Do you know about the term Digital Footprint?
In this tech-centric era, the Internet is a crucial part of our daily lives. Every age group is connected to the Internet. Ironically, scores of Internet users are kids and teens who do not know about Digital Footprints. These are digital traces they leave of every activity we perform on the Internet. These traces are never erased and can be dangerous in the future.
How can parents save their children from the gloom-ridden effects of Digital Footprints?
In the following article, we have discussed the subject of digital footprints in detail and ways of managing Digital Footprints.
What are Digital Footprints?
Every time we use the Internet, we leave a trail of footprints behind. While using social media, browsing through the Internet, sending an email, or shopping online. These all together portray your online life.
These Digital Footprints do not erase and are there forever. In the future, the traces of online activity can have negative repercussions on your young ones’ lives. Online predators and scammers track your child’s digital footprints easily and use it against your kid’s privacy. Hence, parents need to take active steps to keep their kids safe from these anti-social effects.
Things Every Parent Should Teach Their Kids About Digital Footprints Safety
Here are some points that every parent should note to ensure that your child is aware about digital footprints and safety practices.
1.Do Not Visit Websites That Have Disturbing Content
Digital Footprints even record the single click that took the kid to a website with disturbing content. Hackers create these websites in a way that attracts kids. Parents can educate their children about how hackers can use this information to fulfil their ill intentions. Even a single wrong click can result in huge data breaches and identity theft.
2.Turn ON Social Media Privacy Settings
Time and again we have heard about data breaches from social media sites. A lot of information is shared through it, and with public accounts the amount of information is innumerable. Hence, parents should educate their kids about the privacy settings on social media. Kids should turn On their privacy settings, make their social media accounts private, and add only known individuals as friends and followers.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: How Do Parents Make Sure That Kids Are Safe Online?
3.Be Responsible On Social Media
The posts you share on social media, the comments you leave on others’ posts, and the likes and shares you click are all part of the digital footprint. This information remains there until it is removed. Even deleted posts and comments are stored on social media sites as social media footprints. Parents should educate kids about the repercussions of sharing irresponsibly on social media. They should make sure that kids are responsible while using social media. Also, parents should make them aware and safe from social media apps that will put them in danger.
4.Should Have Strong Passwords
A strong password is the most basic security measure kids should take. It is the security key to all the activities on the internet. A hard-to-remember and strong password is the shield against any security breach on the internet. Parents should make their kids aware of the importance of a strong password. The password should be a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters and should be different for different platforms.
Make Them Aware To Investigate Themselves On The Internet
You can make your kids search for themselves on search engines Google or Bing. This would make them believe that a digital footprint is a real thing. By investigating themselves on the Internet, they would discover the information which is available and open to the world. Hackers compile this information to use against them. Hence, minimizing the information available publicly is a strengthening step towards managing their digital footprint.
How To Save Your Child From Negative Digital Footprints?
1.Keep Track Of Web Browsing History
There is a lot of information available on the Internet which might be inappropriate for your child’s mind. The hackers and predators attract kids to click on the links that might have inappropriate content. You can track the web browsing history of your child. Parental control software brings all the tracking history information to the parents with real-time and date stamps.
2.Keep An Eye On Their Social Media Activities
Kids at a young age have too much information on their social media platforms. This information may also include personal information like your address, phone number, bank account details, date of birth, etc. Hackers often use this information against kids. You should monitor these activities of your child through social media trackers to prevent them from sharing too much information publicly.
3.Set Alerts On Consuming Disturbing Content
Kids might get inquisitive about harmful content to their growing minds. Using a parental control application, you can set alerts on keystroke logging of specific keywords and restrict sites and applications with disturbing content to reach the kids. Hence, every time your child tries to search for disturbing content, the software will send you an alert.
4.Monitor Apps Or Files Downloads
There are many ways kids can get exposed to fake, inappropriate, or harmful content. This kind of content is often built to lure kids. For managing the Digital Footprints of kids, you should monitor the applications and files your kid is downloading. Parental control apps like TiSPY give you access to all the applications and files on your kid’s device to check the nature of its content.
5.Analyze Your Child’s Behavior
In cases of cyberbullying kids are unable to share their worries with Parents. But, parents should monitor and analyze the child’s behaviour. Keeping an eye on how the child is interacting with others, eating habits, and other things will help. Parents should build a bridge to help kids cope with their worries easily.
Conclusion
Awareness about the concept of Digital Footprints is scarce around us. The hackers often track and compile these footprints to use them against us. Managing Digital Footprints is possible with the safe use of the internet. Parents need to take active participation in their child’s digital lives. They can educate their child about the Digital Footprints safety tips for a safer browsing environment.
Smart measures to ensure safe device usage by your children.
