Keeping children safe online in 2017
The world has changed a lot since I was a child. Back then it was all about MSN messenger and MySpace.
Gone are the days of children playing happily outdoors, as it seems more and more children are opting to spend their free time glued to their smart phones, tablets and laptops. The worrying thing for me about this is that it’s claimed that almost a third of parents allow their kids to use the internet freely without any restrictions.
Not only that, but the age in which children are accessing the internet is getting younger and younger with children going online from as young as three years old. In addition to this the average age of a child receiving their first smartphone is just 10.3!
Our twins are five years old and the only time they ever access the internet is to go on an online reading resources website, and that’s whilst I’m sat right next to them so that I can monitor what they’re doing.
The thought of freely allowing them to access the internet so young with no restrictions is pretty scary. Thankfully, at five years old they don’t know about google, websites or even how to access or use the internet and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible!
They don’t use tablets or go on our phones either. They have a games console attached to the TV which is age appropriate and the only game they have is a learning game about letters and numbers!
They’d much rather spend their time drawing, writing and playing with their toys. That being said, I’m fully aware of the fact that they will one day they will use the internet. After all the world wide web is full of useful resources and pretty much everything from banking to food shopping is done online.
With that in mind, it’s important that we’re aware of how to protect our children whilst on the internet. Most children will access the internet via their smartphones. That’s why I’m sharing this infographic with you today in the hopes that you’ll find it useful and learn something new.
