Social scientists, clinical psychologists, biologists and neurologists are now beginning to understand the psychological and biological negative effects of viewing inappropriate content both online, through media and video games.
The Internet is like an amusement park full of attractions, as much as it is a funhouse it is equally terrifying. From the smartphones in our pocket to the advanced systems controlling everything from banks to national security, the internet is behind almost everything we do. The Web offers aplenty solutions from educational materials, fun games, to connect with people from all over the world. But Sadly, it also poses risks to children's physical safety and emotional well-being. Today, families are turning to digital solutions to support children’s learning, entertainment and socialization. While digital solutions provide significant opportunities for sustaining and promoting children’s rights, these same tools may also increase children’s exposure to online risks.
A study by UNICEF found that 1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 5 boys were likely to be sexually assaulted before they reach the age of 18, and in a startling revelation, also found that 90% of these children know their offenders.
Thanks to the availability, affordability and anonymity of the internet and smartphones, young children are exposed to what used to be referred to as hard-core – but now mainstream – pornography at an alarming rate. According to the reports 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45 percent of teens say they are online “almost constantly,”, even younger kids are accessing the internet in large numbers.
Cyber stalkers, child molesters, inappropriate content, cyber bullies and more are lurking, waiting for an opportunity to reach out to children. The way children are using the Internet & mobile technologies has changed dramatically in the past years, which makes it even more important to create opportunities for children to have safe and positive online interactions, as any bad experience could possibly damage a child for the rest of their life.
While it's important to teach children about cyber threats that put their online safety at risk, parents also need to take appropriate steps for online protection from malware threats and phishing attempts that usually target unaware or uneducated minds. There are various options to protect your children including parental controls, apps and tracking software.
Tell your children about some basic things
Always use privacy settings
Use different passwords for different accounts
Never share the passwords or store them on web browser
And most importantly, parents should talk to the service provider and get parental controls installed. A Parental Control service will enable the end users to customise and manage the content consumption in their premises with a combination of Category Based Filtering and Time-Based Filtering thus allowing filtering on the basis of self content filtering and intelligent risk detection that identifies dangerous links.