How to Spot Red Flags in Your Child’s Online Life – Proven Strategies for Parents
Have you noticed anything strange about your child’s behavior lately? Do you struggle to make sure your child is safe both digitally and physically? Does their excessive use of phones trouble you because you understand the risk they are at?
If this sounds familiar, just know a lot of parents are in the same boat. With children already having a hard time focusing, today’s phones add another problem to the mix by acting as constant distractions.
Now parents also have to worry about who they are on their phones with, how responsibly they are using their phones, and what kind of activities they engage in online. However, like all parents, you must have no answers to any of these questions because most teens refuse to confide in their parents.
What helps in these circumstances is a parent’s ability to identify any red flags in their child’s online life and address them rigorously.
In this article, we will discuss the reasons for a child’s constant participation in risky online behavior. Moreover, we will talk about the signs that indicate trouble in a child’s online life and look at how a child monitoring application can help parents combat these issues.
Why Kids Indulge in Risky Behavior Online
Children can easily get carried away while using their mobile phones and make questionable choices. Some of the reasons for it include:
- The need for new experiences and thrill-seeking behaviors can encourage children to take unnecessary risks online.
- Since the prefrontal cortex is still developing in teens, they are unable to think through their decisions rationally.
- Seeking validation from their peers and the desire to conform are also primary causes of risky online behavior among teenagers.
- Children who are not aware of the safe use of the internet might take online risks without understanding the possible repercussions of their actions.
- Teenagers, who have low self-esteem, seek external validation and can find themselves indulging in risky behavior online.
- Due to their newfound independence, teenagers can feel the need to push against the rules and boundaries set in place by adults.
- Children who are struggling emotionally are more prone to engaging in risky behavior to cope with their feelings.
- 20% of teenagers experience FoMO which compels them to excessively use the internet.
- Limited monitoring of children’s online activity is also a leading cause of aggravated patterns of online usage and risk-taking.
However, that doesn’t mean taking away their phones is the answer – it is just not realistic. They are going to use their phones no matter what restrictions you put in place.
The issue at hand is their indulgence in risky behavior, excessive exposure to online abuse, and needless conversations with strangers. A mix of all of these things together can have adverse effects on a child. Therefore, it is important for parents to always be on the lookout for any red flags.
How to Spot Red Flags in Your Child’s Online Life
Children and seniors are the two most vulnerable demographics when it comes to online risks, with 72% of children and 63% of the elderly facing at least one cyber threat. This shows that online risks are not rare but a common issue that many families must navigate.
Therefore, before you assume that your child is doing fine, you need to watch out for any red flags that indicate they are facing issues in their online life. After all, it can have a monumental impact on their life, academics, and mental health and as a parent, it is upon us to identify signs that they are struggling.
Here’s how you can better spot red flags in your child’s online life to protect and support them:
Look for Behavioral Changes
Any drastic changes in teens are not something to be taken lightly. If your teenager is changing their sleeping and eating habits, then you must look out for any other changes in their lives. For example, teens might become suddenly secretive about their phone usage, completely shift their interests, or experience mood swings.
In case of any such changes, it is likely that they are having trouble in their online life. The issues that can result in these changes range from online abuse to unhealthy digital habits.
Moreover, their lifestyle and behavioral changes can also be attributed to low self-esteem and constant comparison to others’ lives and bodies on social media.
Observe Excessive Use
Using a phone alone is not a red flag since its usage can differ from person to person. However, if your child is excessively on their phone then it is high time that you take note of these problematic patterns.
Not only that, children who show an addictive pattern of usage can start to heavily rely on their phones and might feel the need to constantly connect with strangers through various platforms.
This reliance can further fuel their FOMO, doom scrolling, and negatively impact their social development skills. Moreover, with the constant use of social media, children are unnecessarily exposed to online abuse and predators.
Notice Signs of Social Isolation, Stress, and Anxiety
The next biggest red flag to indicate something wrong with your child’s online life is mental health problems. If your child is not taking an interest in social interactions and cutting off friends and family, then you need to watch out for other signs of trouble.
Since the prime focus of bullies and abusers is to isolate a child, social isolation is the first thing a child practices once exposed to online abuse. Moreover, researches indicate that online abuse and harassment have a direct link with mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
However, not every mental health issue is a result of online abuse. It might also be caused by social comparison, FOMO, social media addiction, etc. Regardless of the reason behind the appearance of these issues, parents must identify them early on and take measures before the mental health problems worsen.
Inquire Further When Becoming Defensive
If your child becomes defensive anytime you try to start conversations about their changing behavior or concerning usage patterns, it is a glaring red flag. Mostly, there is more to it than a child’s need to protect themselves from punishment.
The most common cause of this defensive behavior is that they are not comfortable talking about things they are struggling with online. Moreover, it might have to do with patterns and behaviors that the parent does not condone, like explicit conversations.
Plus, quite frequently predators or bullies make their victims feel like they cannot discuss their problems with anyone. No matter what, most of the time, their defensiveness is a coping mechanism for hiding something troublesome from their parents.
Therefore, when you notice that your child is becoming defensive, you should start a conversation by asking non-confrontational questions.
Helping Your Child with Child Monitoring Application
The recent rise in the use of the permissive style of parenting has taken things too far since parents no longer have any control and are unable to supervise their child’s activity. This lack of monitoring makes it difficult for parents to identify red flags in their child’s online life early on.
To counter this issue, parents should switch to a more authoritative style of parenting that perfectly balances a child’s needs and parents’ expectations. Moreover, they must use a child monitoring app like Xnspy that not only recognizes any red flags but also combats them effectively before things take a turn for the worse.
The following ways are how parents can help their children by spotting red flags in their online life and fighting them using Xnspy:
Limit Screen Time
The prime reason that children face issues in their online life is because of excessive usage. Therefore, parents must work on creating realistic screen time limits for their children. To do so, they can use Xnspy which monitors overall phone usage and screen time of individual apps alongside the frequency of visits.
Monitor Messages for Harmful Conversations
Instant message apps and social media have made it easier for predators and bullies to exploit children. For this reason, parents have to keenly observe all their children’s interactions. To facilitate this, Xnspy offers text message and social media monitoring.
Listen to Calls for Proper Insight
Even if you are tracking their complete phone activity, you might be missing out on crucial information because they are primarily discussing those details on calls. Be it explicit conversations, drug purchases, harassment, etc., Xnspy records all their calls from start to end. Parents can then play these recordings within the user dashboard to gain proper insight into their child’s online life.
Reduce Exposure to Mature Content
Consumption of mature or inappropriate content can negatively affect a child’s brain and social development. Since parents cannot trust children blindly to make wise decisions, they should keep an eye on the kind of content they are consuming. To help parents do so, Xnspy offers social media content monitoring through its screen recorder and web browsing history.
Use Remote Commands to Ensure Safety
Parents, however, cannot just observe. There are times when an action needs to be taken. To execute commands remotely, Xnspy provides controls like app blocking, phone locking, data wiping, live screenshot taking, and surround recording.
Ensure 24/7 Remote Surveillance
Xnspy enables parents to remotely and discreetly monitor their child at all times. Moreover, to take child monitoring a step further, Xnspy enables alerts too. Parents can set alerts for specific keywords, contacts, and locations.
As soon as a log appears containing any of the flagged words, contacts, or locations, an instant alert is triggered. This helps parents since they do not have to manually sift through all logs.
Have Open Discussions
Since Xnspy gives parents access to their child’s complete phone activity, it is easy for them to detect any risky behavior online. With the proofs and logs at hand, parents can have discussions with their child about their behavior or other red flags.
Hold Them Accountable for Their Actions
Discussions, however, are not enough. It is important that children are allowed to make their own decisions and then are held accountable for their actions to improve their self-esteem. With Xnspy, parents can see how well children are abiding by the phone usage rules.
Takeaway
To leave children to their own devices and let them do as their heart wills is a disaster bound to happen. Due to children’s lack of critical thinking and decision-making power, parents must watch out for them and make sure they are safe and sound.
For that to happen, parents must remain very keen and notice if their child is exhibiting any problematic behavior or red flags. However, finding these red flags is not easy. Their prevention is even harder to tackle. However, a child monitoring application, like Xnspy, can prove to be very useful in such circumstances.
