We warn our children about the dangers of meeting strangers in real-life settings, and that is an important conversation. But are we also talking about how dangerous strangers can be online?
The Deaf community is seeing a rise in online video and text chat platforms such as DeaFGo or Deafgle, which function similarly to Omegle. These platforms do not require registration, making them easy to access directly from a browser, and are intended for people 18 years and older. However, people of all ages around the world can access them because there is no age verification feature.
Platforms like these can have serious consequences when misused. Your child could be exposed to inappropriate content, share personal information with strangers, get scammed, or have conversations they are not ready to have.
As families, we encourage you to become familiar with these websites and make sure your child is well-versed in internet safety.
To brush up on internet safety, here are articles with helpful information:
- Tips for protecting your kids from online predators
- Discusses how internet use among youth rose during the pandemic, when many were in lockdown. It advises parents to take steps to protect their children from internet predators and explains how these predators operate. The steps include:
- Talk with your children about internet safety
- Set limits on the people you allow your children to communicate with online
- Set limits on the amount of time your children can spend online
- Disable the chat feature in settings
- Consider restricting your child’s access to app and social media sites
- Put the phones away at night
- Install and use parental control apps
- Tell your children to never agree to meet online strangers in person
- Encourage your children to tell you if people they’ve met online make sexual advances
- Also includes ways to report online predators
- Family Online Safety Agreement: For Teens
- An agreement that sets expectations for how teens use devices/online spaces. Families can use this to start a conversation about their expectations.
- How To Use Parental Controls To Keep Your Kid Safer Online
- Details how parental controls can reinforce good online habits and create safer online spaces. Parental controls set limits on screen time, content type, communication, and purchases. It also gives parents insight into their child's digital usage and lists how to set up parental controls on a few devices and apps.
- Google Sé genial en Internet Guía para Familias -Spanish | Google Be Internet Awesome Family Guide - English
- An interactive guide outlines how to have conversations with your child about safe internet use. It includes tips and conversation prompts. The whole family can also play its online game to learn about internet safety in a different medium. Topics covered:
- Private information safekeeping in the internet space
- How to recognize scams
- Maximize your digital security
- Bring kindness to the internet space
- The importance of telling adults when seeing inappropriate content/behavior
- Actionable tips
- Raising Digitally Responsible Youth Guide- English | Educar Jóvenes Digitalmente Responsables - Spanish
- Thoroughly details social media apps’ functions. This guide will benefit families who do not use certain social media apps but would want to learn more about them. It also mentions video games that parents should be aware of. More resources are also included in this guide.