Children’s online safety is a baffling topic for many parents and it’s hard to know where to look for advice.
Faced with the dizzying array of social media apps and headlines about online predators, conventional parenting wisdom is to delay, restrict or ban. After all, the statistics are scary – around 60% of young people are seeing pornography or adult content online. It’s no surprise then that only around half of parents think the benefits of social media outweigh the risks.
The problem is, swimming against the tide will only take us so far. Highland Council is a leader in digital learning in Scotland, with the rollout of Chromebooks to every secondary pupil in the region and the upcoming launch of Ineqe, the safer schools app developed by Zurich.
Head teacher Robert Quigley is currently on secondment to the council to promote online safety, in a position that’s the first of its kind in Scotland. He’s a passionate advocate of digital learning and a father of four. Here, he offers some practical advice for kids’ online safety.
