An expert from Australian Catholic University (ACU) says Safer Internet Day is the ideal prompt to stress that education and open communication with children continue to be crucial to protect young people online, regardless of social media bans.
Digital literacies expert Professor Kathy Mills, of ACU’s Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, says understanding safe use of digital media and the internet are critically essential life skills for children to learn.
“I would advise parents not to have a false sense of security because of social media bans for under-16s. Many ofthe online safety skills that kids need are required beyond social media sites,” Mills says.
“Digital media use, both online and offline, can be used for many productive, creative, educational, and socialtasks. Digital technology is unavoidable for most age groups, so it is about kids learning to thrive in a digital age.
“Developing the critical skills that children need is vital, gradually releasing responsibility to them to interact safely with digital tools as they mature.”
Educating young people about the perils of disinformation is critical, Mills told EducationDaily, because “research with middle-school students, senior high school students, and college students shows that the majority lack these skills” to discern trusted sources.
“While kids can look at the features of a web source, such as whether or not it has a ‘.org’ in the URL, lack of contact information and a physical address, or poor grammar and design flaws, they shouldn’t judge a source by only looking at that site,” she says.
“Professional fact-checkers read across the web, not more deeply, reading beyond the source to quickly check other sites to confirm or disconfirm sources. Also, while many educators initially didn’t recommend Wikipedia, sites like this are actually very useful for quickly fact-checking.
“Another key aspect that kids need to think critically about is not just the words, but the images. With AI-generated images becoming more realistic over time, and with the use of filters, kids can learn how to identify fake images.
“Looking for visual inconsistencies, such as the way human fingers are depicted, can be useful, but again, thinking about the social context and whether the images are consistent with reality and other sources is still key.”
The risks of not discerning disinformation, says Mills, can have consequences and is something all parents and educators should aim to address.
“Disinformation – information that is intended to mislead – is becoming more common online, because machine learning algorithms can spread disinformation much more rapidly than in the past,” she told EducationDaily.
“Popular posts containing disinformation can go viral for the wrong reasons, and algorithms will promote the media that is drawing views.
“Another risk is that more content online today is being generated by chatbots, not directly by humans, and much of this information contains poor referencing of sources, fabricated sources, and AI hallucinations. But it is really the uncritical acceptance of what is viewed or read online that is problematic, so we need to teach kids that not everything they see online is truthful or real, including images.”
Who’s influencing your child online?
Mills says the impact of online influencers and the evolving AI landscape are also key areas warranting discussion and education.
“Talk non-judgementally with children about influencers and encourage them to look for influencers who promote positive values. They should be aware of filters, AI imagery, and other tools that are used to airbrush and generate content that is not reality.
“Teach them to be sceptical of unrealistic beauty standards and shallow content. They should ask, ‘How might the influencer benefit from sharing this content?’
“Get to know the influencers that your children look up to, so that you can knowledgably converse with kids in way that are relevant and timely,” Mills told EducationDaily.
“You can ask questions like these to encourage open discussion:
- What do you admire about that influencer?
- Is there anything that worries you about what you have heard online or from their friends?
- What values does the influencer have that may or may not align with you values and perspectives?”
Mills says this approach will create a context for discussion that leads young people to think critically, “rather than unquestioningly about influencers”, adding that parents should remember that “children and teens pick up much of what they know through their friendship networks, so they may hear about influencers through others, rather than searching out content”.
Mills says another key skill needed for young people interacting with GenAI chatbots and the internet is to read critically. She advocates teaching them to fact-check like a professional fact-checker by reading horizontally – that means they should always compare what they read to three reliable sources.
“Teach pre-teens and teens to ask three questions, ‘Who is behind it, what is the evidence for its claims, and what do other sources say?’”
When do kids outgrow parental controls?
Mills told EducationDaily that parental controls can be effective and says some controls can continue to have a strong part to play for older teenagers too.
“Many parents will invest in a mobile phone for their child’s physical and emotional safety once they are traveling on buses and public transport alone or with school friends, as kids need to contact parents independently in emergencies.
“This is a key time, often around the start of high-school, but earlier for some, when the personal e-safety skills that parents and teachers have instilled in children will become vital.
“Even though children at this age can exercise critical skills to keep themselves safe online in many situations, adults still have a part to play. Features such as location tracking can be important so that your children know where you and vice-versa.
“Some children have problems with attention and habits of addiction and will need stronger controls of their time spent on apps than others. Likewise, government organisations, such as the eSafety Commissioner, has a role of removing seriously harmful child cyberbullying content, image-based abuse, and illegal and harmful online content. So, there are some controls that will continue to have a strong part to play in children’s online safety as they approach adulthood.”
Professor Mills has compiled 12 key tips to help families with children at different ages and stages of online experience:
- Teach children to keep personal information private (e.g. name, address, phone number, school, photos).
- Encourage children not to share passwords, and to use unique passwords for different applications.
- Make kids aware of the risks of multiplayer games and social media sites where interactions with
strangers occur. Advise children to only accept friend requests from those they know and trust in real life. - Develop a good relationship with your children about digital use, so they are comfortable showing you what they’ve seen online. Be calm, reassuring and non-judgemental when they talk to you
- Teach children to be critically literate by monitoring and reflecting on their internet habits.
- Teach children about online scams and phishing attempts, such as through text messages, internet pop-ups, ads, and email.
- Model safe internet practices as a parent and talk about what you do online to keep safe.
- Set up parental controls on applications (e.g. Net Nanny, Norton Family), especially for young children.
- Encourage interactive screen time (e.g. coding their own games, creating animations) over passive screen time and interact with young children about what they are doing.
- Encourage children to limit their online screen time to short periods and encourage physical activity.
- Understand algorithms and teach children to manage algorithms (change your default browser settings). Algorithms learn from your past internet use to target advertising and may send you popular posts that are often popular for the wrong reasons (e.g. fake news, extreme content).
- Encourage children to share any instances they encounter of cyberbullying. They should never share or redistribute images of friends online for any purpose.
