A recent survey revealed that 51.5% of South African children have been cyberbullied.
“The reason for this is the increase in connected societies, more and more people are online, especially the youth,” says Simon Campbell-Young, co-founder and VP of global sales at Digimune. “There is clearly a lack of good cyber education and defensive tools.
With this in mind, here are four tips to protect you and your family:
1. Remember that education is key
This is the first awareness step. The vast majority of children have access to a wide variety of online devices — either shared or their own device — from a young age. By the age of 10, 30.5% of children have their own smartphone and 41.5% have access to a shared smartphone.
It is thus imperative to take time to go about the internet – the good and the bad. This is the first step. Good cyber education also exists as well as defensive tools that can help protect you and your family. It’s important to know about them and to think about these tools as an option.
2. Limit the time spent on the Internet
Cyberbullying has increased in SA during lockdown as more and more family members spend longer periods online. Parents are also allowing their kids to spend more time online, which has been an overspill from the last 12 months, in terms of online education.
While you may not be able to reduce the amount of time your children spend on their devices, consider limiting their access to the Internet.
3. Be cautious of the information you share online
A number of cases have occurred locally and abroad where kids have had indecent imagery of themselves uploaded onto social media platforms.
Sharing less information online, being aware of the signs and managing your digital footprint can help you protect kids from becoming victims of cyberbullying.
4. Monitor your children’s devices
A lot of parents feel overwhelmed within cyberspace and it is normal. Parents should use an advanced threat notification solution to monitor devices and content.
