Category: Online Safety for Kids

WhatsApp is a renowned app that is used by a huge number of individuals all over the world. WhatsApp is mostly used for communication, exchanging pics, videos, audio, etc., among families and friends. This social media tool also has its business usage, as it enables the sharing of documents, files, locations, and many more for business purposes.

However, WhatsApp is widely trending among teens and kids. They love to share pics, videos, memes, GIFs, texts, etc., with their friends and families. WhatsApp also has audio and video call features, making it more popular and exciting. But, Is it safe for kids?

As a parent, you want to ensure your kid’s safety from physical or digital threats and dangers. As WhatsApp is one of your kid’s favorite social media platforms and uses it more often, you must be curious about this social media app and its risks.

You’ll need to monitor WhatsApp with your kids to safeguard them from any digital threats. In this article, we’ve included answers to all of your questions related to WhatsApp and methods of how you can protect your kids.

What Is WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is a social media messaging application that allows users to communicate with one another using their mobile devices. The program is free to use because it uses standard internet data.

It is compatible with all major smartphone platforms. Users must first create and confirm their account with a normal mobile phone number to use the app. In addition to phone and video calls, WhatsApp allows users to share photos, voice notes, emojis, location, etc.

WhatsApp is a prominent instant messaging software with over one billion downloads and is the most widely used app worldwide. Is it, however, secure for your kids to use? Although WhatsApp allows users to communicate, there are certain security risks when kids use it. This article will address these issues and provide a solution.

Is WhatsApp Safe For Kids?

WhatsApp can be risky and unsafe for kids and teens, even though it is a beneficial service for many adults. It is not appropriate to think the platform is trouble-free and overlook the necessity for monitoring.

Some kids and teens prefer WhatsApp to be normal messaging because they think their parents are unfamiliar with it. As a result, kids and teens may feel that they will not be caught sending inappropriate WhatsApp messages.

Apart from this, as we all know, the internet is full of online predators, spammers, hackers, and many other internet-based criminals. These criminals can lure your kids into unethical activities or can leak their crucial information and data. Pedophiles can also target your kids via WhatsApp, or your kids can be a target of spammers, cyberbullying, fake news, etc.

Like any other texting or messaging service, WhatsApp can be used to transmit and receive offensive photos and videos. It can also be used for cyberbullying and propagating rumors on the internet because of its group chat features and ability to effortlessly forward messages to multiple friends.

What Are The Risks Associated With WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is not completely secure for kids; there are risks and dangers of WhatsApp if used without proper guidance and knowledge. WhatsApp is also considered a platform for spammers, hackers, pedophiles, and other criminal-minded individuals who can lure your kids into inappropriate activities.

Here’s a list of some of the  potential risks associated with WhatsApp:

1.    Cyberbullying:

Kids use WhatsApp primarily for group texts, and they can accommodate groups of up to 250 kids. So if a piece of fake information or rumor is spread, a harsh comment is made, or a fight arises, things can quickly escalate and spill outside of the WhatsApp context.

2.    Sexting:

Although there are other popular apps that are used for sexting, such as Snapchat, Kik Messenger, and Burnnote, sexting is another bad side effect of kids using WhatsApp. Unfortunately, WhatsApp is powerless to control this content. You, as a parent, must be aware that this circumstance exists and that it can have an impact on your kids.

3.    Privacy Breach:

While kids believe WhatsApp protects their screenshots and other information, this is not the case. You can also download private conversations and photographs. Another threat to privacy is the app’s user data collection, which can be seen.

4.    Fake News and Scams:

Scams and false information abound on social media. Your kids are rarely old enough to distinguish between what is true and what is false. As WhatsApp allows users to communicate in groups of up to 250 people, it’s simple for information to spread quickly, even if it’s incorrect.

5.    Pedophilia:

It is impossible to deny that there are not only decent individuals in the world and that those with terrible motives might appear to be trustworthy friends. Under the pretense of not being loved, they groom kids to defy and reject their parents.

When the kids are unprotected from predators, they can be subjected to sexting, kidnapping, and other forms of abuse.

WhatsApp Safety Tips For Kids

Now that you’ve known about the potential threats associated with WhatsApp, you’ll want to ensure your kid’s safety from those threats and dangers. Keeping your kids safe from internet-based threats and criminals is very crucial.

Here are a few tips for you to ensure your kid’s safety while using WhatsApp:

1.    Download and Discuss The App:

WhatsApp is a simple to use and trending social media platform. Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the app with your kids once you’ve mastered the basics. This can be a beneficial step to ensure your kid’s safety.

2.    Guide Your Kids:

Consider making a personal family WhatsApp group if your kids use WhatsApp. Teach your kids how to create a safe profile, use safety features to their advantage, block unknown persons, and many more. Use this opportunity to tell them about the app’s benefits and drawbacks.

3.    Monitor Your Kid’s devices and Social Media:

When your kids utilize social media applications, there are many things to think about and pay attention to. To begin with, monitoring content, think about using both security and filtering tools.

You can keep an eye on your kid’s screen time and social media activities and actions. You can take the help of third-party parental controls application like MobileSpy or ClevGaurd. However, we recommend using MobileSpy for its vast range of attractive features and affordable price.

4.    Talk About Privacy Settings:

Encourage your kids to choose the two-step verification option, which allows your kid to create a personalized PIN for more security against breaches and hackers. You can also guide them about the importance of privacy settings and help them set up the privacy settings for their WhatsApp accounts.

5.    Avoid Strangers And Strange Links:

If someone outside your kid’s known circle obtains their phone number, they can transmit any content directly to your kid’s WhatsApp. They can use WhatsApp to catfish, trick, or groom individuals.

Discuss the significance of only conversing with individuals they know and trust and blocking messages from strangers with your kid. Stranger’s messages may include explicit content, spyware, spam, or a phishing link.

6.    Control Location Sharing:

When the location sharing option is enabled, your kid’s photograph shared on WhatsApp will include their actual location when the photo was taken. Be careful of this and contemplate disabling location services.

Conclusion

WhatsApp is a useful tool for communicating with friends and families. While WhatsApp is generally a secure messenger service, it’s crucial to discuss expectations and enforce safe online practices before your kid uses it.

However, every family and kid is unique and is permitted to use the app of their personal choice. If your kids are using the application with your permission, one method to help them traverse the risk zone is to have an open and honest dialogue about safety. We’ve included some WhatsApp safety tips for kids in this article.

There are a number of reasons you may want to search to find someone online and you will need a specialized search engine. Google isn’t designed to search public records to do a  background check on a person or help you reconnect with a friend from high school.

Let’s review the multiple situations that a person may want to search for someone. Some searches are to protect our kids, such as learning more about an individual who spends time around your children or you wonder about a suspect neighbor and would like to do a criminal record check.  Less concerning are those searches for people that are not regarding a safety issue.  You may simply be looking to locate a distant relative.

Searching the Deep Web

Google is fine for basic research but not for finding information about people or details the exist in public records that require a login to a database.  However, there is a way to access these records by searching names, along with any other information you may have about them.  A search can also include addresses, phone numbers and email address.

This information on the deep web consists of details gathered from millions of public records cross all states, including arrest records, court records, geology websites, contact records and vital records.

Types of Search

Searches may scan social media data, as well for details that are publicly available and legal to access.  Regular search engines can’t gather these details and even more importantly, the information won’t be organized or cross checked with other data found from many other public sources.

A website that requires payment or grants special permission, such as educational institutions, give access to public records including social network data and deep web information to provide you with a detailed report about the person you want to find or check up on.

What is The Deep Web?

The Deep Web should not be confused with The Dark Web.  The latter is a dangerous and scary place as shown in this article here.  The Deep Web is safe and provides valueable information for research.  It includes private websites that you’ll need permission from and login credentials to access, as well as academic databases.

The Deep Web should not be confused with the Dark Web.  The latter is a dangerous and scary place.  The Deep Web is safe and provides valuable high quality and verifiable information for research on many subjects.  It includes private websites that you’ll need permission from and login credentials to access, websites that require payment, as well as academic databases.  Schools, colleges and universities provide free access to the Deep Web at no cost to educator’s and students.  This video explains it all in more detail.

Background Checks

One of the more popular people search tools is for a background check.  Individuals can learn more about co-workers and acquaintances and whether or not they have secret social media profiles.  Search results include birth and death records, associates of a person, details of where they have lived and verified contact information.  There may be information about education history, employment records, property records, divorce records and civil judgements.  A search may also give details about business ownership and finances, including bankruptcies and tax liens.

Criminal Records Checks

Background checks include searching for a criminal past and sex offender status.   There may be a history of abuse, violence, or traffic records exposing tickets or even a DUI charge.  These details are important if you there is someone new in the life of your family that spends time around your children unsupervised.  There is plenty of attention given to protecting your children against online predators, but a criminal records check will also give parents peace of mind about family acquaintances in our local surroundings.

How People Search Protects Kids

No one likes a nosy neighbor, but you can still be a good neighbor to someone and be concerned about your kids’ well being in the neighborhood. There are other issues too.  Do your kids spend time across the street at a friends house? Do they ever go on a sleep over?

We all have life long friends and family members that we trust our kids with.  However, what about those people in your life that you understand to be upstanding citizens that you don’t know much about.  There are parents you just met on your child’s sports team. Others include relatively new acquaintances you met through your local school.

Your children may be car pooling with their friends to sports events.  They may be going to a friends house after school or overnight at a sleep over.  We want to believe the best about people. Still, sometimes you are not sure.  It’s difficult to monitor your child’s online presence, much less where they are when they are not with you at home. Therefore, doing a background check up on any adult that your child spends time with may be the only way to know for sure if you child is not going into a questionable situation.

Finding Family and Friends

Thanks to technology there have been a lot genealogy websites popping up where you can trace your entire family history using your DNA.  However, you may be only looking for a specific person you already know in your past. If this is the case, you probably don’t want to start the process of finding all your ancestors.

Remember that friend you had in high school?  Where does he, she or they live now?  When you don’t keep up on relatives and years later you want to reconnect, how do you track them down?   Or you call someone in your contacts and the number is no longer in service. They must have moved.

Look up someone you know to find:

• Birth and death records
• Possible relatives and relationships
• Contact information
• Social media profiles
• Deep web details.

Controlling Your Personal Information Online

If someone where to look you up online, what public information would they find about you?  It’s been said, if you don’t have something to hide, why worry?  However, there are privacy issues as well to be concerned about.  As well, you’d be surprised how many people find information about themselves that is not inaccurate.

A public record check of yourself can determine if there is any information about you or someone in your family that needs to be corrected.

Phone Number Look Up to See Who Called You

It finally happened.  Telemarketers have finally figured out that people are cancelling their land lines, or at the very least they are no longer answer them.  Now it’s common to receive multiple calls at day from multiple sources on our cell phones.  Many of these include spoof calls. A spoof call is when a caller masks their call with someone else’s number. Often, these calls are local numbers that look a lot like yours.  There is nothing you can do it about it.  Blocking the call is pointless because the next call like this will be from a different number.

Legitimate telemarketers have permissions to call prospects.  They don’t spoof and usually you can find out who they are.  If you get on the line with a telemarketer you simply need to ask them to remove your from their list.  Legally they have to do it.

Unfortunately, the majority of calls you are getting are not legitimate.  You’ve probably noticed that when you answer, there is no one there. This could be a robocall and very often the purpose of the call is to verify there is a live person who answer.  Your phone number is then verified and can be sold to other scammers.

So, when you eliminate those who are spoofing numbers, there are still many other calls you may want to do a reverse number look up.  There may be real people, whether honorable or shady,  who are consistently calling you from the same number.  It may still be a scammer of some type.  It may be also telemarketers.  The call may be from a collection agency or someone who is harassing you for another purpose.

Deep Web Search ReCap

Public Records | Criminal Background Checks | Addresses and Phone Numbers

Whomever you may be looking for, both online and offline, for safety concerns, curiosity or to connect with old friends or relocated family members, searching the deep web may provide the solution for you.

In 2021, increased screen time was ranked as one of the top three negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, the screen time of teenagers more than doubled from the 2019 numbers, increasing from 3.8 hours per day to 7.7 hours per day the following year, not including screen time necessary for activities like schoolwork or listening to music.

Studies also show that a shocking 50% of teens claim to feel addicted to their phones, and an alarming 72% feel the need to immediately check notifications and messages that they may receive.

Social Media and Screen Usage

This increase in social media and screen usage has led to further detrimental experiences among teenagers in the realm of mental health and bullying. It has been reported that adolescents who use social media more than 3 hours per day are at a heightened risk of mental health issues and other negative side effects such as self-esteem issues, diminished body image, or feelings of isolation and loneliness, or even cyberbullying.

For younger children, medical health experts also advise on special restrictions for toddlers ages 18-24 months, and another set of rules for children ages 2-5.

Unregulated Content

Another significant issue with younger people beginning to use social media more often is the accidental exposure to inappropriate content that is unregulated on the internet. On average, children are first exposed to pornography at age 11, while in general, 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to this type of content while online.

This early exposure can be harmful, as it normalizes unsafe behavior and possible violence, as well as opens the door to the dangerous world of child pornography and sexual abuse. In a shocking 77% increase in just one year, one third of reported child sexual abuse material was self-generated, with 80% of that content coming from 11 to 13 year old girls.

Online Safety for Children

Most parents are worried about their child’s safety online, and support the initiative to create an online environment that is more safe for them and their families. 40% of accidental exposure to inappropriate sexual content online was found by innocently entering simple search phrases into unregulated search engines.

In addition, many young children are exposed to violence prematurely through video games or video content meant for adults. It is not difficult to bypass age verification systems on websites and games, and many of these activities require communication with strangers who are often much older than the child playing.

Guidelines and Limits

Establishing ground rules, good digital habits, enabling parental controls, and keeping an open line of communication with the child are all effective strategies to ensure that minors have a safe and positive experience when using the internet.

Read how parenting styles influence playtime activities offline to help reduce screen time play.

It has been found that the majority of young teens feel more comfortable when their parents use control software to keep them safe online. As the internet and social media continue to develop, there are many options and strategies for families to ensure that their children are having nothing but positive experiences online.

Check out this Infographic of what unlimited screen time can do to kids:

It’s never too early to teach internet safety. Children of every age need to be guided and given boundaries online, including even the youngest family members. Review this internet safety checklist for preschoolers.

Parents did not have to educate their children about laptops’ safe usage in the past. This is because laptops were not easily accessible. And when children did use a laptop, they were no longer children who needed to be taught.  Everything has changed now.

As per research, half of all Two to four-year-olds (53 percent) have used a computer.  If you’re a parent or guardian considering introducing your youngster to computers, here are a few pointers to get you started:

Establish strict basic rules.

You may need to explain to youngsters that a laptop is not a toy, depending on their age. After that, you should set some ground rules for when and how your child may use the gadget. Consider designating a distinct portion of your house as a devoted work location, for example, the desk in the living room or the table in the kitchen.

Determine if an adult should be present in the room or nearby whenever your youngster uses the laptop. You may also want to establish limits on how long your child may use the laptop and the activities they can and cannot do online. We will discuss some of these points in detail further in this article.

Describe appropriate laptop care.

This is a difficult one. We all eat at our desks or read email while sipping coffee, but it’s a good idea to teach your kids to keep drinks and snacks far from the laptop in all circumstances. Also, emphasize that the mouse, keyboard, and other attachments are delicate items that should be handled with care. Explain how dropping a laptop or spilling food or drinks on the keyboard might cause irreversible damage to the device.

Purchase a personal laptop.

You can teach your children how to use laptops and tablets, but accidents are unavoidable. The greatest safeguard is designing special devices for kids to use (perhaps your old ones). If you have a purpose computer that you use for business, keep your children away from it. Chromebooks are low-cost laptop computers that may be suitable for young children.

Use the trackpad to practice.

Using a trackpad often necessitates the use of motor skills and coordination. If your child is young, you might wish to invest in a mouse gadget. If you do, make sure it fits comfortably within your child’s hand. They will have difficulties browsing menus and executing basic activities if they are physically unable to grip or operate a mouse. Keep in mind that whether you use a trackpad or a mouse, you can always modify the cursor speed and sensitivity from the control panel of your laptop.

Choose age-appropriate apps.

Young children whose motor skills are still developing may be unable to utilize programs that need them to click on extremely small things. They may also have difficulty scrolling. Several applications allow you to change your device’s interface containing more prominent icons and kid-friendly options.

Bookmark commonly visited URLs.

For added security, bookmarks are a terrific method for your child to store and organize certain websites and programs so they can quickly revisit them. Talk with your child and save the URLs you believe will be used the most. When you’re finished, show them where to locate the bookmarks and which items to click. Because youngsters can easily recognize programs by their icons, show out where they appear in the address.

Demonstrate to children how to open and log in to applications.

You may need to set things up for very young kids, but you should let them learn independently with little help. Have a printed copy of the login guidelines available until your youngster is familiar with the process.

Making Laptops Safe For Children to Use.

Children in elementary school will almost certainly use technology such as tablets and laptops on a regular basis. Because kids still look to you for guidance, now is a critical moment to establish and reinforce the proper use of technology and its benefits for your family.

Create Child Accounts

Children in this age group may need to use a laptop for schoolwork. The built-in parental controls in Windows (Microsoft Family) and macOS (Parental Controls) can let you establish time restrictions and limit app and web usage.

Privacy

Converse about safety early and very often. Remind children that what they post online remains online and that they should never reveal personal or sensitive information. Kids who have a habit of talking about their online activities are more likely to alert others if something makes them uncomfortable or unhappy in their digital lives.

Cyberbullying

Once children enter elementary school, offline bullying and cyberbullying have become a significant concern. Below is some essential advice for parents to provide to their children:

• Whether online or in-person, do not remain a silent observer if you witness bullying.
• Notify an adult.
• Speak out for the victim in front of the bully.
• Go out of your way to help the victim, such as involving them in your plans or checking in to see if they’re all right.

Laptop accessibility.

You’ll be able to control your kids’ computer exposure and be more involved with them when you keep gadgets in a central area, such as a family room.

Navigate their focus towards productivity.

You can maneuver your child’s technology interests toward productive outcomes. Digital literacy is a skill that is becoming increasingly valuable, and technology may provide fantastic educational and creative opportunities. If your child is interested, check if any classes are available about programming languages, digital design, animation, or other technology-related disciplines that can help them profit from technology and prepare them for the future.

Avoiding Addiction to Technology.

There are two significant early warning indicators you should look for to determine if your child has an unhealthy connection with technology. The first is behavioral, while the second is emotional.

1. On a behavioral level, it’s critical to detect when screens are consuming so much time that there’s no time left for offline activities, physical activity, or social interaction.
2. On the emotional front, it’s critical to detect when children experience emotional distress as a consequence of their online interactions because they’ve been bullied, shunned, or are deeply unhappy.

Keep an eye out if your youngster replaces offline activities he used to like with increased screen time, such as substituting family gatherings with screen time.

Conclusion.

As with other parenting concerns, consistent, honest communication is essential to ensuring that your family reaps the benefits of technology without suffering too many of its disadvantages. The goal is for kids to get the most out of their laptop as a student and at home while remaining safe online.