E-Safety Parent Talk Helping to keep your children safe online

Children Online O 67% of 5-7 year olds use the Internet at home. O 82% of 5-7 year olds use a gaming device. O Children aged 5-7 use the internet for an estimated 5.2 hours in a typical week. O 5-7s use of social networking sites has increased from 7% in 2009 to 23% in O 34% of 8-12s have a profile on sites that require users to register as being 13 or over. Source: Ofcom Report on Children’s Media Literacy 2011

Children Online O A lot of children think that they know more than adults about the Internet, mobile phones and computers. O Children seem to use technology intuitively- like they were born to do it. O They might be computer literate, but you are life literate and your children still need your involvement, advice and support.

Children Online O The most important thing to do with your children is talk about their internet use and what they are doing online. O As much as possible, keep internet enabled devices in family areas where you can see, at a glance, what your children are doing.

Potential Risks Content, Contact, Commerce and Conduct

Content The internet is full of wonderful information on any subject you can think of. Which is fantastic. However some of this content is not suitable for children. Filtering software is a great tool to help prevent children accessing websites that you don’t want them to be viewing /five-best-free-parental-control-programs/

Content Be warned that this cannot block or filter everything and it is important to keep an open dialogue with your children about what they are viewing so that they know what to do if they come across something that they shouldn’t. It is important that you don’t allow children onto websites (such as social networks) before they are old enough- age restrictions are there for a reason, even using your accounts.

Content Talk to your children about what they see online generally and remind them that not everything on the internet is true. Also discuss copyright and how it is illegal to download and share some content without the author’s permission. This can include streaming songs and movies from file sharing websites or even some YouTube videos.

Contact One of the many benefits of the internet is communication- with friends, family and strangers. Unfortunately not all people online have good intentions and it is important that your children know how to prevent and deal with any unwanted contact online.

Contact Discuss with your children which details are ok to be given out, and which are not. Remember that this is never clear cut and that there are different rules for different websites. Try making up a nickname with your children that they can use online, or setting up an address that you have access to for them to use when signing up for websites. Use the privacy settings provided by websites, for your own accounts as well as theirs.

Contact Most websites or games have ‘report’ or ‘block’ features that allow the user to pass on any unpleasant or inappropriate messages to the website, and prevent the other user messaging again. Find out what these are and encourage your child to use them, and tell you, if ever they receive a message that they don’t like.

Contact Remind your child that strangers online are still strangers and to keep you informed of who they are talking to. Encourage them never to meet anyone that they have contacted online. It is important that your children remember that not everyone online is who they say they are.

Contact If your child is being bullied online, it helps to keep a record or log of the contact through saving the s/texts or screengrabbing the page. If they say that they are being bullied, take it seriously. Contact the website, your mobile or internet provider, us or their club leader or the police.

Conduct Discuss with your children about how to behave online and remind them that once something is posted online, it can’t necessarily be removed. Encourage your child to never post anything online that they wouldn’t want you, their grandparents or their teachers to see. Use the privacy settings provided by websites, for your own accounts as well as theirs.

Commerce The internet is full of adverts, spam and marketing that can look very appealing to children. Many free to play games and apps have in-app purchases. Many ‘free’ ringtones or screensavers can sign up to a costly premium rate service. Adblocking, virus and malware software can limit the amount of these types of links.

Commerce Discuss with your children how to avoid pop- ups and recognise adverts online. Talk about how to use spam and junk filters and how they shouldn’t reply to spam. Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

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