By Rehana Bukhari
ISLAMABAD, Jun 14 (APP):Digital IT expert and entrepreneur Kanwal Cheema warned parents on Saturday to be alert about their children’s irresponsible use of social media and be aware of online harassment issues. There are available digital safety measures on their devices to apply in this fast-paced technological age.
Talking to a private news channel, she advised them to keep a strict watch on their activity on media platforms.
She said, being a Social media influencer, there are many tips and methods for parents to adopt to save them online from getting along with the wrong people.
She specifically addresses issues like the time of their children’s presence on social media and how to sensibly use social media. What to watch on social media? Who is watching you on these platforms? and who is stopping you? How to check bullying or stalking? Who is threatening you? How to launch complaints? How much information should one share on social media? What should be kept in mind while using social media?
She said parents should know when to bring out their children as digitally responsible citizens, adding that they should be in alert mode 24/7.
She said there are many ways to adopt social media carefully to avoid incidents like the Sana Yusuf murder case that happened recently, and it’s alarming for all of us.
Keeping in mind such dangerous incidents, parents should advise their kids not to share or expose their location or any related information about their family with their friends, as there are such creepy people who follow you from any part of the world, she said.
Cyberspace is not a playground for watching pornography, cyber bullying or online crimes,
so efforts should be made to check strictly on their kids, she added.
She informed that there have been introduced many apps and softwares that allow users to control their privacy they share with others and who can watch them.
She advised them about the safe use of Google Family Links, Microsoft Family Safety and many other safe links by the educational institutions to interact with their children.
She said the netizens should create only one account at a time, and this way, online crime cases, harassment online issues can be checked, as on one account, the user is your friend, and on the other account with a changed ID, he can be your foe.
She said in order to avoid online misuse of social media, the privacy settings should be strong and timely be set to avoid harassment.
She said parents should also be in conversation with their children often.
She said the parents should determine how much a kid should spend time or screen time on social media so that he/she should not be cut off from routine life, as it’s good for their mental health.
She said parents should impart necessary education to their children about online safety, but kids are so fast in using technology that they are even ahead of their parents even the parents have to learn technology use from their kids.
She said there are available apps and notification alerts on all social media platforms that parents can use to keep watch on the sensible use of social media by their children, adding that they can be aware of the content they download, as there are permission options in all apps.
She informed that on all social media platforms, there is also an option of allowing or disallowing a person or an age limit to download an app or not, adding that one can lock their devices for their children.
She also enhanced the viewers’ knowledge that there are available apps that guide parents about the right use of an app by their children, i.e Common Sense Media, where they can know whether the app available online is appropriate for their kids to watch or use.
She concluded that the National Cyber Emergency Response Team ( NCERT) had already issued an advisory regarding Digital Media safety for parents.
