For the longest time working mothers have had a challenge creating a work life balance. In a bid ease this challenge, Intel and Lenovo have partnered to make this work life balance easier for busy women. This is part of the Intel’s She Will Connect program which is an initiative to reduce the gender and technology gap for young women in emerging markets. It is aimed at empowering women to be tech savvy so that they can be able to use tech to empower themselves and improve their lives. This is more so due to the fact that only 1 in 19 women are able to access internet in Africa.
At an event held at Radisson Blu over the weekend, Lenovo unveiled their new yoga series laptop that is meant to fit into a working woman’s busy schedule. This laptop is so small that it can fit into a handbag and can work as a laptop and tablet as well.
One of the issues highlighted at the event was child online safety. Kids nowadays are proving to be quite tech savvy and are able to use phones and laptops with ease to access the internet. As such parents need to keep up with what their kids are doing online so that they are not exposed to dangers therein. Some of the dangers include;
Cyberbullying
Bullying happens both on the playground and the internet. Sometimes this kind of bullying has been so bad that some kids have ended up committing suicide. This mostly after hurtful words are exchanged or rumors spread.
Predators
On the online space there are some malicious people who seek to befriend and ensnare children. These people are manipulators and are able to foster a relationship of dependence with a teenager. They prey on the teen’s desire to be liked, romance or their sexual curiosity. Very often such predators use flattery, sympathy and providing attention to ensnare the teens. These sometimes turn into offline relationships which can lead to child pornography or even opportunities for kidnapping or adduction.
Pornography
Due to their curiosity, children and mostly teens are likely to view pornography on the internet if not checked. Repeated viewing of pornography from a young age can radically change one’ sexual attitudes and beliefs. Other hard things like extreme violence also do not augur well for young minds.
Sharing personal information
Due to their naivety, children can be easily tricked to share information that they would otherwise not share. This information can be used by unscrupulous people on the internet for identity theft. This can happen when the fraudsters are able to get information from the child on for example credit card details of their parents. This information can then be used to steal from the parents.
As a parent what one can do is to try and be accessible to your child as much as possible so that in case they have any queries you would be the first point of contact. This will avoid them getting online to look for the information which might mislead them. A software which can block any inappropriate content while your child surfs the web can also come in handy.