Talking to children about online safety and privacy is an excellent way to teach them the skills they need to steer clear of various threats on the web, according to a study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The NIST interviewed 40 parent/child pairs for the “exploratory study,” which involved kids from 3rd to 12th grade. The study showed it’s never too early to teach kids about online safety.
“Today’s youth are digital natives. They’ve never known a world without the internet or online technology. It is crucial they develop the skills and resilience to safely navigate these digital environments at an early age,” the NIST said.
The goal of the study was to “understand their knowledge about online privacy, security, and risky online behavior, and how the parents attempt to influence their kids’ online activities and knowledge about privacy and security,” the NIST added.
Teaching Children How to Stay Safe Online
Although children are largely aware of prevalent online threats such as hackers, viruses, and phishing, they may lack a broad understanding of how online platforms and third parties can access and use their data. Additionally, many are unaware of how to effectively protect it.
The NIST’s study showed that it’s never too early to start discussing online safely with children. The researchers found that even children in elementary school showed interest in learning how to use the web safely.
While some parents are hesitant to talk to their children about threats in the digital world and how to stay safe online, the NIST found that these conversations can guide children to make better decisions. These conversations with children do not need to be highly technical but should center on online activities and making informed choices, the NIST said.
“We found that youth of all ages in the study could provide at least basic descriptions of both online privacy and online security and could give relevant examples of good and bad OPS choices,” the researchers behind the study said at the 19th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, earlier this week.
“We also found that parents took a variety of approaches to influencing youth understandings and behavior, with most of those approaches relying on device monitoring and limiting use. However, parents who attempted to influence their children’s knowledge through conversations had children who demonstrated the most nuanced understandings.”
Younger People Have ‘More Nuanced Ideas About Online Risk’
In a paper presented at the 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction in July, the NIST noted that the youth are more likely to engage in risky online behavior, viewing it as “a source of resilience development, growth and learning.”
“Youth are more likely than their parents to view online risk as context-dependent and agentive but are less likely than their parents to think about or understand the consequences of online risky behavior,” the researchers said.
Due to this contrasting perspective about online risks, it’s important that parents understand how to influence their children and teach them about online safety. Read our comprehensive guide to keeping children safe online to learn more about how to teach children of all ages about internet safety.
We also recommend watching the NIST’s video to gain more insight into how to encourage your children to use the web safely.
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