Last summer, the inspiration of the Internet event of Axel Rudakubana, who murdered the three girls in the Sans Potter dance class, made people worry about the availability of extreme violence online.
Experts including children's psychotherapists and Internet security consultants agree that although the details of the case are shocking, they provide their parents with ideal opportunities to discuss online violence and their influence with their children.
Mary Glasgow, chief executive of Children of Scotch children, first said that according to their research, parents should not be naive to risks: their children either see violent content on the Internet or have seen violent content.
Dr. Julia Ebner, a researcher at the Institute of Oxford and the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, said that the Sans Potter case may cause some young people's curiosity and lead them to the Sans Potter case. Do their own research online may make them risks. "They may drop the rabbit hole to expose themselves to radical or get involved in extreme content." Therefore, this is an important moment to improve awareness and education. "
Ideally, experts agree that parents should discuss online security with their children before obtaining the Internet, and should continue to talk about their online life regularly with them. Proposal from the family digital tools of Internet Matters to children's charities such as NSPCC covers parental control tools (such as blocks and filters), all of which have a series of parental resources to reduce children's risk of harmful and inappropriate materials. However, experts acknowledged that there were relatively little guidance for parents of online violence.
Because children may be afraid due to the Sans Potter case, the conversation should be calm and sympathetic. If their parents encounter their children's resistance, they should not force discussions and should try on retrial, and have obvious concerns about their mental health and safety.
Experts suggest that parents understand more information about online communities about their children interact with them, just like they have a check in offline activities, such as spending overnight or accessing sports clubs in friends' homes. Ebner suggested that parents encourage their children to show them online communities that regularly participate, find out who other members are, ask for some personal information of their personal information, or outline the dialogue that happened there.
Kemi Omijeh, a psychotherapist for children and adolescents, said that this may start with the non -resistant issue of community activities, such as jokes in the WhatsApp group. These discussions should encourage children to think about their behaviors critically and the dynamics of online groups that interact with them, and help them set the boundaries of their uncomfortable activities. Ebner added that this can also help young people recognize when the subculture they participated in the subculture becomes radical or political.
Parents should pay attention to their children's behavior changes that may show potential problems, such as increasing social isolation. For example, children spend more time spend more time in their rooms in the space of public families? Ebner said other warning signals may include loyalty to the online community and hostility to external personnel, as well as group discussions about conspiracy or recognition of violence.
She suggested that parents ask their children why spend more time in a specific online community. Does it fill the gap of the child's life? Are they crisis in their identity? Does this reflect the demand for belonging? Is it related to bullying? Do they want to establish an alternative? This can help parents determine the vulnerability of their children's exploitation in the group.
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If parents care or discover that their children are engaged in violent materials or activities online, proper response will depend on the severity of the material and whether this is a one -time or behavioral model.
If the child is in contact with the violence that they do not seek to watch, parents should help them understand or handle what they see. In addition to reducing their troubles or fear, parents should also support their children by preventing or reporting harmful content to prevent them from encounter again. Parents should also make sure their children know where they can get help from seeing such content again.
If a child is actively seeking this content, Omijeh recommends that parents try to understand why their children are attracted to it. "Based on my experience in cooperating with children and young people, many of them are lonely, and they have not found connections and communities in real life." She suggested that parents help their children in more active space in offline Find a sense of community and connection in the space.
If children's online activities are not safe, they should prevent problems with problems. Omijeh added: "It can be a bad police officer and deletes it from these spaces in the same way as physical danger."
In more serious cases, especially if someone is worried that online violence may trigger offline violence, parents and other children (including siblings) may be in danger. Therefore, they should seek the help of professionals, including schools, children's protection, mental health services and police.
David Wright, CEO of Charity Security and Security Online, said parents should realize that sharing concerns with legal institutions including schools may cause the government to stop terrorist violence plans to prevent recommendations. He added: "If you do encounter the content or behavior that need to be investigated, it will have a great impact." The government has created an online form to report online materials to promote terrorism or extremism.
Wright added that violent content should not be deleted when the agency needs to investigate. However, if the parents determine that the content is accidentally viewed and there is no behavioral mode, it can be stopped and reports it to the application. The Internet service provider or telephone network and delete it may be appropriate. Some children's charity (such as children first) provide confidential help hotlines, which can make the best parental suggestions on how the best influence.