6 Tips to Keep Kids Safe Online

At their best, online sites and social media apps provide digital spaces where tweens and teens can learn, be entertained, and connect with kids their age who share similar interests.

At their worst, they can also expose kids to risky ideas and behaviors, hate-filled language, and even online predators or scammers.

Finding a healthy balance that allows kids to engage positively with digital spaces while limiting risks can feel challenging. But by setting clear rules regarding smart online behavior, parents can feel confident they’re raising kids who know how to stay safe online.

Here are six tips to help keep your kids safe online.

1. Maximize Security Settings

• Opt into the highest available security settings on all digital apps on your child’s phone or tablet.
• Turn off embedded location trackers.
• Decline options to “share data” with third parties whenever possible.
• Teach kids to create strong usernames and passwords to help keep their digital footprint safe from scammers.
• To prevent surveillance by hackers, turn off your computer's webcams whenever they’re not in use.

2. Monitor Kids’ Screen Usage

Introduce the idea that digital access is a privilege that comes with parental monitoring. Rather than treating screen usage checks like a punishment, make them a frequent part of your family’s routine.

• For elementary school-aged children: Allow the use of learning-based apps and kid-friendly online sites only in the presence of adults. Consider keeping the computer and/or tablet in a shared space, such as a home office or living room. Stay aware of the content of pop-up ads to ensure they’re age-appropriate.
  
  
• For tweens and teens: Regularly review your kids’ social media apps on their cell phones. Be cautious about allowing access to apps like Snapchat, where messages “disappear” after a certain amount of time. Periodically check text threads for signs of bullying or negative peer pressure.

3. Adopt Parental Controls

• Help kids resist the temptation to over-engage with popular digital sites like TikTok or YouTube by setting daily screen time limits.
• Use apps like Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link. These apps enable you to set overall screen time limits and app-specific time limits.
• For older kids, consider adding additional paid monthly monitoring through parental control software like Bark, Qustodio or Net Nanny.

In addition to screen time limit capability, monitoring apps allow parents to block certain apps and websites and filter the content their kids can access. They also monitor kids’ texts and emails for signs of cyberbullying, sexual content or threats by online predators.

4. Discuss the Danger of Online Predators

• Teach kids to never share personal information — like their real name, age, school, or home location — in online gaming platforms or in other social media settings where strangers could access those details.
• Remind children to block “friend” requests from people they don’t know.
• Make sure they know not to chat online with strangers.
• Ideally, kids should only share digital communication with family and friends they know in real life.
• Stress the importance of never sharing personal, unclothed photos online. Sit teens down and discuss the dangers of “sexting” even with someone they’re dating.

When private images enter the digital space, you lose personal control of them. Someone could use the photos for cyberbullying or even sextortion. This is when predators threaten to distribute sensitive photos unless victims pay a ransom.

5. Watch for Negative Mental and Emotional Effects

• Excessive online use may cause increased anxiety and depression among teens. Kids can get caught in loops of unhealthy comparisons about their reality versus what others promote online. This can lead children to develop negative feelings about their appearance and/or social status.

• Exposure to cyberbullying — even by former friends — can cause kids to withdraw from activities they used to enjoy. Negative online exposure can prompt some kids to experiment with risky behaviors like drug use, underage drinking, self-harm, or unhealthy dieting fads.

• Parents should look for signs of these negative emotional impacts and step in when they occur. If kids experience anxiety, depression, withdrawal, sadness, or excessive risk-taking, discuss the root cause and possible solutions. Find ways to make their digital use more self-affirming.

6. Keep an Open Dialog

• Talk with kids about age-appropriate online content — and how to recognize content not meant for kids. Encourage kids to come to you or another trusted adult if they are exposed to pornography or other illicit content online.

• Ensure kids know that they can tell you if they feel threatened online for any reason. Assure them that you’ll help them resolve the issue, especially when it involves cyberbullying, possible exposure to online predators or other threats.

• Finally, have frequent conversations about maintaining a safe online presence as your kids grow. Threats constantly evolve and shift as predators try new tactics. It helps to stay aware of online scams and alert your kids to these changes.

Safe online behavior is a learned skill, so it’s important to model and discuss it frequently. By talking openly, you can help kids develop critical thinking strategies to spot and stay ahead of potential online dangers.

Talk with your children today about strategies to stay safe online and visit Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program for more resources on Internet safety.