Five Tips to Build Digital Intelligence In Your Child

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It is never too early to help your child to develop digital intelligence, which are the social, emotional and practical skills needed to navigate this digital age. In their growing up years, it is important to remind them of these basic digital intelligence principles: respect, empathy, critical thinking, responsible behaviour and resilience.

Build Digital Intelligence In Your Child With These Five Tips

1. Promote respectful communication

Encourage your child to use the same positive manners and behaviour they would use offline, understanding that others may have different cultures, backgrounds or points of view. If it is not okay to say or do something face to face, it is not okay online.
Remind them to avoid responding to negative messages and to tell you if they receive them.
For example, ‘I know what a kind and respectful person you are, and it makes me proud to see you acting the same way when you're online.’

2. Encourage Empathy

Help your child to imagine being in someone else’s shoes, so they can relate to diverse opinions and understand what might make people behave in different ways.
For example, you might say something like: ‘I noticed that your friend seemed a bit sad when she came over yesterday. Have you noticed anything? What do you think is wrong? Would that make you sad? What can we do to help?’

3. Teach Them to Question

Encourage your child to think critically about what they see online. Teach them to ask questions so they can identify content or messages that may be misleading or exploitative.
Talk to them about ‘fake news’, or false information that is designed to look like a trustworthy news report, and how quickly it can spread online. Teach them to use S.U.R.E to fact check the reliability of information.
Remind them to be careful when making new friends online as people may not be who they say they are. If it seems out of character, it could be from a fake account.
Alert your child to the dangers of meeting someone in person that they have been talking to online. Advise them to never arrange to meet an online friend unless a trusted adult is with them and it is during the day in a public space.

4. Encourage Safe and Responsible Behaviour

Use a Family Tech Agreement designed for 6 and below, 7-12 or 13 and above to strike a healthy balance in your child’s online and offline activities and set boundaries for digital device use in your home.
Remind your child of the importance of safeguarding personal information that can be used to identify or locate them.
Explain why they should be suspicious of unsolicited messages and emails and avoid clicking on pop-up ads on websites. Some pop-ups that seem safe can lead to inappropriate sites or ask for personal or financial information.
Where possible, help them configure the strongest privacy settings on all the apps and devices your child use. It is best that only their circle of friends can view their information, tag them in a photo or share posts. And guide them to check their settings regularly as updates can sometimes change them back to the default.
Ensure your child uses strong passwords on devices and accounts, and explain the importance of not sharing passwords, even with friends.

5. Help Them Build Resilience

Keep your cool if your child experiences a negative experience online. Remember, the choices they make as they navigate difficult situations can help them learn and build their resilience.
Make sure they know how to block and report users or pages on the sites they use.
If they have a negative online experience, find out how they are feeling about it, offer support and seek help if needed.
Build your child’s confidence and encourage positive ways of thinking — looking on the bright side, thinking rationally, understanding that difficult times are a part of life but there is help and support available.
For example, you might say: ‘What that person has done is not OK. How are you feeling? Let's block them to stop their messages coming through.’

Article adapted from eSafety.