How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online

When it comes to the summer break, you prepare your kids with all the outdoor safety rules: wear a hat, never swim in the pool unsupervised, look both ways before crossing the road, don't forget your helmet – the list goes on. But what about their online safety? Chances are, they’re spending just as much time socializing with their friends online as they do outside, and there is most certainly a lot they need to learn about staying safe there. So, if you haven’t had that safety talk with them yet, it’s never too late, and we’ve got the tips to get you started:  

How to protect their privacy online  

First, it’s important that they protect their privacy online, both to avoid getting hacked or having their accounts taken over, and to protect themselves from strangers online. You can help them with the following settings:  

• Set their profiles to private. If they have access to any social media accounts, make sure that their profiles are set to private, and are not publicly shared or accessible. You can also monitor who’s following their profiles to ensure that only friends and family have access to their posts.  

• Monitor the permissions settings of the apps they have installed. More specifically, you can disable ad tracking across different apps, to ensure that they’re not being bombarded with ads for products or services you may not want them having access to (or worse – nagging you about all summer).  

Online Safety Dos and Don'ts

Other than phone settings, you also need to teach them personally about the dos and don’ts of online safety, such as:  

• Not sharing their address, phone number, or location online. This is also important when uploading posts or stories on social media – they can mention vague or broad locations, but nothing specific.  

• Not talking privately to anyone they don’t know online or reporting such messages to you if they get one.  

• Not clicking on any links sent to them over text or email. Avoiding phishing scams is hard enough for those of us who have been online for years and is one of the most valuable lessons new online users can learn. You can walk them through common phishing scams, and how to look out for them.  

• Beware of which apps they install and upload their photos to. In the past few years, photo editing and AI-generation have blown up, but they can also lead to the use of their likeness, or the generation of deepfakes. It’s advised to simply be aware of which apps/tools they’re using and only allow the ones you trust/can set appropriate permissions to.  

How to monitor their online activity 

You can equip them with all the knowledge and skills, but if having some more concrete boundaries in place will help you sleep better at night, there are apps for that:  

1. Bark  
   This is a comprehensive parental control app that allows you to monitor their online activities across their social media apps, messaging apps, web browsing, and more. It can also track their location, block certain websites, and send you alerts.  
   Only disadvantage is that it’s not a free option, with their lowest tier subscription starting at $5/month.  

2. Qustodio  
   Similarly, this app can also monitor web and app usage, location tracking, and help you set time limits if you’re looking to limit screen time in general, but to get the messaging and calls monitoring, you’d have to opt for the more expensive $99.95/year plan.  

3. Google Family Link (Android) and Apple Screen Time (iOS) 
   If you’re looking to have a more passive role in their online activity monitoring, you can also use Google’s and Apple’s built-in parental control settings to limit screen time, track their location, set app limitations or approvals (such as a password to install certain apps), and set bedtime settings even (so they can’t scroll their phone past a certain time of the day). And BIG pro: it’s free (our favorite word).  

A safe summer is the best kind of summer, and just because they're online doesn't mean they can't enjoy it without your peace of mind.