By Gavin Boyle
Internet safety expert CJ Scarlet explained how the biggest threat to a child’s safety online is an unprepared parent who has not equipped them for today’s world.
“Parents not educating themselves about all of the dangers, not talking with their kids about them (in a way that’s empowering and not frightening), and not teaching their kids specific ways to avoid and protect themselves from dangerous people and situations,” Scarlet said when explaining how unprepared parents leave their kids open to danger.
“Parents not establishing strong rules around the websites and apps their kids visit and the amount of time they spend online. More time online equals greater exposure to threats like predatory grooming, sexting, sextortion, etc.,” Scarlet continued. “Parents falsely believing that their kids will tell them if someone says or does anything inappropriate or frightening. In general, kids don’t tell their parents about dangers because they feel afraid, embarrassed, or ashamed — or because they’ve been threatened with violence if they do.”
While it can feel daunting to stay educated on the ways predators target kids online, thankfully there are hundreds of sources helping parents do just that.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), for example, publishes a yearly list of twelve popular companies that either enable sexual exploitation or are not working to stop it from happening on their platforms. Last year’s list includes Apple, Spotify, Meta and Roblox, among others, all of which most kids use on a daily basis.
Other internet safety experts, like those at Gabb, provide suggestions for games and apps that parents should avoid letting their kids use, oftentimes naming mainstream programs that millions of kids engage with every day.
Meanwhile, Movieguide® helps parents monitor the content their kids consume and warns them when things like violence, foul language, sex and nudity are present in TV shows and movies. Parents should be particularly careful with allowing their kids to engage with this adult content as comfort with it can open them up to exploitation in other parts of their life. As Movieguide®’s founder Dr. Ted Baehr explains:
Not only do children see the media differently at each stage of development, but also different children are susceptible to different stimuli. As the research of the National Institute of Mental Health revealed many years ago, some children want to copy media violence, some are susceptible to other media influences, some become afraid, and many become desensitized. Just as an alcoholic would be inordinately tempted by a beer commercial, so certain types of media may tempt or influence your child at his or her specific stage of development.
Thus, while it can seem overwhelming for parents to become experts on internet safety, they thankfully don’t have to. Rather, parents should educate themselves and follow the advice of experts to keep their children safe online.
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