How safe are your kids online?
Wednesday 20 May 2009
If you were born before 1990, it is quite likely that your childhood experiences of computer technology are limited to playing a VERY basic version of Pacman on your friend's computer every once in a while.
Today's generation, on the other hand, is so web-savvy it is a bit frightening. Blogging and social networking has become second nature to most children - and this development has changed the dynamics of the modern family, too.
Norton's second Online Living Report, which was published earlier this month, takes an in-depth look at the impact that the Internet has on family life - with some interesting, if not worrying results.
Just because your children have accepted you as a friend on Facebook or you are following their updates on Twitter, it doesn't mean that you know what they are getting up to online.
The study revealed that kids are spending more than twice as much time on the Internet than their unsuspecting parents think, and 31% of UK children say their parents don’t know what they view online (despite 81 % of parents being confident that they do know…).
Mo Shapiro, a Relationship Psychologist, comments on the findings: “The Internet is now our children’s playground, and children should absolutely not be prevented from exploring their online environments.
“We are naive if we believe that parents will always know exactly where their children are online or anywhere else. They need ground rules to help them understand what is and isn’t safe."
To help adults and their children define rules for safe and respectful online behavior, Symantec has partnered with etiquette experts, Debrett’s, to produce the following top tips:
Adults
*Keep up to date with technology and communicate with your children. Learn their lingo (but don’t try to use it too often!) and ask them questions. It is important to keep up with them as well as technology.
* Discuss with your children which websites they want to visit. Be open with them and make reasoned decisions together.
* Set clear rules about online communication, illegal downloading, and cyber bullying. It is important that trust is established between you and your child.
* Remember your manners. Just because you are online, there is no need to speak to your children or anyone else differently.
* Don’t conduct your entire life online. Birthday cards, telephone calls and face-to-face conversations are still important.
* Remember that children may come across inappropriate content on the Internet by accident. When this happens, always try to explain what they have seen and to support them, rather than immediately reprimanding them.
Children
* Make sure you don’t say anything online that you might regret. Sometimes it’s easy to forget your manners when you’re not talking to someone face-to-face.
* Spelling and grammar are important. Read through what you’ve written and remember to do a spell-check before hitting send.
* Always keep your personal information safe—all of it! Never give your real name, address, phone number, the name of your school or a picture of yourself to anyone online.
* Tell your parents or a trusted adult about everything you see on the Internet, and if anything has made you feel uncomfortable. Remember, not everything you see and hear on the Internet is ‘true’or even ‘normal’.
* Listen to your parents and include them when you are online. It can be fun to look at websites together, and they can learn from you.
* Listen to your parents and respect any rules. Instead of going behind their backs, try to show them or explain why you enjoy certain websites.
For more details about this year’s Norton Online Living Report, please visit www.nortononlineliving.com
For more information on online safety, go to www.symantec.com