Dialogue is important for children’s safety on the internet

With the unfolding of Operation Dark Room – which arrested those accused of using the Discord application to commit crimes related to sexual and psychological violence, such as rape and encouraging self-mutilation and suicide –, the issue of the safety of children and adolescents on the internet has returned. gaining prominence. According to the psychologist and director of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Safernet, Juliana Cunha, it is a great challenge for families to mediate their children’s relationship with technology. She considers that some parents prefer to have more control with a program that monitors their children’s internet browsing. “Social networks themselves offer parental control tools,” she recalls. “Other parents take the approach of giving their children more autonomy and freedom to build trust. These parents embrace dialogue, which is also important. But it’s no use for us to use the control tools and not have the dialogue, and also leave it only in the dialogue and not have some kind of monitoring of the children on the internet”, says Juliana. For the psychologist, dialogue is essential to prepare children to respond to risks. “Families also need to talk about sexuality. It is important to understand that adolescence is the moment when sexuality flourishes. Parents need to deal with this and are often not prepared to see their children grow up. It is a big obstacle for children to be afraid to talk to their parents for fear of being punished by removing their cell phones”. The director of Safernet points out that the school can be an important ally for families who are lost in this work of parental mediation of their children with the internet and can be this space to make families aware of the problems. The delegate responsible for Operation Dark Room in Rio, Luiz Henrique Marques, head of the Child and Adolescent Victim Police Station, points out that parents need to observe any change in behavior, because their children can be victims but also abusers. “Your child’s room is an environment with doors open to the world. From there, with the internet, you have access to all the good that the internet has brought, but to all the bad that is also present there. The investigation showed that minors cannot have free access to the internet, they have to be monitored. You also need to talk a lot with your children”, says the delegate. He highlights that, in Operation Dark Room, abusers and victims are 15 and 16 years old and that most parents did not know that their child was an abuser or a victim.

Agência Brasil