What did your kids do last night when you chased them upstairs to bed? Were they in bed with their smart phone or your tablet? What were they looking at? Who were they talking to?
Inspector Rob Miles explains: “It’s important that parents make sure they know what their kids are up to online, what apps and web sites they are using and who they are talking to. It is also important for parents to realise that 13 is the minimum age for most social media sites.
“Social Media is not just Facebook and Twitter, apps are being developed on a near daily basis and freely downloadable by our children without any in-depth IT knowledge needed. A few examples are Oovoo and Snapchat along with Wiper which is a new messaging app that deletes sent and received messages both on the device and the server. The potential now being that children can be messaging and then deleting it without parents ever knowing.”
“Periscope from Twitter allows users to live broadcast from their smartphones and again it’s not saved anywhere. It’s got excellent potential if used correctly but it does have it’s dangers.
Inspector Miles added: “We are encouraging parents to talk to their kids, see what they are doing and encourage them not to give away personal information online. It is also really important that children feel that they can tell a parent or teacher if they are sent anything inappropriate. We would encourage parents to maintain vigilance over their children’s internet safety and to report any incidents that concern them to us immediately.”
We are encouraging adults to follow five top tips to keep children safe online:
1. Ask children you know to show you the sites they use
2. Talk to the children you know about their online friends – who are they? What are their intentions?
3. Set appropriate parental controls on your child’s computer, mobile and games console
4. Ask children you know to tell a trusted adult if they are worried about something online
5. Know where to get help if they are concerned about contact made to child online.
There are internet safety features available with most internet providers however there are additional resources available for parents at www.saferinternet.org.uk.
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