Digital terms every parent should know

We all want to do our best to protect our children and that means keeping them safe in the online world too.

With the ever-evolving digital landscape, it’s becoming harder to stay up to date. But fear not, we’ll help you keep in the loop with these top digital terms every parent should know.

Deepfakes

Deepfakes are a type of media, such as a photo or video where a person in the existing image is replaced with someone else.

They can be incredibly convincing and can show people saying or doing outrageous things that they would never really do. (Yep, some people really do use the powers of photo editing for bad!)

For this reason, deepfakes can be very harmful and spread misinformation. It is important to make sure your child is aware that they should always question if what they read on the internet is true, even if it’s a photo or video!

Cancel Culture

When somebody (normally a public figure such as a celebrity or sportsperson) is cancelled, a large group of people will ostracise them for perceived wrongdoing. They are usually rejected from social and professional circles, either online or in person – or both!

This typically happens when the person in question has said or done something that is received as very offensive. However, the reason behind someone being cancelled can sometimes result from a misunderstanding or even based on an untruth.

Misinformation

Misinformation describes when false or inaccurate information is shared by accident, like sharing news stories that turn out to be not true.

Make sure your child is aware that what they read online is not necessarily true, even if it is a news story. Encourage them to check the source of information before they share it.

Want a deeper dive into how to spot fact from fiction? Read our blog post about how to spot fake news and steer clear from clickbait.

Disinformation

Disinformation is where false information is shared on purpose to mislead people. For example, writing false information about someone in a post to make people dislike them.

This happens often with celebrities, but it can happen to any of us, and as you could imagine, can be extremely distressing.

It might be worth checking in regularly with your child’s social media accounts to make sure that they are not spreading disinformation or having it done to them.

Digital Activism

Digital activism, also known as cyberactivism, is where the internet is used to spread and promote a cause or view, usually political. Social media is often used as a platform to group people together for political action (such as organising protests) as well as for sharing information.

Chat Rooms

Chat rooms are an online space where you are able to communicate with others, often anonymously. Chatrooms can either be one-on-one or involve multiple people.

Chatrooms are something to be very wary of, as you don’t know who is really behind the screen talking to your child. Make sure you keep a close eye on your child if you do allow them to use online chatrooms, and keep your wits about you.

It is important to educate children on how to stay safe online – not to give away any personal information like their name, age and address, or share photographs online.

Forums

Forums are online discussion groups, such as Reddit, where you can comment publicly on topics. This can happen in real-time, or comments can be added later on.

Most of the time, you are allowed to comment anonymously on these too. We recommend that you take caution when allowing children to use online forums, as they are not very well moderated and the chance of running into offensive material is very high.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging services allow you to talk one-on-one to your friends online in real-time. Instant messaging services include applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat.

Although this is a fantastic way for children to keep in touch with friends and family, there are a few factors to consider before you let them loose online.

Although messages are not public, they can be screen-shotted and distributed. So, a great rule of thumb would be to not share anything on instant messaging that you don’t want other people to know, as once the message is sent, you no longer have control of what happens to it. (Same with photographs and video’s too!)

And there we have it – the most important digital terms every parent should know at the moment. Let us know on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if you’ve got any other top tips to share!

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Fancy extending your broadband knowledge? Here are some more posts you might be interested in:

• How to spot fake news and steer clear from clickbait
• WiFi security: is my connection secure?