8 Ways For Students To Stay Safe Online

Online learning has increased a lot in the past couple of years, and students across the world are frequently using electronic devices for their studies. Parenting is not at all easy as it seems. With the coronavirus quarantine becoming a new normal, even the patient parents feel stressed out. Before the pandemic, only a few students used to stay online. But now, from online learning to communicating with friends, students are remaining digitally active the entire time.

However, keeping the kids safe online is the biggest tension of parents as predators are increasing day by day. Although the chances of exploitation are there, you should not be fearful of letting children online. By taking a few steps, you can protect your children online and encourage the safe digital habit. All these efforts are necessary for keeping kids safe, and it is more important these days than ever.

Best Ways For Keeping Kids Safe Online

1. Think Before Opening A Site

As parents, you should know that all sites are not safe for children, and regardless of your efforts, some bad sites can find their way to the students. Communicating with kids openly about real dangers is an effective way to keep them safe. However, you should not scare them. Just tell them about the ways to inspect URLs prior to the opening of the site. Teach them that if something suspicious they feel, kids can come and share that with you. If the kids are quite small, then they can ask you before opening links.

2. Make Technology a Shared Experience

Nowadays, kids have phones all the time for their online classes, and parents have little control over them. The best thing to do here is making technology a family experience. Keep the devices in your family spaces, such as living rooms rather than private rooms. The children can play games with you on the devices. If you remain online with the kids, you can guide them when they encounter any inappropriate content. This helps them make digital decisions better when they grow older, and parents should not be shy from discussing sensitive topics with their children if it ever pops up on the screen.

3. Utilize Parental Control

Devices provide students access to every kind of material. There are parental controls for helping the parents so that they do not leave children to navigate everything on their own. These controls help parents to know what children are doing online. However, communication with students is important for telling them the how and why you are applying parental control. This way, children feel empowered. You can disable any in-app purchases and set times for certain apps or on the device.

You can also block sites meant for 18+ and put a password on the internet or devices so that students do not browse everything themselves. Disable intimate details entry such as name, address, or age for keeping the identity of the student safe.

4. Be Student’s Tech Support

Get equipped with the correct digital knowledge and tools for keeping students safe in the digital world. If you have less knowledge about technology, then there are chances that you cannot ask questions to keep your kids safe online. Students will also find it hard to ask you anything about the digital platforms. You should introduce students to digital life yourself and try to learn about different applications that your kids enjoy. Become more familiar with devices before students use them.

5. Manage the Social Media of Your Child

the pandemic also students may want to stay connected with their friends. However, there is adult content on these platforms. You can sign them up by yourself and look at the contents that are shared there. Advise them about not accepting friend requests from strangers. Also, ask them never to post any personal details to avoid potential dangers. In this way, you can make a choice while remaining aware. Parents can also be in a better position for managing the safety of their children on a specific platform.

6. Monitor Student’s Online Browsing

You can constantly monitor the digital activity of your child in a way that they do not feel too controlled. Encourage them to use devices in shared areas so that the parent can see whether the child is safe. You could go through their device’s browser history and guide them if they came across anything harmful. Let kids know the reason you are looking at their online history. You can surely spend some time putting these efforts to protect your kids from danger.

7. Use Strong Passwords

It can be easier for students to remember one password, but vulnerable hackers can guess it easily. So you must set a strong password for every account kids have. Selecting long passwords along with a combination of special characters, letters, and numbers will be best.

8. Safety in Virtual Classrooms

Online learning or virtual learning has become a part of students’ lives. However, make sure that the platform does not get exposed to malware. Students should also be allowed to voice the concerns that make them unhappy.

Conclusion

With the surge of virtual schooling, students have started spending most of their time online. But as parents, you have to ensure that the kids do not come in contact with harmful sources. By remaining extra vigilant and putting in some effort, you can know whether the students are remaining safe online or not.