The internet for children provides content with no limits! In this definition, the absence of borders is a major danger signal, and we parents can hardly manage the situation.
Draw the borders together!
It is important to remember that prohibitions are often meaningless for children. However, prohibitions are both a matter of curiosity and a kind of attraction. Therefore, child development experts always remind that bans are not solutions.
Just like the warning on airplanes, we should first put the oxygen mask on ourselves and then our child. We, therefore, recommend that you read the following instructions carefully.
Let's see what kind of harmful content our children face?
One of the most favourite content among children is games. It is possible to access games on websites and application stores. When we leave children alone, they can use the content they want to consume without filtering.
Naturally, they apply to free services. Parents also make the same mistake from time to time!
The risk in free content providers is:
The revenue source of free services (games, apps, etc.) is usually ads. With an ad click from an innocent car racing game, kids can switch to zombie games. They may encounter advertising videos with violence and fear. They can switch to betting sites or obscene sites with a single click. The tip is open.
Switching from a free and ad-containing application or website to another, which can be potentially harmful to children, is just a click away!
We just said, "Prohibition isn't the solution." Now we're talking about a significant risk! Then it’s the right time to share our solutions.
To meet your child's need for playing games in a healthy way, offer him the games that provide the following specifications:
Allow your child to play games with these and similar features for a specific period of time depending on the age.
Example of Reliable and Useful Games:
MentalUP Educational Brain Teaser Game
MentalUP has lots of different intelligence games. All of these games are actually exercises. Daily exercises take about 20 minutes to complete. MentalUP, which is one of the best funny apps for kids, doesn't have router ads on any website or application to other platforms!
MentalUP, which was examined by the Mental Health Association and observed to be beneficial for children, was given the pedagogical product certificate. MentalUP is used by educational institutions as educational content.
You can meet your child's desire to play mobile games with useful content such as MentalUP.
We talked about the necessary criteria for the games, but the content that our children consume is not limited to games. Let's continue the review:
YouTube has beneficial content for children. However, there are also some contents that children should never watch.
It's only a matter of time for children to get exposed to the contents as cartoon characters that cut each other up or as MOMO and the Blue Whale.
The horrible MOMO legend is not real but the danger is real! For more information, see:
The claim that MOMO is a living character is quite illogical for adults, but children can believe it. Then mental problems begin to get developed with the symptoms of the fear of darkness, not being able to go to the toilet alone.
We know that it is easy to say “Prevent your child from watching videos on the internet!” But we also know that it is difficult to apply. In the same way, we think of those who do not want to ban.
In this case, it is useful to suggest alternative solutions:
If you want to allow your child to view the videos in a controlled way, here are some tricks you can follow:
For example, you can try “YouTube Kids” instead of YouTube. The content published in YouTube Kids is checked for children before publication. But don't forget to check what your child is watching. At the same time, don't forget to inform them about imaginary characters and tell them that these characters are not real.
You can also view the child videos app called “Jellies”. According to our research, there are no ads in this application. They only provide content that can be useful for children.
IMPORTANT REMINDER: While the YouTube Kids and Jellies applications seem to be reliable channels, according to our research, we want to remind you that every parent should do this research himself/herself and that the responsibility is in the parent.
In sum, you can offer your child reliable video channels instead of prohibiting video viewing. Of course, age-appropriate daily use should not be violated.
In some online games, there is the possibility of correspondence with other players. It is equally dangerous for your child to talk to someone he does not know outside and to talk online if he is dangerous.
Not just games with online correspondence, but don’t social media accounts contain the same dangers?
Above, we talked about the risks of applications with online communication. The same risks and even more are available in social networks.
Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the age of beginning to use social media announced by ICTA. According to ICTA, children should not create a social media profile before the age of 13 years.