Online safety tips for every age, from young kids to grandparents. Learn how to protect your family and stay secure online with Dashlane.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world use passwords to protect and access their online accounts—from kids in school to senior citizens—and it's important that every password is strong, unique, and secure.
Read on for online safety tips across different age groups.
Tips for parents
Whether you have toddlers, teens, or young ones in between, these tips can help you keep them safer as they interact with the internet.
Young children (ages 2-6)
- Set parental controls: Before you hand over the tablet or the smart TV remote, it's a good idea to set parental controls that block or filter out inappropriate internet content so your little one is less likely to stumble across something scary or confusing.
- Supervise screen time: Even with parental controls in place, it's smart to supervise young children when they're online. No filter is 100% perfect, and new content appears quickly on social media and video platforms. It only takes a second for something to go from silly to strange, so stay nearby and be ready to step in if needed.
- Introduce password privacy: It might sound early, but young children often already know a phone or tablet passcode to watch their favorite shows. Explain in simple terms why it's important not to share that kind of private information with anyone, and make sure you're not reusing the same PIN elsewhere.
Kids in elementary school (ages 7-12)
- Apply consistent guidelines: You set rules for your child to follow every day, so consider extending those same rules to digital spaces. Both in the real world and online, empower your child to practice kindness, respect others, think before they share information, understand that their actions have consequences, and come to you with any concerns.
- Teach them to identify red flags: Help kids recognize and immediately tell you about red flags: Requests for personal information, inappropriate content, or any online interaction that makes them uncomfortable.
- Stay informed: Regularly ask your child about the programs, games, and apps they're using, whether at school or at a friend's house.
Teenagers (ages 13-18)
- Safe social media use: Talk to your teen about using social media securely and responsibly. Remind them to be cautious about sharing personal information online, even with friends. A good rule of thumb: Don't send or share anything you wouldn't want the entire world to see permanently.
- Cyberbullying prevention: Discuss the importance of kindness and empathy online. Cyberbullying is an all-too-common issue among teens, so encourage them to report any instances of harassment and to support their peers.
General tips for parents
- Keep the conversation going: The internet and tech move fast. Have an ongoing conversation about online safety with your child, and update your guidance as they become more independent online. They may already be using the internet in ways you’re not aware of.
- Think before you post: As a parent, it's easy to overlook the fact that you're building your child's digital footprint with every social media photo or funny story posted online. Be mindful of your child's privacy and cautious about the pictures and information you share about them. Consider how much private information can be gathered from a single photo and remember that what you post online can exist indefinitely.
- Use Dashlane to keep track of logins and other important info: Save time by keeping all your kids' passwords, school ID numbers, and other important information organized and ready to go in an encrypted password vault with Dashlane. You can even create a "School" Collection to group them all together. And when your kids are old enough to manage their own logins, give them their own private Dashlane account with a Friends & Family plan so they can safely create, store, share, and autofill strong, unique passwords to avoid getting hacked.
Tips for all adults
Even as adults, we're all still learning. These tips are great reminders for every age, and include actions you can take right now for a safer online presence.
In your late teens and 20s
- Secure your social media: Start with your socials. Make sure your online presence is as professional as your physical one. Adjust your privacy settings and audit any content you wouldn't want a future employer to see.
- Elevate your digital security: Adult life comes with a lot of accounts and logins. Instead of constantly forgetting and resetting passwords, keeping them in an unsecure place, or reusing the same password across sites, use Dashlane. The app includes a built-in Password Generator, and both Premium and Friends & Family plans come with unlimited password and passkey storage and access across unlimited devices.
In your 30s-50s
- Manage your digital footprint: Regularly audit your online presence, including old accounts and posts. Be mindful of the information you provide on social media and professional networking sites.
- Regularly back up your data: Back up important files to an external hard drive or a secure cloud service on a regular basis. In the event of a ransomware attack or hardware failure, backups ensure you can recover your information. Dashlane can also help; in addition to password and passkey storage, the app has a secure space for identification documents like passports and government identification cards.
In your 60s and onward
- Think about your digital footprint: Sharing updates about your grandkids and travel plans is fun, but it's also useful information for cybercriminals looking to target you. Limiting how much personal information you share online can make you a less attractive target.
- Educate yourself about scams: Cybercriminals often target older adults. They may pose as a grandchild in distress asking for money or claim that your computer is infected. Stay up to date on the latest digital scams and use some form of scam protection online.
General tips
No matter your age, these habits are worth building into your everyday online life.
- Limit the personal info you share: The more you share online, the easier it is for hackers to guess your passwords (often based on things like birthdays, pet names, or addresses) or craft a convincing phishing email targeted specifically at you.
- Use strong, unique passwords: Dashlane's Password Generator helps you create complex, unique logins that you can easily save and autofill across every account. No more reusing the same password everywhere.
- Stay safe on WiFi: Use a strong password for your home WiFi network and change it periodically. On public WiFi, use a VPN to keep your browsing encrypted and private. Dashlane Premium includes a built-in VPN that makes adding this step effortless.
- Share passwords securely: Families share a lot over text: Streaming passwords, WiFi passwords, account logins. It's fast, but it's also unencrypted. Dashlane gives users unlimited secure sharing, so you'll never have to dig through a group chat or hunt for a sticky note again.
- Be wary of phishing scams: Phishing is one of the most common causes of data breaches, and attacks are getting more sophisticated due to AI. Be cautious of all unexpected messages, especially with suspicious senders or urgent requests. When in doubt, go directly to the website by typing in the address yourself, and verify requests through a separate channel.
- Use features that minimize phishing potential: Dashlane offers several features that reduce your phishing risk. Real-time phishing alerts warn you before you enter credentials on a suspicious site. You can also use passkeys to log in where supported. Passkeys minimize phishing risk by design, and Dashlane makes it easy to create, store, and use them across devices.
Internet safety should be an ongoing habit rather than a one-time task. With these tips and Dashlane by your side, you and your loved ones can stay protected all year long.
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