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May 27 is celebrated as Children’s Day in Nigeria since the year 1964. Children all over Nigeria are celebrated with adults recognizing their existence as a hope for a better future. On this day, recreational centres are filled up with children in high spirits. Some parents try to make this day a memorable day for their kids. In most cases, you see children marching towards a glorious future in stadiums or just stuck watching TV at home.
Photo Credit :- PeakD
The theme for this year’s Children Day has been a recurring issue over the past years, ‘Protecting the Nigerian Child from the Dangers of Online Technology‘. Online technology have deinitely come to stay. Children even finding it more helpful than adults in the long run. The online technology comes in handy in entertainment, sports, education, recreation and so on. Protecting the Nigerian Child from the Dangers of online technology might also mean restricting their access to it.
It is no doubt that the internet is really porous and everything is out there. You can have access to anything as long you have got internet access and a device. Even contents that are censored are very much accessible. Only government data have firewalls protecting them from easy access. Children see contents out there even as advertisements pop in. It is like these contents chase after them as long as they use a browser.
How can we really protect the Nigerian child from the dangers of Online Technology
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There is one most effective approach to this but it is not feasible for this age, that is, cut their access from online technology. The Gen Zs and Gen Alpha children are very smart as long as they have got a phone and internet access, they can be anywhere virtually. Restricting them from access to online technology might mean punishing them and forcing them into an old age of technological backwardness.
Rather than doing this, we can seek effective approaches that would make online technology effect more good into the upcoming generation. Well, is too late to take a simple definition of online technology? I guess not.
‘Online Technology refers to devices and services connected to the internet that afford flexible communication and connectivity for the user. Nevertheless, sometimes the conjunction ‘and’ is used between ‘online’ and ‘digital’ to include the reference to devices or experiences that do not afford or imply a connection to the internet.’- IGI Global.
Over 64 million people in Nigeria are mobile internet users, out of this population, there are parents and by extension their children have access to the internet. There are of course children who are independent users of a phone that has access internet access. Online Technology is something children should have access to these days. But the question is how can we protect them from the dangers?
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1. Parental controls and monitoring
This option is a very tricky one. If children notices that their parents keep close tabs on their internet usage, they might enter a chameleon mode. That is, they might want to clear their browsing history, chats, and other histories before you even check it. They might paint a facade for you to believe in. But still, parents have to check the mobile gadgets, internet searches of their wards. There might just be one loophole.
Make sure you scrutinize their devices constantly. There are browsers that allow for parental controls and even some mobile devices. You might want to get kids friendly devices for your wards and even kids friendly apps. You can give a curfew period for their mobile device use. Do not forget online technol;ogy also cuts across visual entertainment such as movies. For example, Netflix has a section for kids alone. The contents there are censored and their movies are always PG-rated.
2. Have a cordial relationship with your children
As parents or guardians, do not place yourself high up the power ladder. Let your kids see you as someone they can discuss any issue with. Let them see you as the first person they ask for advice when a pornographic content pop up on their screens and they are torn between two desires. Talk to them about the dangers of falling into the thist trap of online technology.
You can not always monitor them but you can give them tips to deal with situation even when you are not there. Tell them the reason why they are not eligible enough to watch a content and not just wad them off. Children are always inquisitive, they always want to know why.
Teach your children on how to protect themselves from social media bullying. Let them know that they do not have to seek social media validation. Help them build their self esteem so that they do not get addicted to social media for validation.
3. Implement rules regarding online technology use
Do not restrict them for using online technology but do not make it too easy for them especially at their young age. You can state a ground rule of screen time for three hours on weekdays and six hours on weekends. Or maybe two movies per week. You can cut out internet access for few days, make it a routine. Making it too easy and limitless for them gives them too much free time to explore the ills the internet has on it.
When a child knows they have got limited screen time, they plan and end up using most of the time for tasks like their homeworks, profitable ventures. They know you are going to check their assignments- you are tracking their progress. For the sake of social media, scrutinize their social media community and who they chat and communicate with.
4. Do not raise your children to be dependent on online technology for entertainment
Growing up, some children are introduced to online technology as a means to soothe their tears. Parents do not seek to buying educational toys for their kids, they just get them a tablet singing ‘Cocomelon’ but those kids end up getting addicted to the screen. They might learn from those online shows, games but gradually it bores them out and they seek to explore more.
Teach your wards to find solace in nature and fellow humans. You can teach them gradening, knitting, sewing, moulding, panting, arts and crafts skills. Instead of giving them access to screen time at a young age, introduce them to puzzles, building blocks, chess sets and so on. The best time to mould a child’s character is ehen they are young. Catch them young.
As parents and guardians, it is our job to grrom our wards to be better than us. It might not be easy judging by the age we are in but we have to put in the best work. That we might not regret what we did not do, that we may feel proud knowing we tried our best in making them the best.
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