With the kids being forced to spend all their time indoors, it is but natural that they start spending long hours surfing the internet be it related to their studies, or games or increasing their general knowledge or accessing their social media accounts, the lockdown time has ensured that they spend a long time on the internet. While this may be a great process of discovery and learning of for the children it also exposes them to the risks of this technology. With this crucial aspect in mind the government of India has launched cyber security and cyber awareness handles – CyberDost, the cyber-safety and cybersecurity awareness handle which is maintained by the ministry of home affairs, Internet safety tips were shared here recently to educate the internet users.
Parents can join in with their children when they log in so that they can view what sites the child is visiting and what he or she is doing on the internet. This would encourage bonding and a certain degree of control can also be exercised on the child discreetly without being aggressive and asking him what he is viewing or doing on the computer.
The other safety option is to enable parental controls and use safety search options.
You must take time to educate the kids on what is safe information which they could share on the internet and caution them not to share any personal details or give a lot of information about their family and themselves on the internet.
The kids must be educated about the privacy settings on their social media accounts like facebook, twitter, instagram and so on.
Explain to the kids why they must not accept friend requests from complete strangers or share any personal details or information with them.
We must take care that they should neither be online alone especially not for long hours. Atiming can be set for the kids during which they can surf the net and not before or beyond that.
With a little care and caution the world of the internet can prove to be a boon instead of a bane for kids !
