Digital security and children's safety in digital environments evolve as important questions concerning many families. As winter break approaches in schools across Türkiye, the president of a research center from Türkiye's capital Ankara warned parents about issues related to online violence and excessive use of tablets and computers.
The president of the Social Media and Digital Security Education Research Center (SODİMER) and Türkiye Metaverse Platform professor Dr. Levent Eraslan said that during the upcoming semester break, families should gauge the digital footprints of their children.
The professor said that as per his observations, two out of three children show a violent tendency because of games that are harmful, warning that families should aware of this problem. He also stressed upon the importance of raising awareness about the digital environment in general.
Since children spend a lot of time indoors in front of tablets and screens playing games that procreate violence, especially during their school breaks. These children then internalize this and become desensitized to violence, and express violent behaviors in real life, Eraslan warned.
"Incidents that include expressions of killing, such as 'headshot,' have increased a lot lately. That's why parents should be heedful of this. They should be aware that sometimes their kids play games with a bunch of strangers. Therefore, their personal information can be at stake in what we call social engineering which may victimize their children in the future," he explained.
Saying that it is not possible to prohibit their children's access to the digital world completely, the professor said that "We operate the principle of 'Do not prohibit, but use it carefully.'"
For example, watching various videos for the child's knowledge acquisition is quite useful, Eraslan said, adding that learning new languages is also beneficial for a child. But some dangerous online games and social media trends, commonly referred to as 'challenges', could lead to negative consequences and thus should be monitored by parents regularly.
"Mothers and fathers need to be very sensitive when there are some strange behavior patterns displayed by their children. They should follow the digital footprints of their children, without judging, criticizing or banning them," he emphasized.
"Please, let's follow the digital footprints of our children. Let's see what they do. It is not enough to give them the latest models of phones and tablets. There is a dark side to this digital media. It is necessary to raise awareness so that they do not fall victim to our negligence," Eraslan urged.
