Use VPN for Protecting your Child Online
Internet usage has never been limited to a certain age or gender. It is available for everyone. People work in every family in developing and developed countries, and their only escape is on the internet. Be it browsing or watching Netflix and things similar to that. The same goes for children as well. They tend to watch much stuff on the internet, browse, play games and use communication sites to contact their friends. And in this pandemic, it has increased to a more considerable amount as children do not get to play outside and spend most of their time at home. At this point, using the internet is more of a necessity than a luxury. When most parents work and children are unsupervised on the internet, many things could go wrong. But those have a solution. Today, this article will inform you about all the possible ways your child might be in a situation online and the solutions that follow.
The Dangers on The Internet
There could be many ways a person might fall into a trap and lose a lot that is at stake. And children are the easiest target. But with the proper guidelines, it is solvable. So, in the initial part of the article, we will focus on the problems that might occur when someone, more specifically a child, might face them.
1. CyberBullying
Bullying is never good, and when it comes to getting bullied online, it can’t be more ridiculous. There could be various reasons why a person might get bullied online. To make fun of anything, someone said just for the sake of it. The worst ones which children mostly face are because of their looks. This has a destructive impact on a child’s confidence and mental health. An older person might still grip their emotions, but a child is most likely to suffer from anxiety and depression since they tend to hide it.
2. CyberPredators
There are groups of people sitting there behind the computer screen for one slip up and what is a better target than children and teens. Teens think with their emotions more and often take drastic decisions, leading to many cybercrimes. Cyber predators wait just for this opportunity and attack at the right time. Unfortunately, it’s too late when a parent or an older adult realizes the situation. And as for children, they are friendly, and while browsing, they trust anyone to talk to and make friends. However, little do they know, and these sponges are here to snatch the right opportunity and blackmail these innocent souls.
3. Accidental Download
Children play games and watch streams mainly on the browser, and ads popping up on the screen are pretty natural. What is not natural is that one wrong click can lead to an unnecessary malware download. Even if your device has an anti-virus, it is difficult to avoid these sorts of pop-ups. Again, this is not a coincidence. Instead, this activity has a target audience who will easily fall into the trap. Downloading one wrong malware can lead to losing vital data from your laptop or computer and incur issues in your work life. Of course, children would not comprehend what went wrong, but the deed will be done when anyone finds out about the virus.
The Ways to Protect your Kids Online
There are solutions too. Protecting your kids online is easy. All you need is a good source of information and most secure VPN connection. With the right choice, you can always protect your child from the negativity of the internet world.
1. Basic Guidelines
You can teach your child to follow fundamental guidelines while using the internet.
● Not using phone while studying or during movies and family time
● Not allowing phones late at night alone
● Check for unusual gifts arriving that could be bought online
● Make your children communicate a lot with your family and make sure they are not withdrawing from interactions
● Tell them to avoid talking to random people
These are not too hard to follow, but maintaining it is a difficult job for sure, and as parents, it should not be much of a challenge for you.
2. Sharing Personal Information
It is usual for children to give away strangers’ locations and information online. Children are innocent and trust other people easily. This is dangerous. Educate your children that giving private information to any stranger may lead to various crimes.
3. Monitor Internet Usage
There are various applications available for you to download to check what your kid is doing online. Keeper is one of them. It keeps track of what apps were used or which browsers were visited. You can also make an account only limited to children so that even if they want, they cannot visit browsers that are age-restricted.
4. WiFi Security
Securing your WiFi was a difficult task, probably even a few years ago. However, now the revolution has brought us a fantastic solution that goes by Virtual Private Network or VPN. VPNs are convenient to use, and they provide security anywhere and anytime. When you connect your devices with a VPN, it automatically changes your IP to something that cannot be deduced. You can do the same with the device your child is using. Connecting a VPN will ensure that your child is hidden from any unknown intrusion.
5. Social Media Prevention
The dangers of social media are unimaginable. It is very easy to get exploited once you are made the target. Unfortunately, teens and children are the easiest targets of them all. But thankfully, there are options for having absolute security. Educate your children to lock their profiles, not accept messages from unknown people and not share their location. This is also covered by a VPN. Even if they do share, they can always connect a VPN and remain a mystery to anyone who’s trying to mob some information.
6. Streaming websites
Streaming websites are collectively the best and worst creation out there. Best, because it has uncountable content. Worst because the ad pop-ups are pretty disturbing, not only that, if only once the ad is clicked, it can lead you to many unnecessary and age-inappropriate websites which can be scarring for a child. To avoid that, you can connect to a VPN. VPNs can block ads and provide encryption to save you from downloading unknown malware and viruses. It is essential to not only protect your child, but it is also vital to protect your devices and information.
7. Gaming Apps
In the aforementioned subtopic, we said how ads annoy us and how one wrong click can lead to something bad. Gaming apps tend to bring in a lot of viruses to the device. Now, this virus can mean all of your information gone in a zit. Hackers collect information through just one wrong click. Your child might not understand and click on a link and that will be enough for you to be doomed. A VPN will always protect you from this misery. As mentioned before, it will protect your device and won’t allow any guests in your computer.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, no matter how many software’s and tools you install for the safety of your child, it is never enough. The solution starts with you. You have to educate your children about all the negative things there are on the internet. Children learn fast, and they can warn themselves fast too. Their safe space is their parents, and you as a parent need to be aware of all the dangers there could be lurking around for your child. Be safe, stay protected.
