Teenagers now are coping with a world where everyone is connected and everyone has an online presence. Even from an early age, children of all ages are exposed to the wild west of the internet, and it’s important that they are taught the potential dangers they may encounter whilst browsing their favorite sites. Obviously, you want them to feel safe whilst online, but it’s important that you also teach them about the many benefits that the internet can provide them with, and offer advice on how to manage their online lives. While there are concerns for teens exposed to the realities of the online landscape, there are also many reasons to make sure that they take advantage of the many positive aspects of it as well.
Don’t frighten them off
The internet can be a scary place for the uninitiated, and although online safety should be taught as soon as your teens are even considering their first Facebook account, there are plenty of reasons why you should encourage them to use the available resources. Despite its dangers, the internet is a vast source of information, and can help with homework and life advice no matter your child’s age. Even though safety is a priority, don’t scare them off or persuade them to not take advantage of the help they can find for homework assignments or as a creative outlet.
Stress the importance of their online footprint
Just as a business has to brand itself in order to stand out from the competition, so should your teen be considering their future. With the future of the job market more unpredictable than any previous generation has encountered, it is more important than ever that your child learns some basic netiquette rules so that their time online is not going to damage their prospects.
Set them up with key skills
While many parents are dubious about how much time their child spends on the internet, it’s vital that you understand the benefits of the online community far out-weigh the bad. Learning online skills is important nowadays, as digital marketing, writing and even management are becoming more digitalized each and every day. If you have a business, then teach your child the skills you need. For instance, SEO is an important part of business now, so teaching your child about Managed SEO, content marketing and link building can aid them. It can be a great way to explore your child’s interests, and whether they teach themselves code and build a site from scratch, or use the services of sites like WordPress or Wix, they will be learning key skills that will benefit their education and future employment prospects.
It’s all too easy to read the scare stories and convince ourselves that the best way to protect our children is by not allowing them to explore the internet. However, as parents we need to ensure that the next generation takes full advantage of every opportunity, and the sheer scale of usefulness that the internet has to offer can make the difference to your child’s future.
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