The internet is increasingly present in the lives of Children and Young People and while it can be a great tool for socialising, communicating and a source of entertainment it is also presents risks of abuse or exploitation.
It is important that children and young people adopt safe practices while online and parents and carers remain aware of what their children are doing online and current risks so that risks can be reduced. Be aware that although you can block unsuitable content, blocks can be disabled or worked around.
New devices
It is important to adopt good practices and set boundaries during a child’s first time on the internet. This could be the moment they are bought a mobile phone, games console or laptop.
Setting up devices safely allows parental controls to be switched on that will help keep children safe online by blocking inappropriate content, managing apps that can be downloaded and providing an ability to monitor their use. Location sharing should also be turned off.
The same principle can be applied to setting up social network profiles like Instagram and Snapchat, YouTube Accounts and Online Gaming accounts on PlayStation or Xbox. Setting these profiles up with parental controls will again allow you to block any harmful content, prevent messages being received from strangers and keeping children’s content private, limited to their friends who have to send requests.
Each of these sites and apps has their own safety centre that can be accessed in the settings menu, providing more tips and settings to protect children online. Most apps and games also have a minimum age rating and it is important to look for this to see whether it is suitable for your child.
SWGfL has a series of checklists on their website to help you set up accounts safely.
AskAboutGames.com provides a wide range of up-to-date advice on gaming as a family.
Gambling and micro-transactions
Many apps and video games now include ‘loot boxes’ or ‘microtransactions’ that allow users to pay for additional in-game items or play casino-style games to win extras. Setting up controls to limit any card payments is important and services such as YGAM provide advice, tips and resources on this topic.