Understand your kids!

Kids in the digital space – a guide for adults

Published: 29 March 2018

As parents, grandparents or educators, we have our work cut out for us if we want to set a good example and provide some useful advice for children about media use. The National Media and Infocommunications Authority’s latest publication will make it easier for you to find common ground with those most important to you.

Kids spend a lot of time with their eyes glued to the screen of their media devices. They watch TV, play video games and browse the web, sometimes all three at the same time.

It is completely natural for them to be available, to be able to reach anybody and access any information anytime and anywhere. This gives adults a headache as they often do not even understand what their kids are talking about, let alone help them get their bearings. Let’s dive in and explore what we, as adults, can do in this somewhat strange world. Let’s take a few steps towards understanding media and thereby our kids.

By following some ground rules, we can do a lot to help kids benefit from modern technology the smartest way possible. This booklet offers points of reference and, if we take the time, serves as a useful guide in everyday life.

We can get answers to questions we have always pondered, but – failing authoritative sources – only had our own intuition to rely on:

  • How are kids affected by the media?
  • We can put a parental lock on TVs and install filtering software on web-capable devices, but which one shall we choose and how to do it?
  • How should we explain to kids how ads work?
  • Grooming, sexting, cyberbullying – what are the dangers of each and how can we prepare for encountering them?
  • What should we do if our children fall victim to cyberbullying?
  • Children addicted to gaming and scam applications – how much should we let our kids play?

You can flip through our publication here or even download it, yet it’s also available in printed form at our events and our distribution points.