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E-Safety

Is this you?    “My kids know more about the internet than I do…”

he internet is an amazing place and research shows that the outcomes for children are better is they benefit from connected technology.   Technology can:

  • add to the child’s store of knowledge.
  • online games can enhance teamwork and creativity.
  • improve both visual intelligence and hand-eye coordination.
  • households with computers perform better academically. 

However, we must be mindful that technology can affect children’s development.  Research has shown that it can:

  • affect sleep cycles due to the blue light from screens.
  • become a target or a perpetrator of cyber bullying, racist abuse or grooming.
  • expose children to games which are becoming increasingly more violent and aggressive and younger children are beginning to play them.
  • expose children to games which are now using clever marketing techniques to get children to spend vast amounts of money to improve characters within the game.
What can you do?
  • set parental controls on home broadband.
  • safe search on Google (& other browsers) & YouTube; child –friendly search engines.
  • if your child is using social media then set up safe social media profiles that won’t share personal information.
  • turn off geo location settings on devices.
  • use the strongest privacy settings on social media.
  • learn how to report / block/ mute.
  • report inappropriate posts/content to the social media providers.
  • think carefully about using monitoring apps that identify inappropriate behaviour.
  • set time limits for using devices, especially on a school night.

 

Where you can go to get help: