Tips to protect your kids from the dangers of social media
By Nikolina Koevska Kharoufeh |
This week the Federal Government released draft legislation, an Online Privacy Code, that recommends new laws and regulations designed to protect children using social media platforms.
The legislation includes rules that require parental permission for those aged under 16 years of age to sign up and holds social media giants accountable for the way they treat the personal information of children.
Protecting young teenagers online is a concern for many Australian parents who struggle with how easily accessible these platforms full of influential content are.
Here are some tips on how you can keep your kids safe online - from using parenting controls to turning off hidden privacy settings.
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Use parental controls
Most social media platforms offer parental controls that allow mums and dads to monitor their children's activity online and have control over the privacy settings on the account. Ensure you are using these controls to help protect your child online.
TikTok have launched a Family Pairing Feature to allow parents of teenagers aged 13 and older to connect their accounts with the child's. Through this, the parent can set controls on their young teenagers account around screen time use, direct messaging access and more.
SnapChat is currently developing a new family-friendly safety feature that will give parents access to their teenager's profile - including who they are chatting to and their privacy settings.
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Approve requests
It is reasonable to ask your young teenager to provide you with their social media passwords for precautionary measures if they are under the age of 16.
Ensure your child's profile is set to private and ask your teenager to seek approval from you before following any accounts online or approving any friend requests. It gives you the opportunity to scan that account, check who the person or group may be associated with before your child communicated with them.
Keep an eye on the 'Groups' your child may be part of on Facebook, as these groups house influential discussions that may not be age-appropriate for your child.
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Keep their location private
For safety reasons, the location settings on your child's profiles should be set to private. This ensures both the platform and it's users will never have access to your child's whereabouts.
Talk openly about online safety
It's important for parents to make it a priority to speak to their child openly and honestly about the dangers of social media and the world online. Ensure you are having conversations with your teenager about dangerous content, cyberbullying, inclusivity, self-confidence and more.
Social media has a major impact on the mental health of young teenagers so it's important that they are aware of the dangers.
Ask your child whether they would be comfortable speaking to a stranger about their likes and dislikes, and whether they would ever show them a photo of themselves? This is a good indicator for them to decide whether they should post this information about themselves online for the world to see.
It's also important to let your teenager know that the eSafety Commision in Australia allows anyone under 18 to make a complaint about cyberbullying or seriously threatening, intimidating, harassing or humiliating online behaviour on their website. It can also be done on behalf of someone under 18 if they would prefer you as their parent to do it for them.
Educate yourself on social media platforms
Take the time to get familiar with the social media platforms your child is using. Create your own account where you can see what content is being posted to your feed, who is contacting you and what types of discussions are being had.
This gives you insight into the influence these platforms may be having on your child.
It's also worth knowing what features the platforms have whether this be direct messaging, instant photo sharing and live video feeds.
Understanding the platforms will allow you to have more open and honest conversations with your teenager about them.
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