A part of parenting in today’s world involves monitoring the use of your children’s internet resources including mobile telephones, tablets and other devices. There are parental controls designed to manage how your children can use their devices in order to protect them from inappropriate or harmful content, as technology has been used in a deliberate and repeated behaviour by certain individuals to cause harm to your children. This may be done by an individual or even a group you may or may not know and includes cyberbullying, cybercrime, online child sexual exploitation, inappropriate or illegal content, online grooming and online extremist material.
Relationships can be difficult enough at the best of times. Your teenagers may engage in technological behaviour for various reasons that may expose them to danger and in particular cyberbullying from friends or acquaintances.
We strongly encourage you as parents to monitor your children’s internet use, seek counselling and support services if necessary, and report any cyberbullying material to the Police.
You may also seek expert assistance to ensure your children know that they can talk to someone else, even if it is not you, and know how to block sites that they should not use.
If you see internet material such as child pornography or cyberbullying, we suggest that you collect evidence by way of screenshots and then report the incident.
As we know, our children also communicate through chat rooms, instant messaging or computer games in addition to social networking. Not only may your children be at risk of a stranger seeing their online posting and being in a position to track them to their school and/or home, but spending too much time online may also impact on your children’s wellbeing and health.
If your child has been the victim of an uncomfortable online situation or exploitation you should report this immediately to the Australian Federal Police.
There is also a Kids Helpline service that may assist your children learn about internet use, safety, and where to get help.
Contact Preston Law in Cairns on 4052 0700 if you want to discuss with a lawyer, any legal issues relating to online safety.