FEBRUARY 10 is Safer Internet Day. So why am I, a family solicitor writing about this? In my work as a child protection solicitor I come across cases where our young people engage in risky behaviours of all sorts, and in this technological age, we need to be as aware of their safety online, as we do about their safety in the streets or anywhere else.

As a parent, and also a school governor, I am all too aware that this is something all parents need to be aware about, and suspect that many don’t know where to begin, or what to keep an eye out for.

Safer Internet Day is planned to promote the safe responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

So how can we make sure that our children and young people are safer whilst using the internet or other technologies?

What are the key concerns?

  • Contact – Children can be contacted by bullies or by people who may abuse or groom them.
  •  Content – Contents of these sites can be age inappropriate.
  • Conduct – Children or young people may be at risk because of their own, possibly well intentioned, actions, for example by sharing too much personal information.
  • Commercialism – Children and young people can inadvertently be caught by advertising and hidden costs within apps and so on.

There are three steps that we are advised to take:

1) To have ongoing conversations with our children about internet and technology safety. We think nothing of teaching our children the safe way to cross a road, or not to talk to strangers or how to ride a bike safely. Well, we also need to talk to them about online safety.

2) Use safety tools on the internet or on social networking sites. Remember that Facebook is not supposed to be used by children and young people under the age of 13. Many of the other social networking sites have similar minimum ages: for some, like Whatsapp you are supposed to be 16..

3) Consider using parental controls on internet enabled devices at home. Many of us realise we can use parental controls on our computers and laptops, but don’t think about other devices such as tablets, smart phones and gaming consoles.

Free independent advice

  • http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers
  • www.childnet.com
  •  https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Primary/ Vendor advice
  • Microsoft Family Safety https://familysafety.microsoft.com/
  • BT Family Protection http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13189/~/what-is-bt-family-protection%3F
  • TalkTalk Homesafe http://www.talktalk.co.uk/security/homesafe-demo.html
  • Virgin Media Websafe http://store.virginmedia.com/discover/broadband/broadbandextras/web-safe.html