Summer Tips From Nurses: Child Internet Safety
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With the prevalence of smartphones, children may be carrying their phones when they’re outside playing in the neighborhood. With a few safety tips, your children can have a safer summer as they explore the internet and text their friends.
Pediatric nurses offer four ways to ensure your child’s safety this summer while they navigate the internet.
- 1
Caregivers Need to Get Tech Savvy
With the ever-evolving digital space, caregivers need to stay abreast to match their children’s activities. Unfortunately, child predators can also be found online on your child’s favorite social media platform.
Become familiar with the sites your children visit and know who their connections are.
- 2
Teach Children About Online Safety
Be sure to have a conversation with your kids about how to remain safe online and why you’re monitoring their activities, so they understand you’re ensuring their safety and not encroaching on their autonomy or privacy. The presentation of “stranger danger” has changed in the digital age, but the concept remains true.
- 3
Apply Age-Appropriate Filters and Limits to Programs
Caregivers can install tools on their children’s devices that restrict access to inappropriate content or filter programs based on ratings.
Additionally, caregivers should set limits on how much time their children use technology.
- 4
Teach Kids About Safely Sharing
Children can also give into the temptation of posting pictures of their activities on social media. However, those pictures can share too much information about the child or the family.
Meet Our Contributors
Christine Russo, MSN, CPNP-PC, CPEN, TCRN, Pediatric Trauma Program Manager, Stony Brook Childrens Hospital
Christine Russo discovered her love for pediatrics in the emergency department at Stony Brook University Hospital. She became a board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner in 2021 and works with the pediatric trauma program at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and as an NP at a local primary care office.
Jenna Liphart Rhoads, Ph.D.
Jenna Liphart Rhoads is a nurse educator and freelance author/editor. She earned a BSN from Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing and a master’s in nursing education from Northern Illinois University. Liphart Rhoads earned a Ph.D. in education with a concentration in nursing education from Capella University. Her clinical background includes surgical-trauma adult critical care, interventional radiology procedures, and conscious sedation in adult and pediatric populations. Liphart Rhoads has taught in traditional BSN, RN-BSN, and graduate nursing programs in Illinois, Texas, and Wisconsin.