By Paula Green, Pumpic.com, The Culture of Awareness (Guest).

Has your child expressed anger, anxiety after going online? Is your kid private about his/her online world and friends? This might be one of the signs your kid is facing online dangers. In this article we will list top online dangers your child can come across and ways you can avoid it.

Cyberbullying. Online bullying, more commonly known as cyberbullying, is the same as traditional bullying. Kids are being harassed and tormented by other children online with a help of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, IM chats like Viber and WhatsApp and general text messages.

The problem of cyberbullying was firstly raised by McAffee chief privacy officer in 2012. In the interview, the officer stated that 9 in 10 parents have no idea their kids are being bullied online.

The shocking statistic reveals that

• 43% of children have experienced cyberbullying
• About 75% of kids report witnessing cyberbullying
• More than 90% of attacks are held through commenting and chatting in social media
• Only 3 in 10 victims report online attacks
• Cyberbullying victims are 9-10 times more likely to consider committing suicide

By now there are repeated stories of children, especially young girls committing suicide because of online bullying. Teen celebrities like Demi Lovato, Taylor swift, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber are taken an active part in anti-cyberbullying campaign.

Online predators. Online predators might be the most serious problem children can come across while browsing the Internet. Online predators are those individuals who target children through the Internet in social media websites, forums and chats. They usually find a way to be sympathetic for kids, find a “mutual hobby” or seduce them with kindness by becoming their online friends. Unfortunately, this doesn’t end in online world. After getting next to children, predators are often offering a face-to-face meeting in a real life. The burning issue is being discussed on TV and on the Internet, it is extremely important to instruct children about online predators.

18+ content. There is probably no need to explain why 18+ content is dangerous for underage children. First of all it raises unhealthy vision of sexuality, kids who watch pornography at young age are proven to have mixed feelings about relationship and very often suffer from the problems of commitment.

Unfortunately, these are not the top problems when it comes to adult content. Most kids run into child pornography, which simply ruins their psychological system, in addition, most adult websites promote racial prejudice and violence.

So, this article is not only about dangers and fears, we created a list of possible measures that will help you avoid online dangers for your child.

• Have a conversation. Talk to your child about possible online dangers. Ask what she/he knows about the problems: does he know someone who is being bullied, are there any kids who have online friends no one has ever seen etc. This way you can see what your child knows about it and even understand which problems you need to work on.

• Monitor online activity. While we trust our children we cannot trust everyone they talk to online. Software like parental iPhone monitoring allows you to monitor online activity of your child. You can track his/her social media accounts, IM chats and applications. In addition all videos and photos downloaded on the phone will be visible to you as well.

• Use celebrity card. Kids love to associate themselves with their idols, by now there are many famous teen celebrities like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga and others who stand against cyberbullying and safe internet usage in general.

You can help your children get acquainted with an unknown online world without having troubles of dealing with its problems.