Digital Childhood – Protecting Our Kids Online (ad)

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Kaspersky Lab.

Our children engage in the digital world from their earliest days. When our daughter was born, I would upload weekly videos to YouTube so our family on the other side of the world could keep track of her development.

This has grown from there, now including sharing her story with people we don’t know, via this blog and associated accounts. Being online is as much a part of her life as play, books, and television.

She – like many of her peers – is beginning to explore this world herself. While she doesn’t have her own phone or tablet, she does have a KANO computer. This is used under supervision, but the issue of her online safety is becoming something we need to make part of her day-to-day life as much as, for instance, road safety.

Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab recently surveyed 10-15-year-olds and found that a third had witnessed online violence, and a quarter had viewed pornography. Two thirds also said they knew how to hide what they were looking at from their parents.

They also interviewed some children about what they had seen or encountered online, and how much their parents know about what they’re up to.

Our children are living a digital life in a way that no previous generation has been able to. Online trolling, bullying, and even grooming are a modern phenomenon for us as parents to deal with. Kaspersky Labs have recognised this, and parent’s growing concern (as well as lack of knowledge).

They have a product called Kaspersky Safe Kids which can help protect children online, whether on a desktop, laptop, or smartphone. Beyond this, you are also able to monitor their online conversations and keep track of their location.

Parts of this may be a step to far for some, as there are clearly issues around privacy. Should we be monitoring our children’s whereabouts and communication so closely? Should we tell them we’re doing it? If they know, will they find other ways around it, or if we don’t is it breach of trust?

But the fact remains there are people trying to advantage of children online. As parents, the choice of how to approach this is yours. The online environment is not one we grew up with – especially in terms of  handheld devices and social media.

Like road safety, we need to strike a balance between educating our kids as well as ensuring they remain safe.

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Kaspersky Safe Kids is a downloadable app which helps you protect your children in a digital world, on their iPhones, iPads, Macs and Computers. For just £10.99 for a year’s subscription you can stay connected with your kids and be sure they are in a safe place. For more information about Kaspersky Safe Kids, please visit iTunes.

 

4 thoughts on “Digital Childhood – Protecting Our Kids Online (ad)”

  1. As it happens Kapersky was once recommended to me. I’m afraid those stats don’t surprise me. When I look at how IT literate my kids are, I’m not at all surprised that so many youngsters know how to hide what they are viewing from adults. I may have to explore the Safe Kids App after all.

  2. Although we would never let our children roam around outdoors for hours on end, some parents allow unrestricted or unsupervised access to the online world. There are many dangers online and I will definitely be looking in to the Safe Kids App. Thanks for raising this important issue.

  3. Totally agree that protecting our kids online is massively important. We’re not at that stage yet with L due to age, but it’ll pop up in the not too distant future. That app sounds like a good way of monitoring etc – will have to bear it in mind for the future.

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