Online safety for teens aged 14-17

As your teen grows, they’re less likely to want you setting standard parental controls across all their digital experiences. Instead, you want to involve your teen in decisions around limits while using supervision tools.

TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat all have supervision tools you can use. These can help you set screen time limits, restrict who can privately message them and stay on top of the content they see.

These tools work best when used with conversation. Try to avoid making blanket decisions. Instead of saying ‘these are the limits’, try saying ‘we need to set limits, so let’s discuss what they look like.’

In addition to supervision tools to help manage your teen’s screen time, encourage them to use their own methods.

If they have an Android phone, they could make use of Digital Wellbeing, for example. Apple users can set up their own Screen Time limits.

As they shift towards adulthood, you might wish to remove screen time limits you set. Instead, you can ask them to set their own limits.

Then, set time aside every week to check in on how they’re doing. Some tools might work for a week or two before they aren’t so helpful. So, checking in regularly can help your teen lean on you for support if they need it.

As a part of regular check-ins with your teen about their online experiences, talk about what positive behaviour looks like. This includes behaviour they might participate in or others’ behaviour.

In these conversations, talk about:

• Grooming and sextortion
• Sharing nude images
• Online hate and abuse, including misogyny
• Dating and relationships
• Child-on-child abuse
• Extremism and radicalisation

Of course, don’t cover all of these topics at once! But make sure your teen is aware of these issues, can identify the signs and know what to do to keep themselves safe.

These topics might feel awkward to bring up, but using a news story can help. The awkward conversations are often the most important ones.

As your teen starts to explore employment or post-secondary education, their digital footprint becomes a lot more important. It’s how potential employers or organisations can discover more about them. It’s important for them to think about what their digital footprint says about them.

Talk about and review the following with them:

• Are their profiles public? Public profiles mean it’s easier for others to discover more about your teen.
• Do they post photos of themselves? Sometimes these photos get indexed into search engines. So, even if your teen has private profiles, searching their name or username might still bring up image results.
• What kinds of videos or photos do they share? Would future employers see someone who spreads positivity and respect or someone who overshares and posts before they think?
• What kinds of comments do they leave? Hate disguised as jokes, bullying comments or comments which overshare can all influence your teen’s digital footprint.

Find more tips for building a positive online reputation and digital footprint.