A new survey by Kaspersky has revealed over 25 percent of Nigerian parents find something in their child’s social media account potentially dangerous, with 34 percent saying their child has seen or listened to something that seemed suspicious to them, be that videos (68%), music (43%) or photos (25%).
Kaspersky attributed the trend to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced families to spend their free time mostly at home, arguing that staying at home usually also means spending much time using different Internet-connected devices.
“For clear reasons, children’s growing online activity can cause lots of worries to their parents. In our survey, 25percent of Nigerian parents’ claim that they have come across something in their child’s social media account that seemed suspicious,” said Kaspersky’s Senior Security Researcher, Maher Yamout.
Elaborating on what it exactly was, Kaspersky said the parents mention groups or public pages they join (56%), posts that they publish or share (50%), people they interact with (31%), video on their page (31%) and private messages (19%).
The cybersecurity company advised that what the data obviously shows is the need to explore the interests of children, to make sure everything is okay or if it is necessary to take action. However, not all the parents realise it – only 19 parents of them befriend their children via social networks in order to be connected with their kids – sometimes real communication is not enough and the parents have to look carefully at their children’s webpages.
“It gets harder and harder for parents to keep up with the pace of the modern evolving world. They are often left out of the picture as they simply do not catch up with trends that emerge way too fast. However, it is possible to stop this backlog by communicating with your child and ensuring your presence on the Internet – to build trust and a good relationship with your child you have to know what you are talking about with them,” Yamout added.
In order to eliminate groundless suspicions about your child’s digital life and to secure their presence on social media, Kaspersky strongly recommends following this advice:
1. Learn more on the topic of children’s cybersecurity: explore modern trends, apps, the way of behaviour that has to be adopted in order to safeguard against dangers (for instance, the basic security rules while on the Internet.
2. Communicate with your child and define the boundaries which are not meant to be crossed: discuss with them safe locations both real and webpages;
3. Install a reliable security solution such as Kaspersky Safe Kids to monitor your child’s activity successfully.
