Better Digital Parenting 2024 CyberSafeKids - Manual / Resource - Page 14
B e tte r D i g i t al Paren ting
Going Deeper:
Managing Privacy
Make sure your children understand what
different types of personal information
exist and what is ok to share (and not to
share) online. Many of the most popular
social media platforms are set to public by
default. This means that everything a young
person posts can be seen by anyone unless
this setting is changed. Explore private or
friends/contacts-only settings.
It’s a good idea to talk about your child’s
friends list. Sometimes, in their desire
for popularity, young people become
too relaxed about who they’ll accept
as ‘friends’. You and your child should
review their list of online ‘friends’
regularly, so they are sharing their
information only with people they trust.
It is unlikely that a child knows 300 or
more people offline, so they shouldn’t
have this many ‘followers’ online!
Emphasise that children should NOT
reply to any unwanted messages.
Although it may seem obvious, scam
artists or predators use messages that
draw responses from young people. Make
sure your child knows how important it
is to ignore them and to speak to you if
something bad happens, which makes
them feel uncomfortable. ‘Fun online
quizzes’ can also be a way for scammers
to get children to put more personal
information online than they should (or
need to).
14
Cyberthreats through games, including
malware attacks on shared devices, are also
on the rise so make sure they know not to
accept downloads or to share their gaming
account details without permission.
