Internet Advice to Kids: Stop. Think. Connect.

Parents often ask us for advice on how to their keep children safe online. The EMC Corporation and RSA, an organization committed to finding innovative practical solution to today’s social challenges have joined forces to promote safe internet use. Their video is called “Stop. Think. Connect”, and is saturated with autotune, technology puns and some useful messages that could even teach parents about safe web practices.

Watch the video here. We hope to help promote safe and responsible internet use globally, especially among children through vehicles like this video.

Some of the keys messages from the video are:

• Don’t be fooled by a tempting email. Ask yourself “Is this too good to be true?” If the answer’s “Yes” don’t click.

With this line, Jason Wise (the singer in the video) is bringing our attention to phishing emails. These are emails that look interesting or offer huge rewards for what seems like a simple action.

And they’re almost always too good to be true. Some of these will steal your personal details, others will download malware onto your computer. Children should be warned of the dangers of opening emails that have these features.

• Chill with the bullying and the flaming

With the increasing connectivity of our world, it’s a lot easier for bullying to follow their victims into their homes. There are two things you can do. First, ensure that your children don’t use the internet as a mean to be cruel to other youngsters. And second, take an interest in your children’s internet experience, so they feel comfortable talking to you if they are experiencing cyber abuse.

•  Patience is a virtue in the virtual world…

… Especially when talking to strangers. Obviously, the web is a great tool for talking to people from all over the world, and experiencing other people’s culture first-hand – but meeting new people should be taken slowly.

Rather than instructing people to not talk to strangers, we suggest patience: get to know the people your children are talking to online. Maybe you’ll learn something about the world as well.