Safe Online
In the world we live in today, children being exposed to gadgets, gaming and the internet is inevitable. There are both pros and cons to familiarizing your little one to the internet – one pro being that he has helpful information at the tip of his fingers and one con is that being online can be addictive.
As a parent, you still call the shots about gadget and internet usage and rules are a must, especially on school days. This is also to ensure that he is safe from adult content online.
Follow these tips to keep your child safe online:
Talk about online safety and internet usage
Take the time to sit down your child and talk about the internet. Apart from accessing it for school work, ask which apps or sites he usually visits, what they watch and who they usually communicate with. Talk about stranger danger and remind them about what’s appropriate. Have this conversation with your child from time to time to remind them to keep safe.
Learn about parental controls
Even if your child does innocent searches, it could lead to not-so-innocent results. This is where the beauty of parental control or search comes to play. Simply change the settings and sexual/violent content will be filtered. There are also paid options for extra security.
Implement rules for device usage at home
It’s not ideal to allow young ones to have access to their gadgets any time they want, especially when it’s a school day. It’s important to set rules so that you will better monitor your child’s time online. Keep gadget usage in a central spot in your home and don’t allow gadgets and gaming inside their bedrooms. This way, you’ll limit their internet usage and at the same time, easily view what they’re doing and what they’re viewing.
Guide them to be safe on social networks
It’s important to let children know how to protect their privacy once they use social networks. They should be aware of the risk of photos and information being made public once they share it. Teach them to be cautious and thoughtful about what to post and share at all times.
Be an example
Your child is likely to follow in your footsteps with the kind of behaviour you show on the internet. If you keep the content you post and share thoughtful, helpful and respectable, they will do the same. Be sure to follow your house rules about screen time, too!
Keep the lines of communication with your children open regarding being on the internet. Follow these 5 essential tips to keep your child safe online!
How You Can Do This? Follow Our 21-day Plan to Reduce Your Screen Time.
Unplug Yourself
And you know, It is becoming very challenging to put the phone down.
Just look around you.
Not only are most people working in front of a screen all day.
Besides, most people will turn on the TV as soon as they arrive home from work.
Several people go home after work and sit in front of the TV and browse their phone.
Over 80% of the population owns a mobile device, and 57% of them have more than one type of device.
We waste about 3 hours a week just picking up our phone, which is around 215 times a day.
This omnipresence of technology begs the question, how can we escape an addiction to the digital world?
I’ve written a detailed and informative guide that will give you guidance on how you can “unplug” from the digital world and spend more time in the real world.
It’s called “Unplug”.
