer you.
- Filtering software can monitor chatroom conversations and even control the amount of time spent online. A list of filtering packages is available on www.GetNetWise.org
- Children can access the internet from a variety of different places including schools, libraries, friends’ houses, mobile phones and internet cafes where parental controls may differ from your own.
- Keeping children safe online is not difficult once you know how to do it and there are lots of resources available. An excellent resource is www.childnet-int.org/parents which is full of information for children, parents and teachers and even includes a section called ‘New to Computers’ for those less familiar with the internet.
Helpful Websites
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