It’s the generation Z which is born to use a gadget as soon as they reach the age of 11 or less. Parents are giving their kids access to the internet, and thus, by all means, it can have a negative impact on them. With the increasing numbers of cybercrimes against children, it is more important than ever to keep a track on them. With unsupervised access to the internet have repercussions. This could lead them watching illicit content (which is not generally age-appropriate) and having an unregulated conversation over communication apps, which can be dangerous for young minds. It is, therefore, a need of the hour to attend to the children at our home as a parent, guardians, elder siblings. With this post, we would like to emphasize the way unregulated internet exposure can affect digitally savvy children.
What’s The Harm Of Unregulated Internet Exposure To The Kids?
When kids need our time or want to know about something, instead of having a conversation with them, we hand over our phones to them. We rarely pay attention to what they will do with it. It’s assumed that they will use it to play games or click pictures. Maybe you have gifted your children the cellphone for their safety, and they have been using it for everything possible. They have access to the internet and are digitally savvy, and out of curiosity, they try to explore more than they should.
When the kids are technological experts at such a young age, one as a parent must always stay updated to the latest norms in the tech world. Being vigilant will only help you know what’s best for your children and advise them accordingly.
Measures To Take While Keeping The Kids Safe Online
The children at a tender age do not understand the difference between good and bad. They easily get attracted to anything exciting such as gadgets. It is, therefore, not surprising that you will find them using different social media platforms. The problem arises when they are addicted to internet consumption. So, be your kid’s friend, spend time with them and help them learn all aspects of digital life along with good and bad impacts.
1. Screen Time
It is highly important to set up the time limit for the children during which they can use a computer, TV, video games, or phones. And, to monitor them, one might get phone monitoring apps for children. Limiting social media addiction for your children is important. Finding it difficult to do, download the Social fever app for your Android device from here.
It is an easy solution with great results on tracking application and phone usage separately. It shows you a detailed report on the number of phone locks and unlocks as well. It will also encourage the kids to be mindful of the screen time with eye and ear health reminders. This is great to curb phone addiction. You can set up the time limit for each app usage individually.
Make changes to the settings for the devices they have access to and encourage them to indulge in outdoor activities.
Too much time spent online can make your children develop focus issues. They can show behavioral problems which can also lead to issues in the growing years.
2. Parental control
Get a communication limit on your iOS devices which will restrict the texting and calling for your kids to anyone else with approved contacts. Get parental control apps on your kid’s phone to keep them safe. Setting up the controls on their social media accounts and browsers will help them get access to safer content. Disable the options to delete the history to keep a check on their online search later.
While you think your kids are only watching YouTube videos, think again. YouTube has been infiltrated with porn and explicit videos even after so many policies from Google. Therefore you must use YouTube parental control to monitor the content your kids are exposed to. Set up the Family sharing accounts, for Microsoft, Google and iPhone. They all offer the tracking of the child’s activity online.
Read more: Get porn blocking apps for your iPhone.
Similarly, social media platforms allow teenagers to create accounts, but kids as young as nine are also found to have an account on there. So make sure you know about these guidelines and check for such accounts for your kids. Another phenomenon called Finsta is also common among children, so be wary of that as they can make pseudo accounts to dodge parents interventions.
Read more How to restrict certain websites on Safari
3. Teach them to be polite online
Talking to them is necessary as you can’t always keep their internet access monitored. The children, at school, can use their friends’ phone for accessing the internet. Therefore, the proper education on the internet is a must from a young age. One must teach them to be polite while talking on social media, what is ok to post online or not. How personal sharing of information online can be harmful.
Read more: Cyber grooming and how it affects us.
Children must always be taught how to report a cyberbully or predator as they are prevalent on social media. Parents should give them a safety net so they can talk to you about it. But even before that, one must always keep them regulated with knowing about their online behavior.
Also Read: Make TikTok safe for kids with parental controls.
Verdict:
The more our lives are dependent on the internet and gadgets, the more it is getting hard to keep them away from children. Therefore, the only viable thing we can do here is to teach them better and monitor the activities consistently. The use of apps like Social Fever will help you keep a tab on their phone addiction. You can easily set the time limit on the application and make it a monitored phone tracking system with the help of the Social Fever app.
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