Internet Safe for Kids, learning to manage the network in the school
New technologies are here to stay. Whether you want it or not, nowadays every child will meet the online world at some point, which means that they will have to face the dangers that are present in the network. Do children have the skills to avoid these risks? Although these generations are known as "digital natives", no one is born knowing.
That is, although it is true that new generations learn to manage new technologies at a very young age, notions of cybersecurity must be taught. For this, initiatives like Secure Internet for Kids, that goes through the classrooms of different schools throughout the country teaching these measures to the students of these centers.
Security and privacy
There are several skills that should be taught to children. First of all to set up a safety net to prevent the devices from being vulnerable. Surfing the Internet without the protection of an antivirus program means that the child faces several dangers during his experience in the network. These are some of the threats that lurk:
- Damage to the system and its applications. The entry of a virus into the computer has the same effect as in the human body. The terminal begins to behave in an unusual way, its performance low and may even end up incapacitated.
- Damage to privacy. The entry of a virus into the computer can mean opening the door to an undesirable look that finds photographs, passwords and other data that should always remain in privacy.
The prevention of these threats happens in the first place by installing an antivirus program in the terminal, there are also applications for smartphones or tablets. The second is to let the child know those pages most "dangerous" and through which viruses can enter, usually illegal download sites with a high level of publicity.
Regarding privacy, parents should remind their children to avoid having their passwords registered in foreign terminals. Some social networks and platforms allow remembering these keys to streamline procedures, this choice must be eliminated when accessing computers other than those of the home.
Inappropriate content
Another of the teachings that should be offered to digital natives is to select the appropriate content. Internet is a territory with a lot of material of various kinds, some can provoke the smallest both psychological, by witnessing explicit violence, and create addictions with video games, which can even involve a high economic cost through titles "freemium".
These are some of the techniques to prevent these contents from reaching the little ones:
- Anticipate your curiosity and offer answers through content adapted to your level of understanding and maturity.
- Accompany them during their first gaits in the network to learn together with an adult the appropriate behaviors to navigate the Internet, providing quality content adjusted to the maturity of the child.
- Take advantage of tools such as parental controls, programs, extensions and specific supplements for minors.
Grooming
One of the most serious risks that young people face on the internet is grooming, that is, meeting an adult who pretending to be younger you earn your trust and access private information about it. This results in a process of blackmail towards the young person. Some forms of prevention are the following:
- Establish safe browsing habits. With the children they have to agree on rules for internet use at home, the most obvious being the use of the computer in a common place and never in a private environment such as their rooms.
- Remember the concept of unknown. For minors, a stranger can stop being a stranger if they have already spoken a couple of times online, but nothing of the sort. The one whom they do not put face and with whom they have not treated in a habitual way demonstrating confidence, should not receive it.
Damián Montero
