Child Online Safety can easily be compromised by other social media streaming sites also - e.g Facebook- because they not only let you connect with close friends and family members, they also open communication with complete strangers and there are many cases where this has lead to sexual exploitation of a younger kid. Another statistic released by Facebook showed that 77% of younger children accept friend requests from people they've never met before, and this is a huge online risk.
Most parents are familiar with cyber safety issues and stories of social media or chat requests went wrong with today's generation of cyber kids or a young child that was unaware of the risk.
A good example of this is that YouTube allows comments on most videos and that those comments sections can contain links posted by predatory adults hiding behind fake profiles THAT LEAD TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL. Youtube now asks video creators to click a box to indicate if their videos are focus on children - but this does not stop sexual predators from posing as a trusted adult.
Many modern devices, such as cell phone, apps, and web browsers do offer some parental controls that restrict access to certain content for their kids but did you know that many antivirus software already includes parental controls that enhance child protection?
Most but not every one of the top antivirus software has parental control software, but the good ones do offer two layers of protection with one installation. Some leading options include:
While you can rely a little on antivirus software which includes parental controls but the best way to affect child safety online and safe Internet browsing is through education and conversation.
Many other online platforms like Netflix have built-in parental controls that restrict inappropriate content with a passcode. Netflix and Amazon Prime support kid-focused user accounts to block adult-only shows. The new iPhones with the IOS also have parental controls in their setting's menus.
Some tech-savvy kids can bypass parental controls by installing software so in order to prevent them from doing that does not give a young person access to administrator accounts on your operating system. This can stop them from installing new software.
Lastly, educating your kids on some cyber safe browsing habits goes a long way toward ensuring their safety. Often your local law enforcement will also give talks and having your child listen to them can be influential.
Fundamentally you as a parent want to teach them good digital citizenship.
Facebook today is one of the most popular social media platforms. The ability to message and call on Facebook and see who is on the internet in real time also makes it attractive to young kids. If your children do use Facebook, having a profile plays a huge role in your child's desire to be accepted by their friends at school. What your child puts on the internet can impact his or her livelihood down the road. Tell them that College admissions officers and even job recruiters will often look at their content on Facebook and other channels this could harm their future career aspirations.
Facebook introduced a streaming feature named Facebook Live. These are videos can be simultaneously broadcast to the user's friends list, but what is really scary is the recording of it can be shared. That means footage of anything a younger kid opted to broadcast can be shared to unconnected users. There are examples of some of these videos, especially ones of gang rape and of the murder of Philando Castile - use these as examples to stress the serious nature of this type of content.
YouTube revolutionized access to video is used by people of all ages. Many parents use YouTube to entertain or help their
children learn however it is not hard to find and even by accident find troubling content on YouTube that masquerades as young person friendly.
YouTube has everything children could want from shows, toy reviews, video game footage with experience player commentary, and lots more.
But plenty of malicious and just wrong content can be found on YouTube. Users do have the ability to "flag" objectionable videos and YouTube does offer a kids' viewing option, these solutions aren't enough to protect children fully.
Often hidden among the kid-friendly channels, this content surfaces - so it's important to know how to recognize any questionable content your child might be exposed to on YouTube. See our advice on how to guide children on youtube safely above.
There are many channels that appear innocent and harmless on the surface, however, a more in-depth look will show so real bad stuff.
Logan Paul is a popular YouTuber with many millions of subscribers, including many younger people. However, he was widely criticized for showing a video of a dead body while exploring Japan's infamous Suicide Forest in 2017. He eventually took down the video and issued an apology but it should not have been put up in the first place as he knew he had young viewers.
Forbes has covered the Elsagate scandal. Many videos showing iconic child-friendly characters like Spiderman, Elsa from Frozen, and Peppa Pig appeared in videos that contained disturbing, non-child-friendly themes. These videos were made illegally without permission from the official owners, yet many children did look at them daily.
Here actors dress as Marvel or Disney characters and create a live-action video. These videos are far far from kid-friendly.
How can you prevent this from happening to your children?
Parental controls do exist on YouTube. They are not perfect and some bad content will still get through, but the good thing is they will if setup right minimizes the risk that your children will see something wrong.
This a link to YouTube's parental controls :
What can you do to block youtube videos for kids?
Browser-Based Parental Controls
The key is to again engage your child in a discussion about online dangers, how to avoid danger, and what are the warning signs. Dialog with your child is your strongest defense couple with using technology to protect children like VPN filtering.
Video games are now focused on an online multiplayer business model where players can interact and communicate with other players. You do not know these people and strongly educate your child not to communicate with these people outside of the game environment.
There are many examples of people internet predators posing as young children in the games in order to recruit them, even older kids get fooled.
Games like StarCraft, World of Warcraft, SIMS, Fortnite are online multiplayer, while others like Minecraft and Call of Duty offer both player modes.
Learn to understand that the ESRB rating system for determining age and content ratings for video games - however, this often doesn't take into account online interactions. So, while a video may seem child-friendly on the surface with its cartoon style, adult players can say anything they want to in the game's voice chat.
Roku Streaming Players. Roku is a great choice for families. ...Apple TV. If your family loves Apple products, Apple TV may very well edge out Roku as the top pick. ...Amazon Fire TV.
For most kids and teenagers, the Internet, youtube, and streaming have had a positive impact on their lives. As a parent, you are responsible to set boundaries for a healthy balance between use and your child’s online safety, cyber safety and minimize their on the internet risk.
Communication, discussions, family meetings about social media and streaming, and video consumption, and be prepared to step in and gently help and advise whenever issues do come up. Encourage your children to bring you any online issue they are concerned about - and you must take it seriously no matter how trivial it seems to you - as you want to encourage them to bring the next concern that may be real. In short - do everything you can to encourage all discussions with your children.
Become an active listener, educate them about the dangers of harmful content, and make sure they understand that their actions online are very important and can have serious consequences.
Make time to understand and review the websites and services your children use the most. Teaching them how to engage with unknown people online is very important and the key to their succeeding in an increasingly Internet-centered world and protecting their online identity.
