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Cyber Crime against children in Southern Nevada is at an all time high. Today’s threat is real and growing.
Turning your child loose on the Internet without any guidance or instruction is like giving them the keys to your car and never giving them a driving lesson. They could figure it out; but at what cost?
Sometimes, it is at the cost of their life. Here are some tips and important resources to help protect your child.
Local Resources and Links
Cyber Safe Parent Segments
8 Things You Can Do to be a CyberSafe Parent
1. Have an open talk with your family about what’s, and who’s online. Try and make them comfortable bringing things to your attention, whether it’s something they’ve found on YouTube, or someone’s being weird in a chat room.
2. Keep some passwords to yourself. Don’t leave the app store logged in, complete with your credit card. Mobile games make it really easy (and very tempting) to upgrade to a new level.
3. Online content is available for anyone to see. Make sure that, even if someone is pressuring them to take photos of themselves, or to write something compromising, it will be available for everyone to see. Even in Snapchat, the recipient can take a screenshot and show other people.
4. Check the Privacy settings. You can adjust your internet browser in the options menu. This protects from both viruses but in some cases, adult content.
5. You pay the bills, you set the rules. The amount of “screen time” is up to you to manage, but you could make a contract where the kids and parents decide together what’s fair and what should happen if they’re approached by a stranger online. If your child has their own device, don’t be afraid to take it away!
6. Put the computer in a central location. This should give you line-of-sight to the screen and to keep a general eye on what’s going on.
7. Teach them about online reputation. The line between things you say online and real-life conversations is blurry at best. Be careful about how they represent themselves in such a public way.
8. Lead by example. Get to know the networks and understand the available settings. Show the benefits of having a respectable online presence and that you’re willing to talk about what you’ve found online.