WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram are just some of the apps being widely used by young people and school going children.
Using these social apps, sometimes exposes children to potential dangers of cyber-bullying, racial comments, accessing inappropriate material, grooming and recruitment.
A new app, launched by The Australian Multicultural Foundation, called CyberParent now helps parents to understand, monitor and seek help about their children's online behaviour.
CyberParent App equips parents with the knowledge and confidence to identify early warning signs.
It explains terms like cyberbullying, online gaming, online dangers, grooming and recruitment.
And this information is available in a total of 17 different languages, including: English, Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Dinka, Farsi, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Pashto, Spanish, Somali, Turkish, Urdu (from September 2017) and Vietnamese.
CyberParent covers topical issues such as:
- Internet terms and definitions
- Information about social media and descriptions of popular apps
- Information about different dangers for young people online e.g. cyberbullying, online gaming and grooming/recruitment
- Practical tips on healthy and safe internet use
- Where you can go for help
Australian Multicultural Foundation's Executive Director, Hass Dellal, told , "The focus for us was to see if we could develop something that would help families and parents understand what their children are accessing online, and what are some of the potential dangers and how to deal with these challenges at home."
The app looks at the internet itself, social media, some of the websites and apps that young people use, such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Telegram.
Mother-of-two young boys, Yogita Bharadwaj allows her children to communicate with their friends via social media apps like WhatsApp and Messenger.
Source: Supplied
"We have an open channel of communication in the house and as a parent who is very actively involved in their lives, i know whom are they talking to."
Bharadwaj says such an app could prove to be very informative for parents.
"An app like this which helps you understand new and latest terms of the cyber world would be very informative for parents. We all want our children to be safe," she says.
