Children are now in a position whereby access to the internet is the future, and whilst things may progress on to something else at some stage, at the moment this
is where technology is leading us, and this is the forum that our children are going to grow up in.
We all use the internet easily and frequently on a daily basis. If what we want to know something we usually ‘Google’ it, and get instant information in a variety of settings. One of these settings is YouTube. Here are our top tips for keeping your children safe online:
Tip 1:
Managing Privacy Settings – When a user uploads a video to YouTube, by default the video is set to public, which means anyone can see the video. Depending on the age of your child, you should discuss what settings are best to use if your child is uploading footage to YouTube. You can easily switch videos to private or unlisted (published on YouTube but cannot be found without a direct link to the video).
You can also invite people to view your videos using Google Circles. Please note, you need to link your channel with Google+ in order to share a private video with other users. Click here for info on how to connect a YouTube channel to a Google+ profile.
Tip 2:
Set up Parental Controls – Parents should set up age restrictions and parental controls on YouTube. See how to set up parental controls.
Tip 3:
Disable Comments on YouTube – YouTube allows you to disable comments entirely on videos or users have the options to approve each comment before they are published, this can help avoid risks of experiencing cyber bullying. See how to disable comments.
Tip 4:
Use Safety Mode – YouTube has a Safety mode, a setting which gives users the opportunity to bar mature content. It is an “opt-in” setting, which means that it won’t take effect until you switch it on. The setting filters search results to remove videos with mature content or videos that have been age-restricted, meaning
that such content will not show up in video searches, related videos, play-lists, shows or movie sections. While no filtering system is 100 percent accurate, we recommend that parents of young children enable this feature.
I hope you find this information helpful. If you would like any further advice or help with the internet or supporting your children online then please do get in touch and we will try and help, or point you in the right direction. Just contact the team on 0800 5877 791 or contactus@adoptersforadoption.com.
Written by Mairead O’Sullivan, Team Manager (South)
