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Keeping Your Children Safe and Secure from Rising Online Threats

There is a dark side of the internet that every parent should be aware of. In this day and age, children are using the internet more than most adults. They are among the most active internet users, and unfortunately, they are also subject to several online threats.

From cyberbullying to sexual predators to pornography, the danger emanating from these online threats can be devastating and frightening. Unwittingly, children become exposed to these threats and risks without knowing how to tackle them. To protect children online, the majority of the parents resort to iPhone monitoring and Android spy apps.

Snatching away your kid’s mobile phone, preventing them from using the internet or spending time on social media won’t do you any good. Instead, your kids are going to get more rebellious due to your attitude and won’t stop using their mobile devices.

It is better to allow your children to spend considerable time on the internet by keeping a constant check on their online activity. Only monitoring and parental control apps are going to help you with this. However, before you start monitoring their online activity, it is important to be aware of all the common online dangers your child faces while surfing the internet.

By knowing about the rising online dangers beforehand, you will learn how to deal with them accordingly and save your child from impending dangerous situation. Let’s go through some of the most common online threats your child can be exposed to in the digital world.

Inappropriate Content

Without any doubt, we could say that the internet is laden with inappropriate content—especially porn so to speak. It is possible that while surfing the internet, your child stumbles upon pornographic content. Some curious kids may even try searching for such content on purpose. Nevertheless, it is quite easy for them to come across sites where such content is available.

It is recommended to look for effective parental control software to filter and block all inappropriate sites and apps that you do not want your child to have access to. Another option is to enable SafeSearch filter on your child’s web browser to prevent them from visiting inappropriate sites or viewing the unsuitable web content.

Besides, you can always monitor their web browsing history to find out what your child has been viewing recently. This also helps to know if your child has not bypassed any restriction you have set on their web browsers. Also, keeping your computer in a room where you can easily keep a watch on your child’s online activity is also a good idea.

Cyber Predators

Cyber predators, sexual predators, or “chat room” friends—whatever name you might want to call them—is said to be a group of people who use online chat rooms or social media platforms to stalk young and innocent children. They become friends with children by lying about their age and lure them into meeting up at some point.

It is usual for them to create fake profiles on social media and add children to their accounts. After befriending them, these predators demand inappropriate photos and videos from children only to blackmail them at a later point. Some also sell the same content to the dark internet to earn hefty money.

Parents should teach their children to recognize their fake friends on the internet and maintain a distance from them. While using a parental control app may help parents keep tabs on their child’s online interactions, we would recommend them to encourage their children to only interact with people online whom they know in real life. Also, explain to them that not every person they meet online could be a good person.

Cyberbullying

Just like sexual predators do not have to leave their homes to target and interact with young and innocent children, bullies also do not need to be face to face with their victims. Unfortunately, cyberbullying has become prevalent in the digital realm and causes just as much harm as any other form of bullying.

Cyberbullying is, inarguably, one of the most challenging threats that children have to face online. Most children do not report about bullying incidents to their parents or any other adult and end up suffering in silence. The effects of cyberbullying can lead them to depression, loneliness, and even suicide.

You can enable parental control apps on your child’s devices to monitor their online interactions and find out if they are being bullied by someone. Apart from that, you can encourage your children to reach out to you as soon as they feel someone is trying to bully them online or offline. You won’t be able to help your kid unless you find out that it is happening with him/her in the first place.

What parents can do to protect their children from hazardous effects of online dangers is to have an open and honest conversation with them and ask them about their online experiences. When children feel their parents are welcoming and understanding, they will reach out to them and share all the problems they have been facing online.

Parents can also consider installing an effective parental control software such as an iPhone spy app or Android spy app, depending on the type of device their kid is using. These monitoring apps will help parents monitor their online activity remotely from anywhere and at any time without their kids knowing.

Remember, you are the parent so it should be your responsibility to control and manage how you’re your kids use the internet and spend time on their devices. Young children should not be given cell phones and they should not be creating any social media profiles either. Teach your children that there is a right time and right age to do everything. They should wait until they are older to make use of internet-based activities.