Four pitfalls in media education

In a joke, elderly parents want to visit their son, who lives far away, by car. Since he cannot dissuade them, he sends them a mobile phone in advance for emergencies. When they should have arrived long ago on the agreed day, he dials the new number. After a long ring, he hears an anxious voice: «Hello?» The son: «Hello Mum, it's me!» The mother, surprised: «How do you know where I am?»

Older generations have always found it harder than their children to keep up with the latest technological developments. Today is no different. The younger generation is always one step ahead of us. But as appealing as the stoic attitude of older people towards technological progress may seem, we must address these issues in order to protect our children from the dangers of the internet.

Below, you can read about four pitfalls that we easily overlook in digital education.

Did you know that WhatsApp also has channels?

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging service. Children and young people use it every day to get in touch with their parents, friends or classmates. Until now, WhatsApp has been considered reasonably secure – apart from data protection concerns – as it is only used by people who have exchanged their phone numbers beforehand.

However, for some time now, there has been a feature known as channels. Companies, football clubs and magazines use these to showcase their content and gather followers. In addition to celebrities and starlets, many private individuals of all ages are also active here.

Similar to the internet, minors can quickly encounter inappropriate content via channels.

What we need to know: Messenger users cannot deactivate the channels. WhatsApp also expressly points out that they are «public» – meaning that anyone can find them and view shared content. However, telephone numbers are protected and cannot be viewed. Followers can only respond to posts or polls with emojis; comments are not possible – at least not yet.

Children and young people can also easily open a channel and, similar to Instagram, pursue their self-expression with the same naivety. They have no control over who follows them or what happens to the images (e.g. through screenshots). In addition, minors quickly encounter inappropriate content on channels, similar to the internet. Research by Der Spiegel magazine has pointed to dating sites and sexual content, among other things.

What parents can do: The Hamburg news magazine advises: «Parents can follow their children's channels with their own accounts and keep an eye on them. Or they can officially become administrators and then create or delete posts themselves.»

Of course, it is up to each family to turn their backs on WhatsApp and use a less controversial messenger such as Signal or Threema.

Did you know that children can be contacted by strangers in games?

When adults express criticism of games, it usually concerns violent game content. And rightly so: war games and first-person shooters have no place in children's hands. But another, much more concrete danger is the chat function in online games. In itself, it serves a good purpose, as it allows players to discuss strategy and tactics. However, these chats can also allow evil to enter children's bedrooms directly – and unnoticed by parents.

What we need to know: People with paedophilic tendencies usually pretend to be peers or only slightly older playmates when chatting with children in games. In seemingly harmless conversations, a relationship is built up over weeks and months, thus gaining the trust of the victims. Unaware, children provide the perpetrators with ammunition, which is then used to blackmail them. For example, they are asked to send intimate photos to their supposed acquaintance or agree to a meeting with fatal consequences.

What parents can do: When children are young, we need to regularly discuss the possibility of strangers contacting them. Children should not be too trusting; they should never give their mobile number, address or real name to people they do not know personally. Of course, this is a difficult topic and can be uncomfortable to discuss directly. But children who are old enough to be online are also old enough to learn these things.

Did you know that push notifications can be disabled on the lock screen?

Push notifications are a practical thing. Unlike emails, they reach their recipients on their mobile phones immediately, and they can respond to them right away. This is useful when children have missed the bus, for example, or an appointment has to be cancelled at short notice. However, they can be harmful if there are too many of them.

Work with your child to determine which news items are truly relevant in order to manage the flood of information.

What we need to know: Push notifications are not only sent via messengers such as WhatsApp, but also from social networks, games and numerous other apps directly to the lock screen. They interrupt every activity and distract children from learning or even from conversations. In large numbers , these messages not only cause stress, but also condition young people to constantly have to react immediately.

What parents can do: Push notifications can be disabled in the respective app. Work with your child to determine which messages are truly relevant in order to manage the flood of information and reduce distractions.

Did you know that switching off the Wi-Fi in the evening is of little benefit to children?

Many parents are under the mistaken impression that it is sufficient to block their children's WiFi access after a certain time in the evening.

What we need to know: Children then switch to mobile data or continue to access available games, films and games through downloads.

What parents can do: No devices in the children's bedroom overnight.

Conclusion: No backing out now

We can never win the race with technical innovations. But we can't back down. We need to give our children guidance, set boundaries and set a good example by using technology critically. This includes regularly setting up the security settings for individual services and checking them at intervals. There is no such thing as 100% protection, but we should do everything in our power.