Bullying has taken a new form in the digital age, ‘Cyber-bullying.’ Kids are now spending more time online on their smartphones playing games, chatting with strangers and are active on social media. All these activities make them vulnerable to cyberbullying.
Parents too need to adapt to this new way of bullying and use technology to keep their kids safe. This article explains what is cyberbullying, how it can affect a child and tips to protect Kids from cyberbullying .
What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is bullying by making use of technology. This form of bullying can cause more harm to a child since they may not always know who is behind it.
A few examples of cyberbullying include:
- Prank phone calls.
- Make use of messaging to send harmful messages.
- Make use of social media for cruel comments or posts.
- Spread bad rumor online to harm a child.
- Forward personal posts online to expose a child.
How Cyberbullying affects a child
A child may not always be forthcoming about cyberbullying; thus, it has the potential of affecting a child to a greater extent. Therefore, Best parental control app is necessary since cyberbullying can affect a child in many ways.
Here is how it affects a child:
- A child may get more withdrawn from others.
- It can affect his academic performance.Cyberbullying
- A child may be nervous and anxious.
- The child avoids group outings and stays reserved.
- Tends to be more protective of own devices.
Tips to protect against cyberbullying
Parental control Apps have all the features parents require to keep their children safe from all kinds of threats online.
Here are a few tips to protect children:
- Reduce screen time:
By reducing the amount of time a child spends on a smartphone, parents can make them less vulnerable. This is possible by scheduling their usage of a mobile device, preventing them from playing a game all day, stop them from using smartphones at school, etc.
- Educate yourself:
Parents who are less tech-savvy should educate themselves on working of social media, games and other Apps like messaging, etc. By being informed about threats, a parent is in a better position to protect a kid from cyberbullying.
- Take an interest in a child’s digital world:
Parents can take a deeper interest in their child’s smartphone activities by monitoring their mobile phone activities and looking out for potential issues. Educate a child regarding the importance of privacy and communicate with them more about the perils of social media Apps.
- Reduced permission
Reducing permission, a child has on their smartphone can help protect them from cyberbullies as well. Parents can block all harmful Apps on child device and even deny them permission of installing any new applications.
- Communicating with a child:
Parents need to make sure a child understands how cyberbullies harm children via social media and other Apps. They should also be aware of how to respond to such things.
- Parental Control App:
Parental control is essential thus when it comes to cyberbullying; there is an option of using parental Apps to limit mobile usage, monitor child activities as well as track their whereabouts.
Parental Apps to the rescue
Some of the best parental control Apps can drastically reduce a parent’s worry about a child’s safety and give them peace of mind. These are feature rich Apps aimed at restricting mobile device usage, monitoring children and also tracking their whereabouts.
Here is how it can help:
- Block Apps cyberbullies use:
Block explicit Apps you find installed on your child’s device. This helps keep them safe from any unwanted content and unobjectionable Apps.
- Keep tabs on the calls and messages:
Monitoring the calls and messages on child devices can provide the parents with early warnings about cyberbullies. Parents can thus take appropriate actions like blocking the contact as prevention.
- SOS Mode:
Parental Apps can protect a child in many ways. They also provide an SOS button in case of emergencies which alerts the parents instantly. This may also help a child feel safer.
- Screen Time:
Apps like these can limit the time a child can spend on each App or a category of Apps like games, social media, etc. It is also possible for parents to schedule mobile usage to certain times of the day. For example, it is possible to prevent them from using a mobile device at school, in bed at night, etc.
- GPS feature:
GPS features include an ability to locate the device and pinpoint the location of the child. Besides which it is also as an anti-theft feature.
Bit Guardian is best parental control App around with all the features parents would require to protect kids from cyberbullying. In addition to which it has several other features useful for parents as well. GPS tracking, preventing kids from installing new Apps are some of the other features.