With the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the school’s curriculum has been migrated to online learning from home. With the threats out there in the World Wide Web, how can concerned parents better safeguard their children from online predators? Here are some tips.
How to protect our children during #HomeBasedLearning. Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash.
My kids have never used the computer and the Internet so much before the pandemic set in at the beginning of the year.
Check out the current promotional discounts for Norton 360.
It started with a bang when school was closed to students during the nationwide lockdown, and students had to do ALL their lessons online, using online video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Google Meet.
Parents had to scramble to help their children be ready for #HomeBasedLearning – the new buzzword for families with school-going kids.
From buying laptops, to setting them up, to teaching the kids how to use the video conferencing software.
There was hardly any time and energy left to figure out how to secure the laptop and online learning sessions from Internet predators.
So parents – below are some areas to watch out for when preparing your child for #HomeBasedLearning.
- Dubious websites and content
- Dubious “Friends” in chat rooms and social media
- Cyberbullying
- Scams
Dubious websites and content
The World Wide Web is full of interesting stuff, much of it inappropriate for children e.g. pornography, racism, hate and violence.
So keep a close eye on what your kids are surfing – check their search/browser histories and designate an open location in the home for the kids to use the computer, so that everybody can help keep an eye out.
You can use child-friendly browsers that by default blocks websites that are unsuitable for children.
For me, I installed Norton Family to specify which sites to block that I don’t want my kids to browse.
Dubious “Friends” in chat rooms and social media
The World Wide Web is rife with predators who hide their identities to befriend children to ensnare them.
They usually pretend to be of similar age to the child to attract them, chat them up on social media or chat rooms using fake profiles, and ultimately try to arrange a physical meetup with the child.
So for the sake of my kids, I subscribe to Norton 360 Deluxe.
There are actually three versions of Norton 360 – Standard, Deluxe and Premium.
The main differences are in the number of devices protected and the size of PC Cloud Backup provided.
And the Standard version does not have parental control.
The Standard version only protects 1 device, while the Deluxe protects 5 and the Premium protects 10.
Parental Control is important for me so it was either Deluxe or Premium for me.
I didn’t really need protection for 10 devices so the Deluxe was just right for my family.
Plus, the Deluxe offers the best promotional discount currently with S$45 (39%) off.
So a one-year subscription is currently S$69 instead of the regular S$114.
Check out the current promotions offered by Norton, compare the features against what you need and pick one.
Of course, check out security solutions by other brands as well.
So I had a good talk with my kids on the modus operandi of these predators, how to look for tell-tale signs and be very alert when they try to arrange for meetups.
Best of all, avoid strangers online and flag out even friends who behave suspiciously to me in case their accounts have been hijacked.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying can be a big problem for kids of school-going age.
For the younger kids, parents should encourage their kids to eschew social media accounts.
When they grow older and inevitably start plugging into social media platforms, keep a close tab on their activities by encouraging them to talk about the people they encounter online and their interactions, so that you can provide the necessary advice and guidance.
Scams
Just like adults, children are exposed to online scams and can fall prey to them.
For younger kids, they should not be allowed to make online purchases.
For the older ones, education and awareness on how to identify and avoid scams are the way to go, and will put them in good stead when they eventually become adults and have to fend off online scams on their own.
I teach my kids the old adage – when an offer is too good to be true, it probably IS too good to be true!
When in doubt, always check with the adults in the house.
Tags: cybersecurity, HBL, howtos, Internet, Norton, safety, security, tips, WWW
oops… I nearly subscribed for the basic version before realising that doesn’t include the family control feature. I’m going for the deluxe version instead.
You mean the Standard version? Yes that’s pretty limited and only gives you 1 seat, so family control is only applicable for the Deluxe and Premium which gives you 5 and 10 seats respectively.