Learning fuels curiosity and eagerness to understand and experiment!
Kids and teens stand out as the most anxious and active when it comes to trying out new and trending things. Exploring the digital world and harnessing the power of the internet becomes a significant milestone for them. As they delve deeper into the internet’s vast ocean, their attraction to knowledge and the convenience it offers intensifies. The internet’s beauty lies in its ability to serve as a substitute for any query or life problem. However, amidst this beauty, there are also distractions and misleading elements that hinder the learning journey. Everyone who uses the internet should grasp this fact. Every parent places a high priority on ensuring a safe internet experience for their kids, and thus, they feel compelled to guide their children in the proper use of the internet.
Is Guidance/ Check essential for the use of the Internet by parents
Children are enthusiastic learners. Searching for content or images on the internet is straightforward, but it is crucial to shield them from misinformation and protect them from cybercrime risks such as cyberbullying, cyber fraud, and internet gaming disorders, especially in today’s digitally savvy kids and teens. Moreover, excessive internet use can negatively impact kids’ mental health, potentially leading to aggression, anxiety, or depression.
What to do to make Internet safe to use?
Securing the internet for safe usage is within reach. Introducing a solution like Happinetz, which wirelessly connects to a home router, can simplify the process. It provides a seamless experience by managing up to 10 devices simultaneously, monitoring more than 110 million apps and websites based on age-appropriate choices, and serving as a multi-level protection system preconfigured to block more than 22 million unsecured and adult websites.
The Strategic and Calculated Move of Safe Internet for Kids
1 Parental Control and Privacy Settings
Parents establish these settings to manage their children’s online activities. Application of this is for specific websites, social media accounts, apps, network connections, and gaming consoles. The aim is to ensure that children access age-appropriate content and to monitor their online activities and time.
2 Pass On the Same Thought Process to Kids and teens
Children are sensitive, smart and sense the Move of parents. It is important for parents to explain to their children why parenting controls have been applied once they reach the age of 13. This is because children at this age are starting to become more independent and may not understand why their parents are restricting their internet usage. They incline them to explore more into things that sound them as ‘fishy’. By explaining the reasons for the restrictions, parents can help their children to understand and respect their boundaries. Else, the controls and restrictions can backfire too.
3 Provide them guidance with the prevailing Cyber crimes
Internet usage is like a double-edged sword. While it offers numerous benefits, it also exposes individuals to cybercriminals who exploit their skills to commit fraud and harm others. Some common cybercrimes include:
Financial fraud
People who reveal their bank account details, home address, and OTP incur huge financial losses as these sensitive information makes it very easy for cyber criminals to steal money.
Phishing and Malware scam
Cybercriminals send fraudulent communications that appear to be from reputable sources. It’s advisable to avoid clicking on suspicious links with spelling and grammar mistakes or lacking SSL certification.
Identity Theft-
This is when someone steals your personal information and without your knowledge commits crimes.
Online shopping Scam
Here, lucrative discounts and great deals offers attract customers. Thus, recommendation is to shop through genuine website and practice safe internet banking practices.
Job frauds
Advertisements, Job hiring posts on job sites seem as genuine employers but job scammers take your complete information and cheat the job seekers by fraud.
Honeytrap
Innocent individuals can fall victim to this scheme, where personal details are shared under blackmail. Caution is advised when accepting friend requests from unknown sources and meeting virtual acquaintances in person.
4 Support the information with facts and figures of Safe Internet for Kids
Modern children place trust in facts. Allow them to read articles in newspapers and magazines highlighting the negative effects of excessive internet use and showcasing cybercrime reports from around the world. For instance, according to FBI internet crime records, there were 800,944 complaints registered in the previous year (2022), illustrating the rapid increase in cybercrimes.
5 Bring awareness of initiatives taken by Government to report cyber crimes
The Government of India has initiated Cyber Dost and National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal that runs 24×7 for any complaints regarding cyber-crime.
6 Build up by talking to them
Safe Internet for kids and maintaining a time limit of internet usage is not only essential to save oneself from frauds but also boost and improve creativity in children. Just like calculators have replaced mental math and computational thinking, too much dependency on internet is hindering the creativity to think. Adding to this, it diverts our attention on other unnecessary content and misleads our time.
Concluding Words
Enforcing rules and restrictions alone cannot entirely prevent children from accessing inaccurate information on the internet. However, once the concept of a safe internet for kids becomes ingrained in their minds, it becomes a seamless part of their online experience.
The differentiator of Happinetz is that it is a easy solution for safe internet practices. With happinetz the child takes the responsibility of self to absorb the right information from internet with his/her own choice.
The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs
Joan Didiom
This post is a part of Happinetz – Safe Internet For Kids