Keeping children safe online

Ever since the first coronavirus outbreak, the affected sectors in every country were education, as schools, colleges and universities were abruptly closed.

The situation was also not exception due the shifting of education to the online platforms and remote education in Pakistan

This unexpected scenario became extremely challenging for the children and parents, who are not acclimated to the digital transformation.

To tackle the challenge, the government has launched a communications campaign to educate the public over the use of the internet, its contents and the need for children’s online safety.

The campaign with the recipient name (GOP) aims to generate grass-root level awareness about how parents can maintain child safety over the internet.

This awareness communications campaign is executed by sending a text messages to the mobile consumers across Pakistan

The text message has highlighted the right of the underage narrated that ‘every child has the right to socialise and acquire knowledge via electronic means (internet).’ In the next part of the text, they schooled parents to ‘keep an eye on the teenagers’ advising them to ‘supervise their child’s online contacts and information search.’

Bol News contacted Bushra Iqbal Hussain to know about the impact of digital transformation across Pakistan. Hussain is a Islamabad-based journalist trainer and also running the Mahfooz Bachpan (Safe Children) campaign on social media.

The Mahfooz Bachpan activist explained safe childhood along with goal direction and stated that Safe cyber spaces for children are very important because they are almost shifting towards digital transformation and almost every child is using digital devices She was of the view that when children are using digital devices, which gives them ‘unlimited’ access to the internet ‘without recognising good or bad’. “Childhood is a life stage when we all need protection at home, school and playground or open public spaces,” Hussain added.

The children’s rights activist lauded to create awareness because in the time of digital transformation, children should be made aware first about internet consumption but the most important task is to inform parents and teachers about the need for safe spaces in the cyber world.

She stressed that parents need to review and update their information and be aware about contemporary online threats. “We can only secure our children when we would know about the safe practices like safe browsing, securing data from venerability and so on.”

She elaborated that technology is constantly changing and it’s good practice for parents to keep up to date with how children access and consume information across the internet.

The campaigner spoke about drawing attention towards economic activities on the internet and shared that these days one more activity is increasing which is that minors are earning via freelancing on the internet.

She claimed that parents do not even know how to restrict their children on the internet while on the other hand children are becoming independent, which may cause serious consequences for society.

Hussain explained that the children who were spending more time in the virtual world were cutoff from the ‘real’ world. “And in this situation, the child will not survive or be ready to face the challenges of the real world.”

Bol News reached out to Inam Ullah Khan to learn about the safe cyber spaces for children and parents.  He is a researcher of Information technology and also working as a lecturer in Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan.

He shared that the Internet can be ‘wonderful’ for children but online access also comes with risks like inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and online predators. “To deal with, there are some basic guidelines to share with your children and parents for safe online use.”

Basic guidelines for children

The awareness campaign suggests that the minors learn to follow the family rules, and those set by the internet service provider. Children should never post or trade personal pictures. Moreover, they should never reveal personal information, such as address, phone number, or school name or location.

In addition to this, the minors were advised to use only a screen name and not share passwords (other than with parents). Children should never agree to get together in person with anyone met online without parent approval and/or supervision. It was better for the minors to never respond to a threatening email, message, post, or text. And they should always tell a parent or other trusted adult about any communication or conversation that was ‘scary or hurtful.’

Adult supervision

Parents were suggested to spend time online together to teach their children appropriate online behaviour and keep the computer in a ‘common area’ where they can watch and monitor its use, not in individual bedrooms. Monitor any time spent on smartphones or tablets.

The parents should also bookmark children’s favourite sites for easy access and check their credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges. Moreover, the parents should find out what, if any, online protection is offered by their child’s school, after-school centre, friends’ homes, or any place where children could use a computer without their parents’ supervision.

In addition to this, it was advised that the parents take their child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable online exchange.

Khan stressed the need to watch for warning signs of a child being targeted by an online predator. These can include spending long hours online, especially at night, phone calls from people you don’t know, unsolicited gifts arriving in the mail, your child suddenly turning off the computer when you walk into the room and withdrawal from family life and reluctance to discuss online activities.

The researcher concluded with a comment to talk to your children by an open line of communication and make sure that they feel comfortable turning to you when they have problems online.