Protecting children on social media.
Social media can be a very dangerous place for young children, and it is the responsibility of both the website and the parent to ensure that they stay as safe as possible when using such services.
At the time of writing, Facebook appear to be dabbling with the idea of lowering their age limit – currently at 13 – as they file a patent application for a system that allows users to sign up with parental supervision.
So it is important for parents to understand how best to keep their children safe when using sites like Twitter and Facebook, and perhaps the most important aspect of this – other than deciding whether to allow children to use the site in the first place – is through educating them on the various threats that they may face when using these sites.
Staying safe on social media is achieved largely in the same way as staying safe on the Internet, and indeed staying safe in your offline world too. And that is by understanding the threats and being able to recognise them if they present themselves to you.
Whilst appropriate parental supervision and open communication are also important aspects to protecting children online, teaching kids about social media scams and threats is imperative, and an absolute must for any parent with a child who has access to social media, be it via a family computer, a tablet or a smartphone.
Over the next few days we will be launching and adding to a dedicated section of this blog that outlines the prolific threats that youngsters face on social media with the aim of helping parents educate their children.
Education is key to staying safe on the Internet, and if you are able to recognise threats when you come across them, that in itself dramatically increases a child’s chances of staying safe on the Internet, and this tactic should be utilised by every parent with young children online.
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