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Whether your kids are returning this fall to their school buildings or taking classes remotely or maybe even preparing for a combination of both you'll need to take the steps necessary to help protect their laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other devices as the school year starts.
These steps might be even more important today because many students will be doing much of their learning virtually as districts shut their classrooms. This means even more online and screen time for thousands of students this academic year.
Parents can be forgiven if they're not thinking much about the online safety of their children as they focus on their children's physical safety and worry about the impact that months more of remote learning might have on the academic development of their sons and daughters.
But keeping children safer from online predators and scammers is important, too, even as the pandemic continues its hold on the United States. And securing their children's laptops, smartphones, and other devices requires different strategies depending on whether children are attending school five days a week, learning from home full-time, or taking classes both online and in person.
Here are 11 tips that parents can follow to keep their children safer online when school resumes this year.
1. Talk to your kids about sexting
As children and young adults return to school, it's natural they they'll start texting more frequently. They're seeing old friends again that they might have lost contact with during the COVID-forced school break and long summer vacation.
Make sure, though, that your children aren't engaging in sexting, sending sexual messages or photos to each other through text messages.
Talking with your children about sexting might make you uncomfortable, but a risqu photo could come back to haunt your children. Lewd photos or texts could be spread around their school in an attempt to humiliate them. Others might use these photos or messages to blackmail your children.
It's important, then, to tell your children to never send inappropriate texts describing sex acts or containing nude or semi-nude photos to others. Explain clearly to them how doing this could result in long-lasting or severe consequences.
Editorial note: These articles provide educational information for you. NortonLifeLock offerings may not cover or protect against every type of crime, fraud, or threat they write about. NortonLifeLock's goal is to increase awareness about cyber safety. Please review complete Terms during enrollment or setup. Remember that no one can prevent all identity theft or cybercrime, and that LifeLock does not monitor all transactions at all businesses.
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