In time for this month’s Safer Internet Day for Children, a city councilor encouraged parents to help their kids use the internet responsibly.
Safer Internet Day for Children is celebrated every second Tuesday of February under Proclamation 417, which was signed by former President Rodrigo R. Duterte in 2018, to promote responsible usage of the internet especially to children.
Councilor Bonz Andre Militar said that it is essential to provide guidance to youngsters in order to guarantee that they engage securely online, given that the internet has no restrictions.
“Kailangan nato ni sila i-monitor gyud kay atoang mga anak possible man gud magamit nila inyong mga phones and then makita nila to’ng mga dili pwede pa nila makita (We need to keep an eye on them because our children can use your phones and then they can see things they must not see),” Militar said in an interview with the city-owned Davao City Disaster Radio.
He said that monitoring for cyberbullying also continues, with cybercrime unit officers always willing to cater such cases in Davao City.
“Atoa gyud na’ng ginatan-aw since prone kaayo ang mga nagapakamatay nga mga bata karon it’s because of the online bullying (We’re paying close attention since internet bullying is the main reason why children are likely to commit suicide these days),” he said.
He also advised parents to allot a “parents day or parents hour” to spend time for their children.
“For example naa’y isa ka oras, pila ka oras nga dapat sila wala gagamit og cellphone, pati ang parents (For instance they spend an hour or more with their kids, they should not use phones, even parents),” he said.
He said limitations must be set in using the internet particularly since it may cause a youngster to become introverted.
“Since karon man gud nga generation techy naman kaayo, paghuman og klase tagaan na lang og tablet kay magpuyo man gud ang bata pero wala ta kabalo unsa’y effect sa bata ato. Isa man gud niana mahimo silang introvert (Since this generation is so technology-savvy, like after school we just give them a tablet for the child to behave but we don’t know what effect it will have on the child. One of those things is that they can be introverted),” he said.
“Manawagan lang ko sa parents to strictly monitor unsa’y ginabuhat sa mga anak kay daghan kaayog content ron sa Youtube. Naay mga content diha nga wala mo kabalo na abi ninyog gatan-aw ra og Disney princess pero lahi ilahang content (I call on our parents to keep a close eye on what their kids are doing because YouTube has so much content. You may be unaware that they are watching certain types of content. For example, you may believe they are watching a Disney princess, but the content is different),” he added. CIO
