8 Reasons To Secure Your Kids Online
Kids love freedom. They most at times will go some extent to get it. They sometimes forget or should I put this way that the world out there is not like the fantasy world they dream about. With the rise of using the Internet comes with its own package of troubles. There are various reasons why parents and guidance need to secure their kids online.
Kids love freedom. They most at times will go some extent to get it. They sometimes forget or should I put this way that the world out there is not like the fantasy world they dream about. With the rise of using the Internet comes with its own package of troubles. There are various reasons why parents and guidance need to secure their kids online.
Below are 8 reasons why Parents should secure their kids online
1.Online Predators
Online predators are adults online whose aim is to lure vulnerable kids for sexual or abusive purposes
There are over 5,000,000 predators on the Internet, and these perverts are always online. They get their victims through chat rooms and forums. They work by befriending these kids and gaining their confidence. Once they gain it these online predators then take advantage of these kids.
2. Cyberbullying
1 out of 10 kids do tell their parent or an adult they are being bullied. Bullying has been around for ages. But what is different nowadays is that it is done electronically – cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is the spreading of mean, hate, threats and derogative messages of someone online because of their views, race, or culture. These messages are sent via emails, social messaging apps and text messages. Cyberbullying is the number cause of child anxiety and depression and these conditions lead to suicide thoughts in kids.
3. Online Thefts
Kids post a lot of information of themselves out there – where they are, what they are doing etc. and this information could make your kid a target. Moreover, online quizzes that request your kids to fill could be grounds for stealing information. Also, opening of email attachments from unknown senders could allow hackers access to their devices. Once they are in they steal information from credit card details to social security numbers.
4. Sexting
Do you know that if a nude picture of an underage kid (below 16) is found on your kid’s phone, whether your kid took this picture or was sent to them, they could be charged with dissemination of Child pornography and their names placed on the sex offender list for most of their life? That is the danger of sexting. It is said that about 70% of teens have sent or received a sext message. Also once these messages are sent via the internet they stay there forever.
5. Online drugs
As reported by Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, 40% of high school seniors, 30% of 10th graders and 13% of 8th-grade kids have used drugs. 76 % of these teenagers buy prescription pills illegally through online pharmacies by forging prescriptions. This is alarming! Kids do this from curiosity to desire for social acceptance and insecurity.
6. Online Porn
About 70% of kids aged 7-18 years have accidentally encountered online pornography often through web search doing their assignments. The Internet is a great place for kids to learn but when they are being exposed to inappropriate contents then you as a parent need to protect them. The side effect of prolonged expose could turn these kids to perverts, gender stereotypes and in boys, they end up demeaning girls.
7. Getting Addicted
Browsing the Internet could be so addictive your kids may even forget to eat or do their assignments. So how do you as a parent help them by regulating their internet use to prevent them from being online addicts? Kids need to have a balanced life to become better adults.
8. Online Gambling
Online gambling is a term for gambling using the Internet. On the internet, there are lots of games which are similar to gambling. These games are legal but not for minors. And most of the times kids forge their age because there are no real mechanisms to properly check ages online.
An example of such games is online poker, online sports betting and casinos.
So how do secure kids online?
First, you as a parent need to get involve in your kid’s online life. Get to know the latest technology by learning them yourself or discussing them with your kids.
Secondly, make them aware of the dangers of being online. Just as you educate them on real life – physical environment like no talking to strangers, scream when someone touches them wrongly and them not to pick a fight. These rules can be applied online too.
Parents should place the general computer in an open area so no activity on the computer is done in secret.
Parental control apps like mSpy parental app could be used to keep you abreast on your kid’s chat room messages, browser history logs and bookmarks and they key searches they do in incognito modes.
You as a parent should be a role model for your kid. Kids look up to their parents for leadership. Hence if you give them rules and advises, you have to live in accordance with these rules yourself
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