How to Limit Kids' Exposure to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Fake News
Limit Kids Exposure to COVID Fake News
ALL TOPICS
- Parent Monitoring Tips
- Monitoring Apps
- Social Media Parental Control
Sep 11, 2024 Filed to: Parent's Guide Proven solutions
The coronavirus Outbreak is a global epidemic currently ravaging the whole world at large. It comes with symptoms of mild to moderate respiratory illness. It was firstly reported in Wuhan China believed to be gotten from strains of an animal. Since then, it has spread mainly through personal contact with infected individuals.
The mode of transfer from one person to another is through the release of tiny droplets from the body by sneezing or coughing. Several countries worldwide are either reporting their first case or battling strongly against the pandemic. Therefore, this calls for an urgent need to take preventive measures in keeping the spread of COVID-19 at bay.
What’s Coronavirus Fake News?
There have been false and unreliable information been propagated around the globe since the new wave of coronavirus, especially on social media and news articles. Such false information spreads even faster than the epidemic itself. Coronavirus fake news are controversial news stories that tend to misinform the general public about issues surrounding the outbreak.
The downside of the spread of fake news and misinformation has generated a lot of mass panics. Although some of these fake news may seem to give hopeful reassurances, they are still false and can affect you and your kids. The news centers on transmission rate, cure/remedies, and immunity, and their likes exist on social media sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp, and many others. The following are the examples of such fake news on coronavirus;
- Useless cures/remedies
It was once passed on social media sites that effective use of certain types of drugs like chloroquine, antibiotics, and intake of bleach has the potential of curing the novel COVID-19. Do understand that the use of such medicines cannot cure or help boost immunity against the virus. The use of antibiotics could hamper personal vigilance against the spread of the virus, thus proving to be dangerous in the long run. Also, the potential of chloroquine in curing COVID-19 is still under investigation and has not been certified in curing the virus.
- High Temperature in curing coronavirus
Another popular fake news on social media sites is that high or very low temperature conditions can aid in curing the spread of coronavirus. US President Donald Trump once come up with a theory that was highly discredited by the health community. High UV temperatures cannot cure coronavirus; it’s not cancer.
- Pharmaceutical Conspiracy
Coronavirus being synthesized from the laboratory by Pharmaceutical giants to make a big mint of income by generating cures at a later time is also fake news.
- Immunity by Age
The news that coronavirus only affects the elderly should be debunked. Coronavirus affects both the old and young people of all age categories. Although the rate of infection can appear more evident with the elderly, all the same, all age groups are capable of being infected with the virus.
Why Parents Should Limit Children’s Exposure to Coronavirus Fake News
Parents have a role to play in preventing the spread of fake news on COVID-19 and limiting their kids from been exposed to such news. Many kids, especially those between ages 8-20 years, get most information online, and that’s where most false information about the virus is spread in a fast manner. Parents need to keep their kids exposed to fake news on coronavirus because of the following;
- Psychological Fear:
The epidemic itself has generated a lot of fear and social anxiety. Your kids getting exposed to more and more fake news on the Virus spread will only cause more fear. Remember, fear kills faster than the disease itself.
- Harm to self-esteem and Mistrust:
Some kids tend to believe stories on social media (such as YouTube, TikTok, and the likes) rather than their parents. Kids’ exposure to fake coronavirus news will generate mistrust with you as a parent, even when you try to educate them with the right information.
- Alters their perspective of the virus:
Misinformation of the coronavirus to kids comes with some mind-altering behaviors. Your kid or teen can begin to exhibit a change in actions or patterns of behavior that are quite unnecessary as a result of viewing such fake news.
How to Block or Monitor Any Content about Coronavirus Fake News
FamiSafe is a parental monitoring app that allows a parent to keep track of their kid’s activities on their mobile gadgets. The app is quite versatile has it can be downloaded on both Android and iOS devices.
With the use of FamiSafe, you get to know the kind of apps that are installed on your kid’s phone and the type of news websites they visit on any regular day. Parents receive such information through alerts and notifications. The FamiSafe app comes with the advantage of helping you prevent your kids from watching or seeing fake news on coronavirus.
- Web Filtering
- Location Tracking & Geo-fencing
- App Blocker & App Activity Report
- Screen Time Limit & Schedule
- Explicit Content & Suspicious Photos Detection
- Web filter & Browser History:
The Web filter feature of the FamiSafe app allows parents to monitor their kid’s browsing activity and or anything they do when surfing the net. It helps divides websites into different keyword categories. With Famisafe, you can block URL of sites that propagate fake news about COVID-19. This feature allows you to look through the browser history (even if it’s deleted or in incognito mode) when your kids check websites containing fake news on coronavirus.
- Explicit Content Detection:
With the Explicit Content Detection feature, parents can add keywords related to coronavirus. These keywords can be tagged as explicit content. With this in place, parents can receive real-time alerts and warnings when their kids access contents related to the coronavirus. Tracking such inappropriate contents with FamiSafe becomes more flexible.
- YouTube App Block:
YouTube is a social media app where videos can be shared and subscribed for. Currently, on the YouTube app, there are new video contents that center on the coronavirus epidemic. As much as there are beneficial videos that teach the whole essence of staying healthy at this time, there are other channels that spread fake videos on coronavirus.
No doubt, they result in fear and apprehension. The case is even worse for young kids and teens when they see such misinformation. However, with the use of the YouTube app block feature, you can block channels that spread such fake news or block your kid’s access to the app entirely.
- App Usage & Block:
The FamiSafe apps are a useful parental monitoring app that can help block social media apps with a high chance of spreading fake news on coronavirus. As a parent, you can prevent any Social media apps your kid’s use, which can spread false information on coronavirus.
Not all information or news about the coronavirus epidemic is true and well verified. Social media is full of scrupulous beings that spread fake and doctored rumors causing fear and apprehension. However, staying healthy during this time also entails you getting the right information about the virus. As parents, you need to shield your kids from seeing such coronavirus fake news to keep them psychologically stable. You can always maximize the parental control apps (like FamiSafe) to help keep your kids from viewing such fake news.
Moly Swift
staff Editor