If
your child is like most, he or she is probably starting out the new year as the proud
owner of a new digital device. A gift from you perhaps? If so, don’t let the
gift-giving end there. Give the best gift of all: 10 TIPS to help them use their new phone, tablet, PC, laptop, or
other digital tool wisely and safely:
1. Set
Limits.
Talk to your child about how to set appropriate limits for time spent with
their digital devices. A good rule of thumb is to keep bedrooms device free at
night (after homework) and to ban digital tools from the dinner table.
2. Manage Privacy Settings. If you
haven’t already set the privacy settings on your own social networking sites,
like Facebook, this is something you and your child can do together. Decide who can see what they post
online and how people can connect with them. Chances are you’ll both learn
something in the process.
3. Read
Privacy Policies. Yes, these
can be long, dull and boring; but Privacy Policies are important to read, so try
this: http://bit.ly/N5h14w. It reads
privacy policies and user agreement for you and quickly scans them to flag words, statements,
and phrases worth your attention.
4. Turn on
the “Do Not Track Tool.” Most Internet browsers have a "Do Not Track" tool to
tell sites you don't want cookies installed on your device. In case you didn’t
already know this, "cookies" are what websites drop on your computer
to track your activities. You can
manage these by tweaking your preferences.
5. Have the Talk (about passwords). According to a Pew Internet Study, 1 in 3 teens have shared a password with a friend. Encourage your
child to keep their passwords private and teach them how to make a strong passwords
by following simple rules, like combining upper and lower case letters with
numbers and symbols (and never include personal info!).
6. Keep Personal
Info Personal and Don’t Chat With or Send Photos to Strangers. The good
news is that kids already know this. Research shows that adults actually share personal information more freely online than
kids do. So here’s where we can work a little harder to be better online
role models.
7. Ask
Permission.
Requiring your child ask permission before signing up for anything online is a good policy and it goes hand in hand with tip
#8.
8. Be Vigilant. Teach your child how to recognize tricks and
mechanisms the online world uses to try and access our personal data (like
links on emails we don’t recognize).
9. Respect Age Limits on SNS’s. Data shows
that close to half of online teens admit to lying about their age in order to
access a website. Just like we teach our kids to be ethical, law-abiding
citizens of the offline world, show them how to extend these same behaviors
into the online world. And remember that it’s smart to let kids develop the
maturity needed to deal with the many ethical decisions that loom in cyberspace.
10. Finally, Give the Gift of Gab. Talk to your
child. Chances are you’ll learn something from them about how to use your own
devices more safely and wisely!
Lastly, hopefully your child is lucky enough to learn some or all of these lessons in school. If not, why not advocate for digital literacy, cyber civics, and/or digital citizenship classes in your own school? It's a gift we could be giving to all our kids.
Cross-Posted on iKeepSafe Blog
Cross-Posted on iKeepSafe Blog
