All things must come to an end including our cybersecurity for kid’s blog series.

Did you know that 66% of Tweens aged 8-12 years old play video games for an average of 2.5 hours a day and 56% Teens aged 13-17 play video games 2.5 hours a day? With video games can come excessive screen time, talking with strangers online via games which can also lead to cyberbullying. It’s important for children to play video games in a safe manner so we want to share some tips on how to do so.

Here are the tops ways to keep your kids safe while they enjoy playing video games:

Set Parental Controls

Can Set Precautions For Parents:

-Make sure you put limited information in your child’s gaming console and change your password so often.

Communicating With Children

Talk with your children with appropriate behaviors while playing online like what not to share with people in the chatroom on games such as:

-Never share personal information in a game or chatroom such as phone numbers, locations, passwords, and family members names

-Never involve yourself in cyber-bullying

-Encourage them to always come to you with anything they have seen or experienced while playing video games and/or in chatrooms that is not right

Manage Screen Time

Put time restrictions on video games:

-If you are not careful children and teens may stay up very late playing video games if not instructed to go to bed or if a console is in their room. Children of all ages need a certain amount of sleep every night to function best and they won’t be able to get that if they are on their phone a lot at night (see this site with all the sleep requirements here)

-Have other activities the children and teens are involved in besides playing video games. Whether it’s household chores, outdoor activities, or some other type of physical activity, make sure they are not just sitting in front of their television or computer screen playing games all the time.

Antivirus

PC Gaming

-For the top antivirus software for this type of gaming on the PC, check out this article here.

Console Gaming

-The likelihood of a virus getting your console is rarer but has happened years ago like the 2011 PlayStation

-For PS4 they do offer an additional cost Web Security Service that blocks fraudulent websites that steal your credit card or password info. It also will block malicious sites that children may list accidentally.

-On the Xbox site, they do have some security information listed which include:

*Verify the security information for Microsoft account: Learn how to verify the security information for your Microsoft account so you can use it to prove your identity if you need to make changes to your account. (Xbox)

*Manage app privacy settings

*Create Passkey

Be Careful of Cheat & Shortcode Sites

Be wary of cheats and shortcode websites as many of these are fraudulent and lead to stealing information, credit card numbers, and malware/viruses.

As you can see there are a lot of ways to prevent cyber crimes with your children if these types of safety measures are put into place. Please take heed to do these things so you can keep your precious children safe from the cybercriminals out there. Remember to stay vigilant and keep your eyes and ears out when it comes to what your children are playing and who they are chatting with. I hope this cybersecurity with kids series has been eye-opening and beneficial.

 

Resources:

Can Your PS4 Get a Virus? PS4Home. 11 Oct 2019. https://www.ps4home.com/can-ps4-get-virus/

Password and Security: Security Information. Xbox Support. 11 Oct 2019. https://support.xbox.com/en-US/browse/my-account/security/Security%20information