Illustration by Ruliff Andrean, courtesy of Unsplash.Today’s children are growing up with near-constant access to the internet. They can learn and study, play games, talk to their friends, and find things to read and watch on any number of devices. However, increased access can lead to increased risks. The internet is not built with children in mind, and inappropriate or frightening content is often present on the sites and apps they use. Whether your child is independent and tech-savvy or uses devices with your help, introducing them to internet safety and setting some house rules can help to protect them and establish internet-savvy habits.

In this article, we will explain three of the steps you can take to keep your child safe as they explore the online world:

• Have open and honest conversations about online safety.

• Tailor how you keep your child safe to their age and development.

• Use the parental controls provided by your devices, apps, services and providers.

Talk and Teach

Image courtesy of Unsplash.

The best way to introduce online safety to your family is to talk to your children about the internet. The age you choose to start at depends entirely on your child, but you should start talking to them about technology around the same time they start using it. Get them used to discussing how they use the internet with you – what they like to do and look at, which apps they use, who they use the internet with – and introduce them to online safety concepts in ways that are relevant to them.

Good questions to ask them include:

• How do you find the things you want to do?

• Do things sometimes appear that confuse you?

• What do you do to stay safe while using a device?

• Do you know how get help?

By understanding how your child uses the internet, you can adjust the internet safety tools and rules you apply so they are better suited to them. You need to make it clear to your child that while going online can be fun and exciting, there are things on the internet that aren’t suitable for them and that you would like to make it easier for them to avoid and report them. Your child should become familiar with what they need to do if they see something that upsets them, whether that’s coming to you for help or using provided reporting systems. You must also bear in mind that your child might be more tech-savvy than you, and you should allow them to explain things to you just as much as you explain things to them. 

When you’ve decided what rules you will introduce, you should sit your child down and explain to them what they are, how they will impact their device usage and why you’re applying them. Be prepared to compromise with them on some things, such as going through private messages, but stay firm on important things like time limits and content filters. There’s no point in using parental controls if your child doesn’t understand why they’re there and tries to go around them.

If your child is old enough, you could even write up an agreement listing all of the rules you’ve set and who’s responsible for them, making it clear what both of you are going to do to maintain them. For example, if they agree to a time limit on a device, you will agree to make sure their favourite sites and apps can be accessed quickly with shortcuts and bookmarks. In the end, only you can decide how internet safety will work for your family, so it is important to set rules that work for everybody in the house.

Online Safety for Younger Children (0 to 5)

Image courtesy of Unsplash.While the above advice is suitable for most age groups, it is important that younger children receive special care and attention when they go online.

• Always supervise them while they use technology, whether passively (watching TV or videos) or actively (playing games or using creative apps). Younger children should never be left to use devices while they are alone.
• Set aside time to use devices together. Encourage them to talk about and share the things they like to do.
• Select age-appropriate content for them. On shared devices, set up places where they can access their content and only their content. Some devices and services allow you to set up child profiles that can only be exited with a password.
• Use parental controls whenever they are available. These will allow you to limit the time your child can spend on devices and apps and filter what content they can access. Some devices and accounts can be connected to your own, allowing you to keep track of how your child uses them.

By introducing your child to online safety from a young age, you can help them learn to use technology in a safe environment, where they can develop lifelong skills and an understanding of potential risks. You will also make them more used to your involvement in the things they do online, making them less likely to hide what they are doing in the future. With early online safety, you are helping build the foundations for future learning at home and in school, including awareness of potential risks, critical thinking and healthy habit formation.

Online Safety for Older Children and Teens (5 to 17)

Image courtesy of Unsplash.As your child grows up, the rules and controls you use should change to allow them to manage their own safety.

• Talk to them regularly about their online habits. Be prepared that they may become less inclined to share everything with you, and you should show confidence in them by letting them make private space for themselves.
• Change the kind of support and restrictions you apply as they grow up. Phase out and update controls and filters, increase screen time limits and allow them to start using less-regulated devices and apps.
• Show them how to report issues themselves through provided help portals.
• Encourage them to ask for rules to be reviewed. If they think they are ready for the next step, consider it and come to a new agreement.
• Don’t let new devices slip through the cracks. Their first phone or personal game console should have the same controls and filters as the devices they already use to close loopholes and reduce risks.

When deciding how and when to loosen your parental controls, you should consider more than just your child’s age. You need to take them into account as an individual at every level – including any complicating issues that impact the way they use the internet and the kind of content they look at. For example, a child who is neurodivergent is going to use and experience the internet differently than one who is neurotypical, and the way you approach establishing, explaining and loosing rules should be tailored to their personal development rather than to those expected for their age group.

Using Parental Controls

Image courtesy of Unsplash.Parental Controls are a set of features provided by the developers of devices, apps, and services. Although the exact controls provided by each will be different, broadly speaking they all allow you to place limits on what your child can see and do online. Using them allows you to automate a lot of the controls and rules that you would otherwise have to enforce manually. For example, you can set time limits on screen time, block access to certain websites, apps and types of content, and monitor your child's online activity. This helps ensure that your child interacts with age-appropriate content and reduces the risk of encountering harmful material.

The kinds of devices, apps and services that have parental controls include:

• Game Consoles and Online Games: Videos games are a popular pastime with all ages, and developers have taken this into account and created features that help you keep your child safe as they play. These include the ability to create profiles with individual content filters and time limits, spending restrictions to prevent children from purchasing paid content, and communication filters to restrict who can interact with them in multiplayer games.
• Streaming Services: As with game consoles, these allow you to create separate profiles for different users, including special ones for children. These are automatically filtered to remove content that isn’t suitable, allowing you to give your children the freedom to choose what they want to watch without worry.
• Smartphones and Tablets: Apple and Android devices both feature parental control apps: Screen Time on iOS and Digital Wellbeing on Android. These allow you to pair your child’s devices to your own and manage them remotely. You can also purchase devices that are built with children in mind, which include establishing parental controls as part of the set-up process.
• Social Media apps: All of the major social media apps have rules which mean that only users above a certain age (usually mid-teens) can join. If your child wants to join a social media app, you can apply settings to filter content and limit who can message them or see and interact with their posts. Some allow you to pair your child’s account to your own for remote monitoring.
• Wi-Fi Routers: If your child has access to lots of connected devices, adding parental controls to your Wi-Fi connection is the best option. These are tied directly to your account with your service provider, so can only be accessed by individuals with the password. You can set limits and filters for individual devices, allowing you to add different levels of security to the devices used by different members of your family. Note that controls applied to Wi-Fi connections will only apply to your home network, and will not work if devices are connected to another network or use data.
• Mobile service providers: If your child uses a device with a SIM card, you should consider placing them onto a child-friendly contract. These are offered by several service providers, and can feature content filtering, capped contracts and data limits to prevent overspending and access to online safety resources.

For information relating to specific apps, devices and services, we recommend that you go to their official websites or a trusted internet safety organisation, such as Internet Matters.

Conclusion

The internet and your child are both growing and changing all the time. With new ways to go online being introduced every year, no time is a bad time to consider your child’s online adventures. By introducing your child to internet safety, setting up parental controls that suit them and updating them as they age, you are setting them on the right path for a lifetime of online experiences. No matter how old your child is, it’s never too late to start a conversation about the internet, or to introduce some helpful rules to support them. The online world can be a scary place, but with a little care and attention it doesn’t have to be.