We are in the 21st century where the Internet and Social Media play a major role in sharing information whether we want it or not. Unfortunately children are also being exposed to the same information as adults which is becoming a major problem that we as parents need to be careful about.
What is the Internet?
It is a global network connecting millions of computers together worldwide. What this means is that any computer can communicate with another one as long as they are both connected to the Internet.
While it has a major advantage in the fact that you can get information at the click of a button, the major disadvantage is that no one actually owns the Internet, thus there is a limit to how you can control it.
With the advent of the Internet, Social Media has also come to stay which is where our children are being exposed to all sorts of information and people both good and bad.
Social media is the social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.
Social networking has become a large part of our culture, especially with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn to mention a few. Most of these networks have got age limits with the lowest being age 13, but unfortunately with the sudden craze for Smart phones like Blackberry and Android phones, our children are also having access to chat platforms like Whatsapp,BBM,2go etc at the wrong ages.
This is why parents must be very vigilant in this day and age. While you cannot actually monitor your children 24/7(all the time).It is now compulsory for parents to be aware of the dangers involved with the Internet so you can educate your children and protect them to a large extent.There have been horrible cases where children have been raped, assaulted and even killed by friends they met and gave information to online.
Due to these so many parents would prefer to keep their children away from the Internet completely. However, the truth is you cannot do that because you can’t be with them all the time so it’s important you let them know the dangers and allow them access with supervision.
• Maintain an open dialogue with your child. They should not share personal information such as their age, address, school or phone number or pictures with strangers online.
• They need to know that people are not always who they say they are on the internet
• Don’t play the blame game, but instead encourage open, honest discussion about what a child has seen or done online.
• Respect children’s concerns or frustrations over your involvement in their surfing activities.
• Balance your concerns about exposure to inappropriate or harmful things on the Internet against the benefits gained from exposure to positive things on the Internet.
There are also many safe sites for children under the ages of 13 like, Club Penguin, Webkinz, Whyville, Togetherville etc.
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