Image description: A laptop displays a group chat, in which multiple small windows with different personas are visible.

Safer Internet Day is observed in early February by a variety of organizations around the world. Every year, different topics become forefront, from how to create safe passwords to navigating scams and fraudulent activity.

In working together to create a better internet for youth, our blog is here to share some resources about cybersecurity tips for kids, with additional information about various platforms and how they are used.

Children can be particularly vulnerable to online dangers such as cyberbullying, grooming, and exposure to inappropriate content, no matter the age or level of tech literacy. Children may not be aware of the importance of protecting their personal information online, the impact their online actions can have on themselves or their families, or how to reach out should they be in the midst of a cyberbullying, harassment, identity theft, or other serious online incident.

Internet usage and access, especially with the adoption of online learning, has made digital literacy an irrevocable aspect of any young person’s life. The concerns and platforms below can affect youth of different age groups, from children, tweens, teens, and young adults.

Taking the Clickbait

Image description: A person navigates their computer using a touch pad.

Many games and videos contain links, ads, and suggested content that pop up while young people are enjoying it. Many modern sites and apps are also algorithmically designed to curate appealing content to keep viewers peeled to their screens.

Ads in mobile apps may be intended to compel consumers to purchase an ad-free version of an app, or buy more in-game credits to continue playing. Ads and suggested content can also lead to paying for, or watching, content you didn’t initially intend to watch.

For young children, supervising your child when they are watching or playing games is a great step to avoid these pitfalls. Depending on whether you’re using a computer or a tablet, you can also turn off the option to make purchases over your phone, or keep purchasing info on a password or biometric (eg. fingerprint) lock.

Supervise young children’s internet activity where possible.
Teach/model your children when it comes to ads, and not clicking every ad that pops up as you play games, watch videos, or read articles online.
Model/regulate with your child when a favorite free game reaches a timer, or a running out of credits/chances to continue playing (this is a very common mechanic of many free-to-play phone and tablet games)
Turn off purchasing options for games or apps, keep it under a password or biometric (eg. fingerprint) lock. Apple has an in-between option for families called Ask to Buy, where kids can send a request for a purchase to a parent or guardian.
Related resource: My Child Made Expensive In-App Purchases. What Should I Do?

Live Streaming and Video Sharing

Image description: A corner of a laptop, with the Youtube dashboard visible.

Watching videos online is one of the most popular online activities for youth. Youth may watch videos on sites such as YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, Disney+, CrunchyRoll, and more.

The near-immediate access to entertainment and information is widely cherished among families, but children can accidentally become exposed to inappropriate content when choosing what’s next to watch. Many video hosting sites don’t provide restrictive or parent controlled options, and may have mature video content also on those platforms.

As kids get older, they may be more interested in live streaming sites such as Twitch. They may enjoy watching specific streamers play video games online, or they may be interested in live streaming and sharing their own creativity with others. However, live streaming is seldom sharing content with just friends, and the age range of these audiences varies widely, from children to older adults.

Does your child watch a favorite streamer online?

Digital media—and the COVID-19 pandemic—have set the stage for millions of youth to seek connection and socialization online.

If your child is a fan of any specific streamer, they may feel compelled to share personal information about themselves to a streamer or to other fans of that streamer. Because of the live nature of broadcasting, even if it is a regularly scheduled stream, anything can happen, including explicit language, sexual content, or violence.

Familiarize yourself with the websites, games and apps your child enjoys, and review if they have privacy settings, parental controls, and how to report inappropriate content if it arises.
Many websites, games and apps have specific Terms of Service that do not allow children under 13 to have an account.
Help your child set up their own privacy settings. For example, if they would like to (and are old enough to) have a Twitter account, go through privacy settings with them to secure the account, restrict who views the content, and limit who can send messages to them.
Monitor what they may search for, how they search for it, or you be the search engine for the child, to help a much younger child find something online.
Preview videos your child is interested in, before letting your child watch.
Preview and visit any applicable websites of the streamers and online personalities your child likes to watch. For some online creators, streaming is a full-time job where they may have a more curated and moderated ‘fandom’ or community. For others, they may stream more mature content, may curse or use vulgar language in their streaming videos, or their online communities may be more unregulated.

Choose child-friendly video and gaming hubs, or turn off autoplay in hubs where inappropriate content may accidentally be cued.
Set limits on how much time a child spends watching videos.

Cameras

Image description: A phone is mounted on a stand, with a landscape visible through its screen.

Camera are ubiquitous nowadays—what used to be an expensive, separate device in your bag from your phone is now an expected, built-in feature of just about every tablet and phone available.

Cameras are a great way for children to be creative, as well as communicate with families and friends. However, in some apps like Snapchat, pictures and videos can still be captured and forwarded to others, despite saying that content is only temporarily shared.

Be careful what pictures you share: A license plate, shop logo, and other identifiers in the background of a child’s selfie can immediately convey where they are located.

Some cameras and camera apps will also upload images to cloud storage, or have quick sharing options to send images to others.

Check if specific camera and image-sharing apps have privacy settings that can limit who can see photos or videos.
Monitor your child’s use of cameras, and who they post and exchange pictures and videos to. If they need it, model how to use cameras appropriately.
If your child has had picture(s) of them circulated without consent, be patient with the situation—scroll down to the bottom for more resources on exploitation incidents.
Talk to your child about how to take ‘safe’ pictures: Pictures that don’t show traffic signs, store logos/addresses, and other personalizing info that can give away information such as the location of where the image was taken—and therefore, where your child is at that time.

Texting and Messaging

Image description: A person texts on their phone.

Texting friends and family is the growing norm nowadays, with all sorts of chat apps that are built-in to phones, or additional downloadable apps for entire chat servers. Your child may be chatting and texting you, their friends, or internet friends/strangers online (eg. Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Discord, Guilded).

In online environments, it isn’t always readily apparent who children are talking to. Personal boundaries can be crossed, creating the possibility to share hurtful, inappropriate, or personal information.

Once messages are sent, messages can be easily saved with others, children may accept friend requests from people they don’t know in person, and even apps that are meant to only temporarily share info can be captured and forwarded outside a child’s control.

Help your child when creating a screen name, nickname, or passwords. Avoid nicknames that give implications about your child’s real life self (eg. adding numbers like ‘QiCreative06’ which can imply age, or ‘Liz’ if your real name is Elizabeth—even trying to use a middle name can make doxing attempts easier, should your child’s name be revealed)
Check an app’s terms of use if your child is not old enough to use a chat app, and stick to that boundary. Research if the app has a solid reporting pathway for if a user receives inappropriate messages.
Check if the app your child uses is set up so that no one can attempt to speak to your child without their permission. In some apps like Twitter, this involves avoiding receiving messages from users your child does not follow, or auto-filters of spam messages.

Prepare and Prevent

Image description: Two people sit together, looking at a laptop screen.

We hope this was an interesting explorer of cybersecurity tips for kids, looking into the variety and nature of ways youth enjoy and engage with the online world, as well as the risks that can arise.

Some safety risks are self-initiated (eg. clicking on something inappropriate by accident), some can be brought about by friends and bullies at school, and by other bad actors such as complete strangers over the internet.

Children today are raised in a media environment more complex than those of even one generation ago. We cannot predict every possible avenue of risk and security, but the more you know, the better—and the best way to fight some of the most challenging risks online is by prevention and education.

In some of the most dangerous forms of online attacks (eg. sextortion), there is a safe way out. Below are some additional resources from expanding your internet safety knowledge to fighting online bullying, extortion and abuse.

Additional Resources

Image description: A robotic rabbit and robotic cat pose next to a trophy. These are graphics from Spoofy.ee, a cyber security game for kids.

Cybertip.ca is Canada’s national tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children. Parents or young people can use the online report form or call the toll-free number, 1-866-658-9022 to report any threats or extortion.
Be Internet Awesome is an initiative by Google to help prepare kids to make smart decisions online. Through a variety of tools and resources, kids gain the fundamentals to explore their online worlds with confidence.
NeedHelpNow.ca helps teens stop the spread of exploitation incidents (Eg. a picture of video is shared online without consent). NeedHelpNow.ca is loaded with informative tipsheets and is available for assistance.
ProtectKidsOnline helps parents and caregivers stay on top of the digital world with advice for various age-ranges and stages. Parents can also sign up for Cybertip.ca alerts, where new online risks to children and youth are identified and shared.
Spoofy is a game that teaches children the dangers of the internet through various activities. Your character travels to various locations across the earth to repair their spaceship and save the world as a cyber hero. Includes a downloadable certificate to print for completing it!
Zoe & Molly Online is a collection of comic books, a game, and online safety tips for kids.
Don’t Get Sextorted is an educational site about extortion for older teens and young adults, mixing humor with serious lesson plans and resources.
The Amanda Todd Legacy Society is a non-profit society that focuses on prevention and awareness related to bullying and cyberbullying, online safety and exploitation. Dark Cloud: the high cost of cyberbullying (2020) is a documentary made by TELUS in collaboration with Amanda’s mother, Carol Todd.
Mediated Reality provides social media education for businesses, as a Keynote event, a Professional Development session, or as a conference host. Mediated Reality has provided social media education in schools across Western Canada.
Media Smarts is Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy. Remember the House Hippo commercial? You can watch that video and explore other resources and free digital skills workshops. Media Smarts is packed with relevant topics, including: Exploitation, Diversity in Media, Body Image, Video Sharing, and more.
How to Protect Your Child or Teen from Identity Theft: Cybersecurity Best Practices is a collection of child safety tips from UT Austin.