Internet Safety Guide for Parents

I want to dedicate this post to sharing some new research released last week by Knowthenet called Netspeak. This is not a sponsored post and I am not being compensated for sharing this information. 

Their research has highlighted the digital divide between children/teens and their parents. In an effort to narrow the gap, Knowthenet has produced an NetSpeak PDF 2013 (click to download) to help parents muddle through the murky waters of social media, cyber bullying and cyber slang.  

There’s also a Netspeak quiz for parents to test themselves and an infographic (below) which shares some of the most important points. Please share this post with parents to help get the word out and to encourage them to become educated and empowered to keep their kids safe online. 

I just finished taking the quiz. I make my living in social media and I’m online about 14 hours per day at minimum. I did NOT know the answer to the very first question; “What do you think fraping means?” Gosh, I have. no. idea! I did manage to get six out of eight questions correct. This means I’m 75% proficient in NetSpeak! Watch out kids, I’m on to you!! 

Netspeak

The internet contains the good, the bad and everything in between. As adults, many of us have the tendency to assume children know how to behave, but in fact they can be very vulnerable online, lacking the savvy needed to stay secure and steer clear of danger.

A particular cause for concern is the growing divide between parents and children when it comes to knowledge of the internet and the slang terms associated with it. Very often it’s vulnerable children who are keeping up with changing technology and ‘cyber slang’, leaving parents lagging behind. But for parents, understanding the technology and slang their children are using is essential when it comes to spotting the risks to which kids are exposed online.

We’ve put together this common sense guide to help you learn more about internet lingo and equip you to spot online risks, putting you in a better position to identify potential risks and talk effectively about them with your children. Without this knowledge, you’re far less equipped to understand what your kids are getting up to when they’re sitting on the computer for hours at a time, and far less able to protect them from the very real threats, such as reputation damage and online predators, posed by the internet.

This guide is designed to reveal the main issues children face online, help you spot these risks and set your own boundaries, as well as explaining what to do if you think your child is at risk. We have also included a quick reference guide for children in a clear Q and A format, so they’ll know what to do in a variety of common circumstances, plus a resource list to point you in the right direction for more fine detail, support and specialist advice.