Signs your child is having trouble online

Watch Video: Signs your child is having trouble online by Theresa M. Payton, ...
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Signs your child is having trouble online

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There are some different leading indicators that there may be some troubles going online for your kids. The first is how are the family devices working at home? Are they freezing, locking up, maybe the computer light keeps coming on, but nobody is sitting at the computer doing anything. It could be that your kids or anyone else in the household has tripped upon a site and gotten the computer infected. Typically that happens when you are clicking on popups you shouldn't be or visiting sites and downloading from sites that you shouldn't be. That's kind of a telling sign. The second is behaviors. If you suddenly have this child that is obsessed with getting online, checking text messages. They literally become, almost like caffeine withdrawal, sitting at the dinner table, wanting to get to the internet. That could be a sign that your kid is wrapped up in something that is not good. You need to invoke that safe zone conversation of, "What is going on here? Your behavior is not like you." Another tale-tell sign is almost a sudden revulsion to the internet. An otherwise normal cadence to the internet, texting, playing games, conversing with friends over the internet, and suddenly, cold turkey. Again, you've got to have that conversation with your kid. "Honey, you are usually very social on the internet. Is there something we need to be talking about?" The last thing is that there are also some indicators on the family devices that you could be looking at. One is, do you go check browser history or cookies? Are they constantly gone and cleaned up? That could be an indication, especially with older kids, they know they are not where they are supposed to be. They are covering their tracks. Those are the kind of things you want to be looking for. Again, have that conversation with your kids, "What's going on? Can I help?"

Watch Video: Signs your child is having trouble online by Theresa M. Payton, ...

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Theresa M. Payton

National Cyber Security Expert

Theresa Payton is a well-known and highly respected national authority on cybersecurity, e-crime and fraud mitigation, and technology implementation. She has over twenty years of advanced business and security technology expertise and leadership at the highest levels of government and in the financial services industry, including being the first woman to serve as Chief Information Officer at the White House.  She is a wife and mother to three fabulous and fun kids.  She is also the co-author of the newly released book Protecting Your Internet Identity: Are You Naked Online? and the founder of the S.A.F.E. Kids initiative - a classroom-based, digital safety program.

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