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Safer internet

Keep your child safe on the internet - when buying devices such as mobile phones and tablets for your children, you need to find out what that technology is capable of doing. Here are a few pointers to consider:

Can your child access the internet from the device?

Many parents don’t realise that their child can go online using their games console or handheld device.

Does your child know not to give their name or address to anyone?

Often websites encourage people to answer questions and give their opinion. This is all information that is being gathered about you or your child. Usually this is for marketing and research purposes, but it is important to be aware that these applications are gathering your information and to decide how much information you actually want to share.

Mobile phones and smart phones are like a small computer

If you are buying a mobile or smart phone for your child make sure you know what your child is using it for. In addition to phone calls and texts, mobile devices can be used for gaming, social networking, instant messaging, uploading and downloading photos, videos, information and more.

Activate security settings

Social networking sites such as Facebook offer security settings that prevent the public from looking at your photos and information without your permission and without you ‘friending’ them. You will have to set these up on your account or your child’s account. Even with the settings it is best not to display addresses, names of schools, birthdays etc. You should be aware that most social networking sites have an age limit to prevent young children using them.

Be aware of hidden costs

Not everything on the internet is free, some content and games charge money to your bank accounts and over time these pay-to-play games can add up to large sums of money that you might not be able to afford. It is important to make sure that a website your child is using does not charge. If it doesn’t ask for any bank or card details it will not charge, however if the website does ask for bank details it is best look carefully at the site and find out how often it will charge, how much and how easy it would be for your child to accidentally ‘buy’ items on the site.

Digital footprints

Some apps like Snapchat allow your child to share a private images for a short time with one or more other person – whilst these images may seem to disappear from your child’s phone after being sent, they are usually kept somewhere on Snapchat’s main severs. It is important that the pictures taken on things like Snapchat are photos that your child would be happy sharing publically on websites like Facebook as there is always a possibility that other people somewhere in the world will at some point be able to see them.

Are there any parental settings and if so are they set up?

Parental settings can help you restrict when your child can use the internet and what type of sites they will be allowed to access. As a general rule most products are sold without parental settings switched on. In some cases the shop where you purchase the device will help you to set these up. If not, an internet search will help you find these instructions.

You can find out more about how to keep your children safe online from the Thinkuknow website www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents or by downloading the digital parenting magazine vodafonedigitalparenting.co.uk

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