There are, undeniably, more than a few concerns regarding the ‘dark side’ of the internet, and in a world where technology has, unfortunately, almost entirely taken over, parents naturally worry for their children when browsing the internet unsupervised.

If you have your own understandable concerns about your children using the internet, especially if they are at an age where they seem permanently attached to their smartphone, you have clicked on the right article.

Here is how to protect your children online. 

Stop Posting Content Featuring Your Child

Back in the day, the only way a childhood photograph could be viewed by friends and family members alike was after the film was taken to be processed and the physical copies of the images were sent back through the mail.

Now, you will undoubtedly and entirely understandably be exceedingly proud of your child and will want to show them off to the world, but you must remember that even though Facebook pages claim to be private, as soon as you post an image, it ceases to be your property. 

Stop posting photographs of your children online, and if you simply cannot resist, use an editing application on your smartphone to at least blur their face. 

Instruct Them Never to Use Public Wi-Fi Networks

Secondly, even though the accessibility of public Wi-Fi networks seems to be incredibly important, the fact of the matter is that there can be serious risks associated with them.

Even if your child only has a small amount of money in their bank account, the simple act of entering their password and checking their bank balance before ordering their Mcdonald’s in the mall can leave them wide open to be hacked. 

Start Afresh with a New Email Account

Unfortunately, even though the sheriff and police departments work diligently every single day to identify and, where appropriate, arrest people whom they suspect to be talking to underage children on the internet, it is simply impossible to catch everyone.

One way to reduce the risk of your child or children receiving unwanted emails of an adult nature, or any unwanted spam messages whatsoever, is to change email providers without changing your address. This way, you will, from then on, be able to access your child’s mailbox as often as you choose and immediately report and ‘send to junk’ any such emails. 

As well as monitoring your child’s emails, it would also be a good idea to keep the family desktop computer in a communal area, such as the kitchen table or living room, so that you can keep an eye on their search history. 

Turn Off Location Services

Finally, an additional helpful piece of advice when wanting to protect your child online is to ensure that location services are disabled on their smartphone, tablet, and their laptop. 

Not only does having location service switched on mean that the phone company, not to mention goodness knows who else, knows exactly where your child is at any given time, but this can also be a golden ticket to nearby potential predators.