Parenting in 2021 is more challenging than previous years. Family members need to learn new habits that are important for health, such as staying away from social, wearing a mask, and washing their hands regularly.
But other than that, we also need to teach some other habits to keep children safe, given that many things in our daily lives are now done online or offline.
In an official statement, Lucian Teo, Head of Online Safety Education at Google, said that family digital safety should always be the concern of parents and now this is increasingly important to watch out for.
“We are working with the Trust and Security Research team to conduct parental surveys across the Asia Pacific region (Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam) and Latin America (Argentina , Colombia, Brazil and Mexico). From there we found that parents of children who go to school online feel more concerned about online safety than those whose children attend school as usual, ”Teo said.
He admits, instilling safe habits in the virtual world in children is not an easy thing. Therefore, he also shares some tips as follows.
1. Protect children’s digital identities
"The privacy and security of children's information is the biggest concern of the parents we surveyed. They admitted to being concerned about the risk of fraud or hacking of children's accounts," Teo said.
To protect children’s information online, there are a few simple ways you can try. First, parents need to teach children how to create strong passwords that are not easy to guess.
“Avoid simple passwords that use names, birthdays, or favorite cartoon characters,” Teo says.
In addition, he also stressed that children should always use platforms that have a good reputation for user safety.
2. Find out who the child is talking to
Social restrictions are a difficult consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, so children also interact with their friends online, either through text messaging apps or voice messaging such as when playing games. In this case, parents should be aware that this channel of communication can also be used by strangers with bad intentions.
“Like in the real world, we have to know who they’re talking to on the internet,” Teo said.
Therefore, parents should try to talk to their children about what games they play and what videos they watch, as well as with whom they often interact online.
According to the survey, more than 70 percent of parents in Asia Pacific aren’t sure their child will tell them if they encounter an unsafe online situation.
"In fact, more than a third of the parents we interviewed said they had never talked to their children about online safety. We must work hard to convince children that we are always there to guide and protect them," Teo said. .
Equally important, when assessing whether a game is suitable for children to play, parents should check not only its content, but also whether the game allows online communication with others.
"Some multiplayer games only provide a few social interaction options, such as just giving a like (like) instead of a written message. This greatly reduces the risk of unwanted social interaction," Teo said.
3. Show age -appropriate content
The fear that a child will discover inappropriate content has long been a concern of parents.
In this case, there are family safety features that can be used to help protect children from content that may not be age-appropriate.
However, surveys also show that the number of parents who use the feature is still less than 40 percent. Here are some features that parents can use right away:
SafeSearch on Google can help filter out explicit content in Google’s search results for all types of searches, including images, videos, and web pages. SafeSearch is designed to block inappropriate search results from Google's search results, such as pornography.
Manage your child's device by creating a Google account for him or her and using Family Link. This allows parents to add filters to Google Search, block websites, give access only to authorized people, or track a child’s location if they have their own device.
YouTube Kids' parental controls can limit usage time, display only approved videos, or select age -appropriate content.
"Actually, there are other tips that have been tested, such as only allowing children to use the internet in public areas at home such as family rooms. However, more importantly, you must be able to give an accurate example," Teo said.
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TIPS & TRICKS
