{"id":1076,"date":"2022-07-05T16:46:36","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T16:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trainthebrain.com\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2022-07-05T16:47:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T16:47:53","slug":"keeping-your-student-safe-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trainthebrain.com\/keeping-your-student-safe-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Your Student Safe Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you\u2019ve looked at your child\u2019s social media and asked, \u201cWho\u2019s that?\u201d and heard \u201cJust someone I met online,\u201d you\u2019re not alone! Young people have more avenues than ever before to make and maintain close friendships with people they\u2019ve never met IRL (that\u2019s \u201cin real life\u201d if you\u2019re seriously behind the times!). In fact, 3 out of 4 people have an online friend they\u2019ve never met in real life, and according to the Pew Research Center<\/span><\/a>, 57% of teens between the ages of 13-17 have friendships with someone they have only interacted with online \u201cwith 29% of teens indicating that they made more than five new friends in online venues.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s no secret that teens use social media venues to meet and maintain friendships, so it\u2019s important that they understand how to navigate the virtual world. Teaching your teens that the virtual world is <\/i>the \u201creal world\u201d is one of the most important lessons you can pass on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a fully online tutoring and homework help platform, Train The Brain<\/span> lives and breathes online! We understand that an online presence is important for teens and adults, so we\u2019ve got some tips to help you keep your teen safe online.<\/p>\n

Avoid Minimizing These Friendships<\/h2>\n

The first thing to remember is that your teen can have a close personal friendship with someone they have interacted with solely online. Kids and adults can spend hours DM\u2019ing each other, playing online games together, interacting with each other\u2019s videos and posts, yet for some reason, people tend to give this type of friendship the side-eye. The internet has been around for decades, so it\u2019s certainly time and important to give credit to the friendships your kids make online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you minimize their friendships, they\u2019ll be less likely to talk to you about them and share that enormous part of their life with you. Being open to acknowledging those relationships and being interested in that very real<\/i> part of your child\u2019s life will keep a more positive, open relationship between you and your child. If they feel like you don\u2019t recognize their online friendships as important, they\u2019re not going to share when something is bothering them about it, and that can lead to potentially harmful situations for your teen.<\/p>\n

Privacy<\/h2>\n

Teaching your teen about the role that privacy settings have in an online presence is a great skill for them to use throughout their teen years and into adult life. Your child should have password protection on devices and for online accounts to avoid data theft if their devices are stolen or compromised. You can use a password manager as a family in order to organize all of your family\u2019s passwords. Additionally, take your child through the privacy settings on their Google account as well as all of their social media platforms. If you feel like you need to do so, use parental control software to block your young people from possibly dangerous websites to avoid issues in the first place. In fact, most cell phone companies will allow you to block \u201cadult\u201d websites and content from your child\u2019s device, and only you will have control of when that block is changed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Safe Web Browsing<\/h2>\n

In the 2022 Connected Family Study by McAfee<\/span><\/a>, 59% of the teens who participated in the survey said that they \u201chide their online activity by clearing their browser histories, hiding or deleting chat messages and videos, browsing in incognito mode, using a device their parents don\u2019t check, or simply lying or omitting details about what they are doing online in conversations with their parents.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, 47% of children in the U.S. admit to regularly having conversations with people online without knowing their real identity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s a parent to do? You can install software to track your child\u2019s activity online, and there are plenty of free or subscription-based services that will do exactly that for you. However, a nonjudgmental conversation about the red flags they need to watch for is a really great way to start. Parental controls on smart devices are an important tool to use to protect your child, but teaching them about how to use the internet safely is a life lesson they\u2019re going to need to learn eventually.<\/p>\n

Here are the most significant red flags about child predators to teach your child before allowing them online on their own:<\/p>\n