Five Common Dangers That Kids Can Run Into Online

 

It is a rare thing to not see a tween, a teen or even a younger child with a smartphone in this day and age. One positive thing about your kids owning a cellular phone is that they can call you from anywhere if they need you. They can also keep in touch with their friends through texting and through their social media networks, which will help them maintain their friendships.

Additionally, they can access search engines if they need to research content for their school projects, preparing for tests and exams, and it is handy for homework help.

However, there are more cons than pros when it comes to your child having complete access to the internet. Let’s find out the common dangers that kids can run into on the internet:

1. Accessing Dangerous Content And Entering Dangerous Areas – Kids are naturally curious. Therefore, they will be tempted to look into dangerous parts of the web like the dark web. They can also enter websites where predators are hanging out, and they can be traced. Therefore, these child predators will be able to track your kids down!

2. Making Themselves Vulnerable For Cyberbullying – This is, unfortunately, a common problem in this day and age. Back in the old days, bullying happened at school or camp. That was bad enough, but at least back then there was no such thing as social media. That is why kids today would not only be bullied at school or camp but will be bullied online at all hours of the day. Additionally, their bullies would be sharing embarrassing information about their victims which would be accessible to anyone which becomes an invitation to more bullying. Sadly, many of these instances have led to many teen and child suicides.

3. Dangerous Tracking Malware Can Be Downloaded And Will Destroy Their Devices – Kids can easily go on infected websites which can potentially destroy their smartphones or tablets. Additionally, they could enter harmful websites that can track where they live, which goes back to point #1.

4. Kids Could Find Images Or Information That Could Be Psychologically Damaging – There are many terrible images online of death, gore, and porn just being examples. If kids see images of this nature, or if they read something that is frightening, this can potentially scar them for life.

5. The Stranger Danger Is A Real Problem Online – Kids will be interested in chatting with others online other than their friends. Therefore, they can hook up with those who pretend to be their peers in order to lure them. That is why kids must never speak to those who they don’t know online. The only exception for that is if they go on a public forum that is relevant to their school work, and they go on and ask questions to get help with homework.

How Can Kids Be Kept Safe Online?

The good news is that your kids can enjoy their smartphones and their tablets, and reap the benefits of being online. However, in order for that to happen, parents are responsible for purchasing parental control apps in order to monitor their kids’ online activities. If their kids are entering dangerous zones online, then parents will be notified. If kids are speaking to online strangers, or if they are being cyberbullied, parents will be able to know this by monitoring them through their spy apps- and put a stop to it!

Another great thing that parents can do with these apps is to monitor the amount of time that their kids are spending online. Therefore, they can put time limits on their devices through the apps as well. The place to go to in order to find the best parental control apps is in Family Orbit.

This way, with these tools that are available to parents so that their kids can be kept safe online, kids can only benefit from having access to the internet.