This resource gives parents and guardians tools and information to better understand the cyber landscape and provides you with tools to inform you and your family for a healthy and safe internet experience.
Apps
An App with location permissions can track you—even when its inactive. Your location data will reveal where you live, where you go to school and even where you go to the doctor. It can be combined with other data to learn who you spend time with, where and how often. And, it can be sold!
Safety Tip: Turn location permissions off when they aren’t needed and always carefully review the permissions requested by an app before installing it. Never install apps that ask for excessive permissions—your calculator doesn’t need to know where you are!
Social Media
Social Media apps and website aren’t safe for younger children. Social media sites can expose kids to strangers, adult content and advertising that’s harmful to children. Online “influencers” can also push products and services at kids and teens who don’t realize they’re being manipulated.
Safety Tips: Talk to your kids about social media, scams and cyberbullying. If your kids need to create a profile, use a nickname. Keep your social media profiles private and take down photos of kids after your friends and family has seen them. Trust us, your teenagers won’t appreciate it if their classmates can still find their baby pictures posted online.
Video Games
Video games can be fun for both parents and kids, but many games include content that’s just not appropriate for kids. In addition to sex and violence, games may include chat features that allow strangers to talk to kids and “loot-box” features that encourage kids to gamble.
Safety Tip: Talk to your children about the content of the games they want to buy or play. Be sure to ask if games include chat features, in-app purchases, or gambling features.
Cyber Bullying
Cyber Bullying
- Is bullying or harassment that happens online.
- Bullying can happen by email, text message, in a game, or on a social networking site.
- May involve rumors or embarrassing images posted online or circulated for others to see.
- Follows children home from school and can be nearly impossible for kids to escape.
- Causes kids to miss school and hurts their grades.
- Has been linked to depression, anxiety, and suicide.
- Has lasting negative effects on both the bully and the bullied.
How to Prevent or Stop a Cyber Bully
- Talk to your kids about how posting or sharing mean or offensive content can hurt people.
- Ask your kids if they have been bullied online.
- Monitor your kid’s social media for bullying behavior.
- Keep social media profiles private and disallow comments if possible.
- Encourage your kids to speak up, support those being bullied, and if necessary, block or un-friend the bully.
- Report bullying to the site or network where it’s happening.