Cyber Safety Fact Sheet
What do we need to know as parents in a digital world to help our
children learn and play?
The content of this fact sheet is based on information from existing websites. This fact sheet
is not going to answer all your questions. The digital world is ever changing and as such
information changes at a fast pace. It is up to all of us to continue to monitor use and update
our knowledge.
Three websites that should answer most of your questions as parents or point you in the
right direction are:
www.esafety.gov.au
www.lifeeducation.org.au/tech-tips
www.commmonsensemedia.org
www.thinkuknow.org.au
E‐Safety Basics – keeping your family safe Keeping our personal information safe is the number one e-safety basic.
Personal information is any information or combination of information that enables an
individual to be identified. Your personal information includes your: full name, address,
phone numbers, school, date of birth, email address, username and password, bank details,
photographs.
Many online services that children want to use require users to provide some personal
information in order to use their service. Prior to providing personal information, you should
think about what can be done with your personal information and assess whether you are
still happy to pass on these details. In addition to inappropriate or illegal use of information,
disclosing personal information online can impact your digital footprint.
There are several online activities that will require a level of disclosure of personal
information. These include:
•Shopping
•Subscribing or registering to an app or website: (a red asterisk (*) generally identifies
mandatory fields that are needed to register).
•Competitions, prizes and rewards: often require users to provide extensive personal data —
these are often used by marketers to promote products and services.
•Online games and virtual worlds: these may require users to register before they can begin
to play.
1 8/06/2016 Digital Footprint
Your digital footprint or reputation is defined by your behaviours in the online environment
and by the content you post about yourself and others. Tagged photos, blog posts and social
networking interactions will all shape how you and your child are perceived by others online
and offline, both now and in the future. It is difficult to delete information once it has been
posted. A poor digital reputation can affect friendships, relationships and even job prospects.
Screen Time
With more and more mobile devices in the home it is easy and tempting to stay connected
24 hours a day, seven days a week. But, it is also very important to know how and when to
disconnect. So how much is too much? This varies from person to person with different
impacts. Spending excessive amounts of time online can have significant impacts on health,
family and social life and on academic performance. The following indicators may be signs
that too much time is being spent online
•ongoing headaches, eye strain and sleep disturbance
•constantly talking about particular online programs, such as a gaming site
•withdrawal from ‘real world’ friends and activities
•attributing more importance to online activities and contacts than anything else
•decline in academic performance at school.
Restricting screen time is a strategy we can use as parents and we can also have screen
time in family areas where practical. Families can also return mobile devices to a family
area such as the kitchen bench by a certain time such as bedtime. Each family will have a
different solution for what is a healthy amount of screen time.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is the persistent use of technology to bully a person or group with the intent to
hurt them socially, psychologically or even physically. Cyberbullying can occur in many
ways, including:
•abusive texts and emails
•hurtful messages, images or videos
•imitating others online
•excluding others online
•humiliating others online
•nasty online gossip and chat.
To stop cyberbullying we need to encourage our children talk to someone they trust straight
away—like a parent, sibling, uncle/aunt, teacher or friend, or contact Kids Helpline
•don’t retaliate or respond—they might use it against you
2 8/06/2016 •block the bully and change your privacy settings
•report the abuse to the service and get others to as well
•collect the evidence—keep mobile phone messages, take screen shots and print emails or
social networking conversations
•do something you and your child enjoy—catch-up with friends, listen to good music, watch a
good show or chat online to people you trust
•remember your child didn’t ask for this—nobody deserves to be bullied and you will get
through this.
School has a policy in place to address cyberbullying: Antibullying Policy 2016 and can be
found on the school website. www.belair-public-school/our-school/information-and-booklets.
School should be able to provide support to you and your child, no matter whether the
bullying is from a student at school or not. Talk to a teacher or member of staff you like and
trust.
Social Media
Social media is a variety of tools and methods for interacting and communicating with others
online. Some popular social media tools include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and
Snapchat, and each of these offers a different way to share information, connect with
friends, or collaborate.
For many users of social media, online and offline social life is one and the same and
includes similar highs and lows. What's really unique about social media is how it can enable
users to instantly reach a wide audience, giving all an opportunity to magnify their lives in a
way that's different from the offline experience.
When should I start talking to my children about using social sites and apps responsibly?
As soon as our children begin to go online, we need to explain that the Internet has rules
that must be followed. So when they are pre-schoolers we need to start the conversation.
Here are some suggestions for online interaction to discuss with your child:
•Be a good digital citizen. A good rule of thumb: If they wouldn't do something in real life,
they shouldn't do it online.
•Visit the site's safety section together. Sometimes you can find these sections under "About
Us" or "Privacy Policy." Review the rules and find out how to report mean behaviour or
unkind content.
•Avoid strangers. Tell your children that people aren't always who they say they are online.
Explain that if someone they don't know talks to them, they shouldn't respond and should let
you know.
•Keep personal information private.
3 8/06/2016 Internet Underbelly The underbelly of the Internet is filled with dishonest activity and products such as drugs,
firearms, terrorism and pornography. This may not sound alluring, but for the entrepreneurial
criminal, it sounds like home.
You should be aware of the Deep Web so you can ensure your family are not at risk. It is
also important that you understand there could be content being shared that pertains to you,
such as potential attacks, leaked data or stolen accounts that are being sold to allow for
direct access into your network.
Parental Controls
Parental controls are available for most devices, either through pre-installed settings that can
be activated by you on a device, or via the installation of free or commercial software. Preinstalled settings can often be activated via the settings menu on your device.
www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/iparent has links to parental control tools and how
to set them up for PC’s and Macs, Android tablets and phones and iPads and iPhones.
Parental control tools help monitor and limit what children do online. There are many tools
available and they all offer different functions, with some even allowing parents to limit the
time children spend on specific websites or games. Currently there are more effective tools
for use with PCs and Macs than with mobile, tablet devices and game consoles. Additional
parental supervision is required with these.
No tool is 100 per cent effective at blocking access to inappropriate content. Think of
parental controls as a good tool to encourage communication with children about their online
activities.
What do parental controls do?
Every parental control tool is different. Most tools:
•can block children from accessing specific websites, protocols or applications
•filter different kinds of content, like sexual content
•allow parents to monitor use with reports on sites accessed, the length of time and
frequency of access
•can be used to set time limits, blocking access after a set time — handy if you are not home
and want to limit the time your child spends on a game or social media
•allow parents to change the tool settings to reflect each child’s age and skills.
Compiled by Sarah Hayes, Community Co-ordinator
4 8/06/2016