The primary concern about parents, especially teenagers, is that their child needs to study as they have gadgets in hand most of the time and are always connected to the online world.
The sole purpose that my children should refrain from using gadgets is to focus on their studies.
The Most Important part we are missing out on is the internet threat.
Now, keeping our kids away from technology is neither feasible nor recommended. As I mentioned in my previous article, the Internet is like a vitamin dose for our child. They must know how much is prescribed for them.
When we want our children to shield themselves from the underbelly of the world wide web, we first need to be informed about the threat.
A vitamin dose is good, but having expired or overdosed can threaten life.
In this article, I have mentioned some threats our children must know to protect themselves from and make the best use of the internet world.
Inappropriate content:
Any information is inappropriate and dangerous if it is in the hands of people who do not understand it. Our kids are young; they do not understand many things that happen around them, which they will gradually become familiar with. But, if they get their hands on any content that is not age-appropriate for them, it can harm them.
Simply, the brain is growing—primarily the ability to process emotions and deal with overwhelming experiences.
Any small stimulus can be an addiction if not appropriately handled.
The Internet is a great platform to share information. But, it is also a platform to share illicit content too. And it is very easily accessible to anyone, which is its biggest virtue and vice at the same time.
Our kids must get protected from it until a time when they can understand the difference between what is right and wrong.
In the same way, the medicine for your father can be life-threatening for the child because the child's body is not ready for it. Similarly, age-inappropriate content h an adverse effect on a child's mental health and emotional well-being.
Cyber threat :
Cyber threats don't always come from the unknown.
Sometimes direct threats children face on social media, and occasionally unknown threats.
For example,
A child posting a photograph or selfie and friends commenting negatively can make a child feel unworthy, creating self-doubt and lower self-esteem.
People can be very mean on the Internet. They take advantage of the distance that still exists in the real world. They can shatter anyone's confidence and shred their self-esteem to bits.
Sharing personal information and personal and family photographs with known people may get into the wrong hands. It is common in social media.
Everything in this internet world is just a click away.
In the real world, we have opportunities to undo our mistakes, but in the internet world, even undoing has been saved somewhere.
The world has come closer because of the Internet. But, it has also brought anti-social elements closer to their targets. These people are even more vicious virtually because they think they can hide under the guise of anonymity.
Hacking
Hacking is a serious threat.
People can break the walls of security that protect our personal information online and access all the information about us.
Once your device is hacked, there is nothing that a person can not know about us. Our address, bank accounts, and details are open for them to read. Children can be black-mailed for any sensitive information that may have leaked out because of it.
It is not just a threat that our kids need to be protected. We need to be careful too. Make sure that your kids do not put any unnecessary information on their social media accounts that can be used to manipulate them.
Stalking
Your child can be under the watchful eyes of a stalker. Social media and the craziness of watching and making reels and shorts to gain popularity have put a child, especially a teen, in a vulnerable place.
One can easily access an unknown person because of their social media accounts. There have been several cases where online stalkers went on to the next level by harassing people in real life.
Nowadays, all social media accounts have the option of sharing locations. We use it often for interacting and keeping in touch with friends and family. Imagine the kind of damage it would do if this information fell into the hands of the
Scams
Children are easy to fool as their emotional brain is still working in progress.
They quickly trust anything that appeals to them. But that is how they can be duped by people too. Kids still need to understand verifying and crosschecking. It is easy for them to fall prey to such schemes.
And these scams are more harmful to adults than they are to children.
Malicious Practices:
Some people are just waiting for one mistake like using a pen drive / USB on a public device and again, using it in our devices gives open access to our world.
Malicious software is created by people who want to disrupt others' life. Malicious software that is downloaded corrupts our system. We may lose important data. We are transported to these sites very easily. We never know which click can be harmful. So make sure you think before each one. It will help you avoid loss, stress, and frustration later.
Note:
Sit with your child and teach them what can go wrong with one click and one comment.
If one comment on religion or uses unparliamentary language, this can put you in big trouble.
The child must know that using public wifi can break your internet security, USB without password protection can leak your data, and using a pen drive in a shared device can be risky too. The child will be careful while using public devices.
Taking a screenshot without permission and spreading rumors online is against the law.
The child must be careful downloading unknown content or file from the Internet.
" An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ." Benjamin Franklin.