Helping adults get online
Helping your parent or carer understand what you do online and how it all works, might make them feel less worried and even bring you closer together.
It also means that if things do go wrong, you can more easily talk to them about what is happening and get help and support.
So instead of rolling your eyes the next time an adult in your life doesn’t understand a meme or how to send private messages on Instagram, why not sit down and show them?
Here are some suggestions for how you can help the adults in your life understand the internet, games and apps — and have better conversations about your online life.
What to do
Keep it simple
If the adults in your life are not tech savvy, start with the basics and don’t get too complicated too quickly. When they get the hang of how commenting on a photo works or what a GIF is, then you can move on to more complicated stuff like showing them how face recognition on Snapchat filters works.
Get them started on social media
If your parents or carers aren’t online already, get them started with their own social media accounts. They will quickly realise how much fun it can be and how more connected they can be — and they’ll be more confident in supporting you too if things go wrong.
Explain the importance of privacy settings
Even if your parents are reasonably tech savvy, you can show off your knowledge of privacy settings. Walking through your social media privacy settings will hopefully make your parents or carers more comfortable about what you are doing online. It also gives you the opportunity to talk about how much personal information you are sharing, and even adjust your settings if you need to.
Start the chat
It’s never too late or too early to talk about your online life with your parent or carer, or the important adults in your life. By showing them what you do online, you might be able to lessen their fears about, for example, cyberbullying or sending nudes.
It might be hard to have the chat, at times, but it will help to establish trust between you and your parent or carer. It also means that the lines of communication stay open, so if anything does go wrong you can always reach out for help.
Helpful links for the adults in your life
Be Connected
If your parents or carers want to learn the basics and beyond, show them Be Connected, which has lots of great tips for people who are just starting out.
The eSafety Guide
The eSafety Guide has lots of information on privacy settings and useful links to report abusive content to social media services, games and apps. If the adults in your life want to get the low down on an app, this is where to send them.
Parents
Show them the section for parents and carers on this website, which covers the big issues like cyberbullying, online gaming and even sending nudes from a parent’s perspective.
Report adult cyber abuse
Everyone deserves to safe when they are online. If a parent or carer starts getting abusive messages, they might be experiencing adult cyber abuse. eSafety has legal powers to help protect people who live in Australia from the most serious online abuse and harmful content. You can show them the adult cyber abuse section on this website to find out what they need to do if they need to report it to eSafety.
Last updated: 13/02/2023
