Parents, attention! Child digital safety starts at home

What sources should you use to avoid fakes?

Children’s digital safety starts at home, education experts say. Today in the media space it is not difficult to come across fakes that are successfully disguised. Even adults sometimes fail to figure out whether the information in front of you is true or not. Therefore, it is important to maintain digital hygiene both yourself and pay attention to your child. And the school will always come to the rescue in this difficult work.

“We asked the question: who should be responsible for protecting children from false information? 70% thought that these were parents and family, 36% – teachers and schools, and another 24% – the federal government as a whole. We are pleased that parents have begun to take responsibility, which has been a general sociological trend over the last 3–5 years. To the question: “Which sources of education news do respondents trust?” – we also got good numbers. The main authoritative source is teachers and school administration. According to the results obtained, the absolute majority of Russians are, to one degree or another, interested in news about Russian school education (86%),” said Kirill Rodin, director of government relations at VTsIOM.

“So that (when 86% of parents who trust them as the main sources of information ask: “What should I do?”) they have a specific checklist of what can be recommended. It is important for a child to learn from people who are significant to him, and these are teachers and parents, what is “good” and what is “bad,” commented Maxim Kostenko, director of the Institute for Educational Development Strategy.

He added that educational work with parents is being carried out actively. There is a unified education program, and the lion’s share of it is devoted to how to orient class teachers and curators to interact with parents. There must be a common understanding of educational goals and objectives, introduction through the positive employment of children.

“Historical education, spiritual and moral education is what unites us. All values ​​are spelled out in Presidential Decree No. 809. The lesson corresponds to this – let’s move on, no – we reconsider,” says Kostenko.

Children’s information security is an important component of their overall well-being and an integral part of their protection in the digital age. The issues of digital hygiene and protection against disinformation have become particularly relevant in recent years.

Olga Krushelnitskaya, head of the department of theoretical foundations of social psychology at the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, believes that parents and teachers play a key role in meeting the needs of the child.

“Trust needs to be established between them. This is a positive interest in the child, warmth, respect for him as an individual. You need to be sincerely interested in what the baby is watching,” she advised.

“Even not all adults can learn to navigate the Internet. We must be attentive to what children are watching,” added Rostislav Prokopishin, a psychologist at the Federal Coordination Center for the Provision of Psychological Services in the Russian Education System.

All the experts interviewed agree that the main thing for a parent is to be interested in what interests the child. If your child loves a blogger, don’t reject it, but on the contrary, watch the video together. It is not enough to simply prohibit watching this or that content. It is important to discuss it, explain what is good or bad about it. And, of course, if a child comes with a question, answer it in detail.

Photo: Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation