4 Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe Online

Los Angeles - Whether you want to admit it or not, there are people looking to victimize children in all sorts of ways online.

For example, FOX 11 News investigated something called the "Jailbait Game", in which predators try to get young girls to take off their clothes while secretly recording them. You can watch that report here.

FOX 11's Tech Ninja, Tshaka Armstrong, gives you some practical tips and software advice for safer computing in the video.

Here's a summary of his advice:

We start with an acronym many of you already know: TGIF.

The "T" is for "Talk."
Talk, talk, talk! Communication is the key to ensuring that your children have the critical thinking skills necessary to keep them out of trouble. Make sure to let them know that if they ever click a link in error or get a pop-up window and don't know what to do, come and get you! Assure them that you've made some mistakes on the computer and they won't be in trouble if they get you involved. It's in their best interests if they do!

The "G" is for "Get to know the basics!"
Getting to know the very basics of how your children will be using the gadgets you're giving them will help you understand how they may use them. Once you understand the basics, you can set proper boundaries and guidelines for what is and isn't appropriate tech use.

The "I" if so for "Involved."
Stay engaged and involved as products and tech are changing daily! A device you gave them last week may recieve a software update giving it features it didn't have when you first bought it. This pertains even to video games which often have downloadable content available which adds new elements to "old" games.

The "F" is for "Family Space."
Keep desktop and laptop computers in public spaces with high traffic... a dining room or living room area for instance. KNowing that mom and dad are capable of walking by and seeing what's on a screen at any moment is a powerful deterrent for teens whose purpose at that age is to push boundaries and test limits.

If you have questions about anything you've seen tonight you can comment below, on our Facebook page at facebook.com/FOXLosAngeles or tweet us at twitter.com/myfoxla.