Staying Safe in Cyberspace
Modified on: Fri, 15 Nov, 2024 at 12:25 PM
Staying Safe in Cyberspace
Did you know that it would take around 23 million years to visit every website currently available online?!
The internet is a big place. And, while it’s truly a wonder, it has to be treated with caution. Being behind a screen can mean that people say things that they wouldn’t say face to face. This can affect children’s mental health in the form of cyberbullying, seeing content that isn’t age-appropriate and potentially put them at risk from someone who pretends to be someone they are not.
So, just like teaching a child to ride a bike, it’s important to guide children on how to use the internet safely, until you are confident that they know how to browse without your guidance. The number of children who have access to mobile phones and tablets is growing daily. It can be a great addition to keep them entertained while teaching them new things. However, if a child has access to your or another person’s phone or tablet, it may not be 100% child friendly.
The Pebble Gear tablet is designed with children in mind as they take their first steps into technology. Safety is our number one priority. While connected to Wi-Fi, the Pebble Gear tablet only allows access to websites that are on our safelist or safelisted by you as a parent or guardian. A safelist is a list of websites stored on the tablet that can be accessed by the ChildSafe browser. Every other site is blocked unless the parent account allows access to it.
If there is a website that you know to be safe and would like the child to be able to access, you can do this easily in the parent account on the tablet. The parent account also has full visibility and control on the child’s account usage. You can set and limit the amount of time on the tablet as well as how long the child can spend on specific apps and games.
The safelisting and ChildSafe browser features help families provide a fun and, most importantly, a safe environment for children to learn and play in while promoting autonomy and ownership.