January 31, 2022

January 31, 2022

How To Make Sure Your Child Stays Safe While Learning Online

The internet is a wonderful thing. It puts so much information right at your fingertips! What used to take hours or days to learn about can be accessed in mere seconds today, which is a great tool for learning. However, there are dangers on the internet – especially for children.

Many children use the internet for school every day, particularly in the age of COVID and remote learning. So how do you make sure your child stays safe while learning online? Internet safety for students should be at the forefront of every parent’s mind. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to ensure that your child is safe. Here’s how to make sure your child stays safe while learning online.

What Are Key Threats To Student Safety In Online Learning Environments?
If you’re going to take steps to protect your child on the internet, you first have to understand what threats are out there. Some of the biggest threats include:

1. Ransomware And Malware
As an adult, you may know that clicking on just any link online isn’t advisable. But children are not as aware of this, and will often click a link without understanding the consequences or realizing it is suspicious. This trend is even more worrisome given the fact that web-based tools are heavily relied upon in online school settings, increasing a student’s vulnerability to ransomware and malware, which can give hackers access to information that can then be used to steal identities and commit fraud.

2. Zoom-Bombing
Many education institutions went online so fast during the pandemic that they were unable to develop the online tools they need for a virtual learning environment. This has led to a heavy reliance on platforms like Zoom to hold online classes. As many have come to learn over the last couple of years, Zoom is a great tool – but it can be vulnerable to outside attacks (sometimes called Zoom-bombing) where guests who aren’t invited enter a video conference. This can lead to inappropriate imagery or comments that you may not want your children exposed to.

3. Cyberbullying
Bullying is a problem in school, and it doesn’t disappear when it comes to online schooling. In some situations, the lack of accountability and monitoring on online platforms your student is using can make a bullying situation worse.

4. Online Predators
In a traditional school setting, access to children is strictly controlled. But when it comes to online learning, those measures of protection may not exist, potentially opening children up to exposure to predators who operate online.

5. Screen Time Mixed With Inappropriate Content
It can be very difficult to limit screen time in an environment where your children have to be online to learn. It’s not unusual for an online learner to spend up to six hours per day in front of a screen. When you tack on the time they spend using their screens for entertainment, this can quickly become an issue. Add in the fact that many families don’t have the proper filters to help reduce the amount of inappropriate content a child may access, and you have a recipe for issues related to screen time and inappropriate content.

How To Protect Your Child On The Internet
Why is online safety important for students? The above examples show just how dangerous the internet can be, even if it’s helpful and necessary when participating in online learning programs. That’s why parents must take steps to protect children on the internet.

If you’re not sure where to start, there are some easy things you can do to help keep your child safe.

1. Try A Password Manager
A child may need to access multiple services on their computer, phone, or tablet. You can add in an extra layer of protection by using unique passwords coupled with a password manager for help. Remind your child never to share their password with anyone, and work with them to find unique passwords that are not easy for others to guess.

2. Update Software Regularly
It’s important to update software regularly to keep the information on your child’s devices secure. Updates to software can help to address security vulnerabilities to make information safe and fix any bugs that may pop up.

3. Talk About Risks
Make sure to have a conversation with your child about the risks on the internet. If you’re honest about who they should communicate with and how, you can help to keep your child safe online. Open discussions about topics like internet safety ensure your child understands what is at risk and what to do in potentially dangerous situations.

4. Have Your Child Access The Internet In A Common Area
It’s not a bad idea for younger kids to be in the same room with you when accessing the internet. That way you can keep a watchful eye on what they’re doing and seeing. It’s good to have rules regarding the time they can spend on online entertainment, and to set boundaries for internet use – no matter your child’s age.

5. Know What They’re Doing Online
There are a lot of people on the internet, and not all of them have good intentions. In fact, some work very hard to present themselves falsely online – something your child may not be savvy enough to spot. That’s why you have to make sure you know what your child is doing and who they are interacting with online.

This strategy can also help with cyberbullying. You can make sure that if your child is being bullied, the bully can be blocked, or you can report it to the school district if it’s a child in an online class.

Protecting children online is more challenging now than ever, but it’s not impossible. As long as you’re taking the right steps to keep your child aware of the dangers and mitigating them the best you can, you can teach healthy online habits that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

Featured image by Giovanni Gagliardi on Unsplash