Most parents worry about how much time their children spend on screens. But just as important is this question: How do I keep my child safe online?

The internet can be an amazing tool for learning, creativity, and connection. But it can also expose children to things they aren’t ready for—whether that’s disturbing content, manipulative design, unsafe contact, or social pressure.

The goal isn’t to frighten children or ban all technology. It’s to help them build the judgment to use the internet safely and responsibly, while you stay involved and guide them.

If your child is using screens, they need more than rules. They need your supervision, your conversations, and your steady coaching.

The Biggest Online Risks for Kids

Many parents think first about online predators. That risk is real, but for most children, the more common online dangers are:

  • Apps and platforms designed to keep kids engaged and make it hard to stop
  • Exposure to inappropriate or upsetting content
  • Social pressure, comparison, and exclusion
  • Contact with people they don’t really know
  • Sharing personal information too freely
  • Using screens to soothe themselves instead of building self-regulation
  • Loss of time for sleep, play, movement, and real-life connection

For most children, the biggest risk isn’t one dramatic event—it’s how hard they can be to put down once they start. 

These platforms are designed to keep users engaged. That’s a lot to ask of a child who is still learning how to regulate attention, emotions, and impulses.

When children spend more time on screens, they have less time for the developmentally essential experiences that build well-being, emotional growth and resilience—and they may begin to rely on screens in ways that impact the developing brain.

As children get older, the risks grow—not because kids are “bad,” but because the digital world is built to pull them in before they have the maturity to manage it well.

That’s why parents need to stay actively involved. Children may know more than we do about technology, but we know more about life, judgment, and safety.

These risks can look very different depending on your child’s age and stage. For guidance on what to expect—and how to support your child at each age—see Screen Time by Age: A Peaceful Parent Guide From Babies to Teens .

Family Rules That Make Screens Safer

Children need clear structure online, just as they do in the rest of life. Some of the most protective family rules are simple:

  • No devices in bedrooms overnight
  • Screens used in shared spaces as much as possible
  • Parents know passwords and have access to devices
  • Kids ask permission before they go online.
  • No downloading apps or joining platforms without permission
  • Use timers.
  • Honor some technology-free time on weekends.
  • No social media until after homework is finished.
  • No chatting with strangers or people your child only knows online
  • If anything feels scary, mean, sexual, or confusing, your child comes to you right away

Filters and parental controls can help, and you should use them. But no filter is perfect. The strongest protection is still your relationship with your child and the conversations that keep their online life visible.

Educate your child about safety

If you were in public with your child and saw something disturbing, you would speak with your child about it. You would also use the opportunity to teach your child about social rules, about kindness and other values, about how the world works. Do the same constant talking, questioning, and educating about the digital world. Be sure that your child knows:

  • Whatever gets posted online is permanent.
  • Never share your passwords, even with friends.
  • Never share personal info or location online.
  • Never say anything online that you would not say in person.
  • Have tough conversations in person, not online.
  • Assume that nothing is private online.
  • Downloads can contain viruses; get permission from an adult before downloading.
  • Trust your gut. Get help from an adult with anything that feels worrisome, including any kind of bullying.

For a more complete guide to setting expectations, introducing a phone, and staying involved as your child learns to use it, see Rules for the First Phone .

Teach Digital Citizenship

Internet safety isn’t only about avoiding danger. It’s also about teaching children how to behave responsibly online.

That includes:

  • Respecting other people
  • Understanding that online actions have real-world consequences
  • Recognizing that ads, algorithms, and platforms are designed to influence behavior
  • Learning to pause before clicking, posting, or responding
  • Knowing that not everything online is true

You can start early. Even young children can learn:

  • “Some things are private and just for our family.”
  • “Not everyone online is who they say they are.”
  • “If something feels wrong, stop and come get me.”

As kids get older, these conversations can expand into privacy, digital reputation, scams, misinformation, and how online companies make money by keeping us engaged. When your child first uses any new technology or network, have daily discussions to review what came up and how they handled it.

These conversations don’t happen all at once—they grow with your child. For age-by-age guidance on what to say and how to support your child at each stage, see Screen Time by Age: A Peaceful Parent Guide From Babies to Teens .

Online Safety

Some online issues deserve their own deeper conversations. You may also want these articles:

These are some of the most common areas where parents need extra support, because they involve not just technology, but also children’s emotions, curiosity, and developing judgment.

When Online Problems Point to a Bigger Struggle

Sometimes an online issue is really a sign of something deeper.

If your child is sneaking devices, getting very distressed when screens are taken away, becoming secretive, or using screens constantly to cope with hard feelings, the problem may not just be “internet safety.” It may be a sign that your child is struggling with self-regulation, stress, loneliness, or overwhelm.

In those moments, what your child needs is the support to meet your expectations. That means more connection, as well as more structure and limits around screen usage. 

You may need to step back in more actively:

  • Move screens back into shared spaces
  • Reduce access
  • Pause problem apps
  • Stay closer and check in more often

The goal is not to shame your child. It’s to help them build the skills they need to manage the digital world more safely.

The Internet Is a Tool, a Playground, and a Risk

The world-wide web is:

The world-wide web is:
a. An extensive library of intellectual treasures
b. A dangerous place for kids
c. An exciting playground for kids
e. A random collection of facts mixed with opinions masquerading as facts, often challenging to distinguish from each other.
f. All of the above.

The internet world is like a city: jam-packed with information and resources worthy of the finest museums, but also holding menace for the unwary.

You wouldn’t let your child wander unsupervised and unprepared in a city. The risks are very real. So in the same way that you monitor your child’s physical whereabouts and teach them to navigate the physical world safely, you’ll want to supervise their internet use and teach them web smarts—from net etiquette to web literacy to simple safety.

A Note for Parents

You may be overwhelmed by the pace of technology and how pervasive it has become in your child's life. Just remember that while your child may know more than you do about technology, you know more about life. And you are allowed to set the rules and enforce them. You’re still the parent!

  • Be the computer administrator.
  • Use monitoring software and parental controls.
  • Require your child to "friend" you on all social network accounts.
  • Set all of your child's accounts to maximum privacy settings.
  • Don't let your child lie about their age to join a social network.
  • Research every app and social network before you let your child use it.

You don’t have to know everything about technology to keep your child safer online. What matters most is that you stay involved, keep the conversation going, and make it easy for your child to come to you when something feels off.

Every time you guide instead of just react, every time you help your child think instead of just obey, you’re helping them build the judgment they’ll need for the rest of their life.

For a broader overview of screens, phones, and online safety, see the Screens Guide.

Recommended Resources:

For additional reading, see:

Need a Screen Reset? Here’s How to Dial Back the Screens
When your child melts down over screens or seems hooked on them, reduce screen time without daily battles.

When Preteens Break Your Video Game Rules

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The Social Dilemma - This link is to a review of this movie in the New York TImes; the movie is available on Netflix.

Cyber Civics- Digital Literacy Curricula organization, founded by Diana Graber

Media and Digital Literacy: Resources for Parents at Edutopia

Common Sense Media has articles on cyberbullying and other parental concerns as well as ratings of most media. But be aware that Common Sense does accept funding from Open AI and other major tech companies.

Media Smarts: Cool site that takes older kids through a Cyber Tour of 12 mock web sites to test their savvy surfing skills.

Guide to Protecting Children’s Privacy Online has step by step instructions to manage kids' (and your own) privacy settings across platforms.