Today is Safer Internet Day – an annual opportunity to remind everyone, especially those with young children, about the importance of using the internet responsibly and safely.
The theme of the day this year is “Think B4 U Post.”
Nowadays it’s easy to forget that the enormous amount of information about ourselves we give away online – through sites like Facebook and Twitter, for instance – is around forever. It leaves a digital footprint that is visible to anyone around the world, potentially in perpetuity.
Children and teenagers especially tend to forget this fact. For them, the internet is a fun place to communicate and share stuff with friends. For many children, security measures aren’t things they worry about – the more friends they have, and the more opportunities to share videos or music and meet new people, the better.
Meanwhile many adults would like to be better at securing their social networking profiles and controlling who can and can’t access their personal info, for example, but aren’t sure where to begin.
(Quick tip: Facebook has recently strengthened its security measures, you can check yours here
At TalkTalk, through the Brighter Sparks Guide we produced with Professor Tanya Byron, we’ve provided advice for parents on how to make sure their kids use the internet in a safer way. Absolute safety online – just as in the real world – can never be guaranteed. But we can take reasonable precautions to minimise risks and enable kids and adults to get the most out of the web.
If you’re interested in getting more information, you can find the Brighter Sparks Guide here. And if you want to check out your strengths and weaknesses as an e-parent, with tips on how to improve your online knowledge, take our E-Parent Test here.
By a bit of googling you should be able to easily find the security settings section of all the social networks you’re on. It’s worth spending two minutes to check the settings are at the right level for you.)
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