Online Wellbeing A Concern For Youth And Parents; How To Deal
In today's era, no matter whether people live in the reality or not, they do exist mostly in the online world, especially the youth. According to Nokia's annual 'Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) Report 2022, Indian youth spend an average of 8 hours per day online.
The covid pandemic has also shrunk millions of lives on the screens. Almost 85 per cent of people's work relies online on these days, be it for shopping, socialising, entertainment, education, job, health consultation, etc. Where the internet has provided so much of facilities, there also comes the risk of cyber attacks. Youth are mostly prone to falling prey in this regard. Therefore, it becomes a huge matter of concern for the youth as well as their parents regarding their digital wellbeing.
A cyber attack is an offensive, unauthorised system access by a third party. Hacking, phishing, cyber-bullying, malware attacks, etc can be known as cyber attacks. As per Google's VP-Engineering for Privacy, Safety and Security, India witnessed 18 million cyber-attacks and 200,000 threats a day in the first quarter of 2022.
Aparajita Bharti, Co-founder, Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) said, "Young people online is not a homogeneous group, some young people are extremely privileged where they get appropriate guidance and support from their schools and families to have safe and pleasant experiences online. However, a majority of youth in India do not have a supportive ecosystem. Many of them are first-generation learners and/or their parents are also late adopters of technology. This makes them more vulnerable online. Similarly, young girls are more likely to be harassed online among young people. We often come across cases where children do not know who to turn to in case they are facing bullying or harassment online. This impacts their mental health and self-confidence."
How can youth keep themself cyber-safe?
The Internet has been an essential tool for the youth these days. Therefore, its users cannot be immediately stopped. Young children when they use the internet or social media should keep the most important fact in their mind, which is cyber-security.
Bharti said, "Young people need to educate themselves on tools that help them take control of their experiences online. However, society has a larger role to play in equipping them with the right knowledge and the tools."
Personal identity, financial data, private documents, IDs, and pictures are all that valuable to hackers. Cyber-attackers can spread a wide net to get anyone trapped. In such a situation, things that should be practised to prevent yourself from falling into a scam are as follows:
As our world is increasingly digital and interconnected, we must protect ourselves so that, it protects the systems we rely on.
How could parents safeguard their young ones?
The foremost thing for parents to safeguard their young ones from online threats is to first learn about online tools. This makes it easy for them to understand multiple internet usage.
The top online threats for teenagers are cyberbullying, data theft, sexting, pornography, and hacking. In such a situation, an open bond between parents and youth helps a lot. As communication is the key, parents should talk to their young ones about every aspect. They should guide them on what and how they could be careful of. Let them share each thing with you so that you can monitor their mental wellbeing.
"There is an increasing regulatory pressure on social media platforms globally to act in the 'best interests of children. This has led to many positive changes in platform design. For example, Instagram has a daily time limit and comments restriction features. They also have parental supervision controls now. However, parents are often not aware of these tools. The first step parents need to take is to educate themselves and second, they need to create a safe space at home for children to share any untoward experiences they may be having online," said Bharti.
Parents should also set up some ground rules regarding their children's internet usage like limiting screen times, advising them to zero data sharing online, keeping them in the loop on social sites, and monitoring their online activity. Apart from that, pay attention to the youngsters' behaviour, and talk openly if find something suspicious.
How can education bring awareness?
Schools and colleges should hold awareness programmes and counselling sessions regarding cybersecurity that would teach the students to be aware of the risks of browsing the web, checking email and interacting online.
Bharti said, "In today’s world, our interactions and identity online are an important part of how we perceive the world and how it perceives us. Therefore, life skills such as being safe online, taking care of our online wellbeing, and conscious consumption of media and information must be taught in schools."
Teachers and professors should also be aware of the online threats and counsel children on their online wellbeing. Apart from that, since the last 2 years due to a pandemic, e-learning has been promoted, and schools and universities should also use safety tools. As student databases can be the main target of cyber-attackers, schools and colleges should use sites, emails and apps very carefully.
"At the university level, it is important to have debates around the role of online platforms in shaping our institutions and how they impact relationships between governments, businesses and civil society. Digital citizenship curriculum is a must-have in education institutions, just as important as curriculums that teach children good touch-bad touch, traffic rules, etc," Bharti added.
How should law & administration work on cybersecurity?
The Indian government on the one hand where promoting digital India, is on other hand, also working on cyber awareness. The All India Council of Technical Education initiates that all the technical Institutions in the country should observe "Cyber Jaagrookta Diwas" on the first Wednesday of every month by arranging different awareness programmes.
Apart from that, the central government has taken several different steps to keep up cyber hygiene with several measures among which the most famous one is Personal Data Protection Bill. The government is going to introduce the newly drafted bill soon that claims to protect Indian users from global breaches, which focuses on data localisation.
Bharti in this regard said, "The government of India is currently drafting some key legislations that seek to regulate data privacy and online harms. Until now, the Indian government’s approach towards regulation of online privacy of children has indexed too much on safety, to the extent of taking their agency away. This needs to change to a more balanced approach, where children have access to the internet which helps them grow as individuals coupled with features built-in platforms and law enforcement, that work in their 'best interests. The “Age-appropriate design code” adopted by the UK government presents a good model for the Indian government to consider and customise for the Indian context."
The other initiatives of the Indian government are Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Cyber Surakshit Bharat, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Center (NCIIPC), Cyber Swachhta Kendra, etc.
