Children spend twice as long online as their parents think they do and start using the internet at the average age of three, a study has found.
The survey disclosed that parents are rarely aware of their children’s internet activity.
While three quarters believe their child spends less than an hour a day online, children admit that they are actually surfing the web for an average of two hours a day.
Although two thirds said they had had a negative experience online, only 22 per cent of parents realised this.
Talking to your child is essential in keeping them internet savvy and safe. We need to teach our children to be sceptical and get them to ask questions before they consider any actions online, just as they should do off line.
Here we share our 10 most important things to talk to your children about:
1) Don’t post any personal information online: your address, email address or mobile number.
2) Think carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you’ve put a picture of yourself online, most people can see it and may be able to download it; it’s not just yours anymore.
3) Keep their privacy settings as high as possible (see safe search lock below).
4) Explain to them, never give out your passwords.
5) Don’t befriend people you don’t know.
6) Don’t meet up with people you’ve met online.
7) Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are.
8) Think carefully about what you say before you post something online.
9) Respect other people’s views - even if you don’t agree with someone else’s views there is no need to be rude.
10) Explain to them, if they see something online that makes them feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried, leave the website, turn off your computer and come and go and talk to a parent.
Finally, encourage your children to be as open and honest as they can about what they are viewing and talking about online. Try and be as much a part of your child’s virtual world as possible, ‘friend’ them on Facebook and follow them on Instagram and Twitter. Ask questions about anything new they have read about online and keep the dialogue open.
If there is one thing that you should do straight away, it’s set your Safe Search Lock settings.
SafeSearchLock is a conveniently simple web safety tool designed to AUTOMATICALLY enforce and LOCK ON the child safety 'strict safe search' content screening features offered by ALL major search engines and other key content providers, providing a considerably safer online environment for young children to explore and enjoy.
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