This is a tough subject as there is no clear guidance from the authorities, and every parent has got a different idea of what’s safe and what’s not for their kids. I’ll share my thoughts and the rules in our house, but this isn’t necessarily right for everyone out there.
Some ISPs offer content filtering and this can work well. Some filters work by detecting naughty key words hidden in the data. These need little on going maintenance but encryption now makes them obsolete. Other types of filters,known as black-listing, have lists of banned websites, this method requires constant maintenance by the ISP because new sites pop up all the time. White-listing filters also known as walled-gardens, only allow access to a pre-written list of acceptable sites.
Some filters can be set on the whole broadband connection and some run on the individual computer.
Whatever system you use, your kids will find a way around it, and this is often seen as a challenge to ‘beat the ban’. So I prefer to recommend teaching your children to browse safely and navigate themselves away from danger.
Younger children should always be supervised online, up to the age of 7 or 8, to prevent any risk of them straying into a site where a person could make contact. Children will learn online safety in the upper years of primary school, but it’s good to reinforce that at home with discussion and rules.
In our house we do not allow devices into bedrooms, so any homework or social use of computers is done in shared areas. It is particularly important to keep devices with cameras out of children’s bedrooms as this can lead to tragedy; I advise any parent to watch the 2015 film Cyberbully with Maisie Williams, which is a true-to-life depiction of what can happen online. It’s available on YouTube in full. The real moral of that story is to make sure your children are able to talk to you about situations they are in, and to understand that no matter how much trouble theythink they may have caused they shouldn’t be scared to ask for help.
Minecraft is a great game for youngsters to get started with because the chat between users is very limited and only in text, so bullying is almost impossible and usernames are anonymised. In contrast to this, Roblox has been reported as being rife with bullying and grooming and it’s easy to share personal data there. Wedon’t allow Roblox in our house. Fortnite is a shooting and adventure game, but there is no blood or gore, when you get shot the player disappears and it’s very cartoon in nature. There is voice chat between players, but users are anonymous so it’s difficult for targeted bullying to occur on Fortnite.
The legal age for having a login account to most services is 13, and this includes Facebook, twitter, YouTube, TikTok, etc. My 11 year old nags me constantly to have accounts on these things, but again this is contraband in our house except for supervised watching. There is so much toxic material on YouTube and TikTok that I would advise all parents to carefully monitor their children’s usage. Of course, the iPlayer, YouTube Kids and other children’s’ services are safe and filtered.Summary: supervise younger children online; make sure your kids can talk to you openly about situations; don’t allow toxic material; use a good antivirus product and ask your children to always check with you before downloading or running a new app.
I hope you find this information useful. If you would like to see particular subjects covered then please feel free to ask at www.alfindlay.com.
Al Findlay | Freelance IT & AV Support Consultant | Website design and Hosting | www.AlFindlay.com | 01395 542500