Toned bodies on YouTube fitness channels, flawless beauty influencers on Instagram or perfectly staged selfies in WhatsApp chats– social media conveys a certain image of beauty that is often far removed from reality. Such ideals can put enormous pressure on children and young people and have a negative impact on their self-esteem. How can parents help their children develop a healthy approach to beauty images online?
Pale skin in the Middle Ages, curvy bodies in the Baroque era, short hair in the 1920s, thin models in the 1990s – what is considered beautiful is subject to constant change and varies according to time and culture. Throughout history, women in particular have been strongly valued by their appearance. Today’s ideal of beauty is strongly influenced by gender stereotypes and social media trends.
“Do I look beautiful?”. With the onset of puberty at the latest, children and adolescents are increasingly concerned with their appearance and identity. This time is often characterized by uncertainty and comparisons. Young people also look to the media for guidance. They keep a close eye on how people present themselves online. Influencers become important role models that they want to emulate. Many social media stars present themselves as particularly approachable on their profiles and encourage contact with their target group. The strong relationship with their idols can be an orientation aid in the development of their own body and beauty image, but can also lead to insecurity and pressure. This is because a lot of content shows highly distorted images of beauty.
Big eyes, full lips, white teeth, flawless skin – on platforms like Instagram and TikTok are dominated by one-sided images of beauty that are perfected with the use of filters and image editing, including the use of AI avatars. Added to this are the mechanisms of social media services, in which algorithms preferentially select images with naked skin and display content according to the characteristics and preferences of users. Influencers show more appearance than reality in order to earn money with clicks and product placements. Anyone who does not conform to the current ideal of beauty receives negative feedback and even hate comments. This increases the pressure on young users to meet unrealistic beauty standards. According to a study conducted by the Austrian education platform safer-internet.at in early 2024, beauty ideals on the internet put both girls and boys under a lot of pressure. More than half of the young people surveyed want to look beautiful, stylish and slim online. If children and young people are constantly comparing themselves and frequently use filters, this can have an impact on their self-perception. Pumping until you drop, starving yourself to the point of anorexia – some content even shows beauty ideals that are harmful to health, which can be dangerous if imitated.
Fortunately, there are also counter-movements online such as curvy models, body positivity and hashtags like #formorerealityoninstagram. They help to make visible and celebrate a diversity of bodies and identities. Such authentic content encourages users to take a healthier and more realistic view of beauty and their bodies.
Show an interest in your child’s media use and keep in touch with your child about their favorite influencers and content. Analyze together which editing steps are behind many images and videos and explain to him that this is mostly about marketing. Make it clear to your child that their social media feed is not an accurate reflection of reality. Encourage your child to weed out profiles that trigger bad feelings. Give your child access to the good side of the internet and show them (children’s) media that portray diverse world views and gender images. Comedy profiles such as Celeste Barber or formats for children and young people such as this video on beauty filters by TeamTimster on KIKA help to question unrealistic ideals of beauty.
Emphasize the diversity of bodies and images of beauty and encourage your child to be positive about their own body. Praise your child’s inner values, such as personality and interests, to strengthen their self-esteem. If you are unsure, your child is suffering from digital stress or an eating disorder, seek help, for example in the form of (digital) counseling services.
Sharing children’s photos online, chatting in Minecraft or setting up the first smartphone – in everyday family life with media, there are many points of contact with the topic of privacy. But what exactly does privacy mean? And what can parents do to adequately protect their child’s privacy on the Internet? That’s what this article is about.
When we talk about privacy, we mean the personal space in a person’s life. That’s the part that’s around us where we can do things privately. In the realm of privacy, we can live our lives the way we want without it being anyone else’s business.
While we protect ourselves from prying eyes at home with curtains, there are other things we need to watch out for in the digital world. Maintaining privacy on the Internet specifically means protecting personal information and activities online. This includes personal data such as name, age, address and other private details. This starts even before birth with the sharing of ultrasound pictures, continues with the use of baby monitor apps and ends with smart toys in the nursery. As soon as your child is consciously on the Internet, you should discuss the topic of privacy on the Internet with him or her and explain to your child how to handle private information and online activities prudently. Make it clear to your child that he or she should not share personal details with strangers. Educate your child about scamming online. Make them aware of how they can recognize subscription traps, fake sweepstakes and the like in order to prevent the criminal misuse of their own data.
By the time they move on to secondary school at the latest, many children receive their first smartphone of their own. Depending on which phone your child has (Apple or Android), there are ways to set certain settings for apps to protect privacy:
In today’s connected world, it is very important to protect your child’s privacy, especially when using social media platforms:
Solutions for technical youth media protection such as parental control programs or the accompanied mode on TikTok are one way to increase your child’s safety when using media. However, they do not replace your responsible role in media education. An open conversation between you as parents and your child about what they are experiencing online is very important to help them navigate the web safely and responsibly.
“I have nude photos of you. If you don’t want me to send them to your whole class, transfer €500 to this account by tomorrow!” When supposedly private recordings or information are suddenly used to blackmail someone, we talk about sextortion. And this can affect virtually all Internet users.
Sextortion is made up of “sex” and the English “extortion”, meaning blackmail. The term describes an Internet phenomenon in which users are blackmailed with nude pictures or videos. In doing so, the blackmailers proceed in two different ways:
The blackmailers in sextortion cases work with their victims’ sense of shame. The people concerned want to avoid at all costs that their most intimate pictures are shared uncontrolled online with a huge audience. Many often do not resist blackmail out of fear and shame. At the same time sextortion can affect everyone.
Because the perpetrators seek contact via common messengers and social media platforms, where there is generally a lot of communication between them, there is often no suspicion when contact is first made. Blackmailers often take a long time to gain the trust of their victims.
Mostly young men are the target of sextortion – but there are also increasing cases of women being blackmailed. Sometimes even children are threatened.
In some cases, it is not money that is demanded, but further sexual acts – then the crime is not only extortion, but also sexual assault or even rape.
The best precaution against cybercrime is always: knowledge and caution. Inform yourself about communication risks on the Internet and educate your child in this regard. Stay in conversation with your child about their online actions and encourage them to be vigilant. Create a trusting basis for conversation and encourage your child to confide in you or an adult caregiver if he or she is being harassed. Make it clear to him that it is not your child who has done something wrong, but the perpetrator. Discuss the following rules with your child as needed:
If it is already too late, you can take action: Sextortion is a criminal offense and should be reported to the police. The more people who report such cases and the more screenshots there are to document the extortion, the greater the chance that perpetrators will be caught. The people affected are not to blame. But if they do not defend themselves out of fear and shame, they only protect the perpetrators! Seek help and advice, for example here:
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Internet, telephone, streaming services, media libraries, television – to entertain ourselves and communicate, we resort to many different offerings at home. MagentaTV is a Deutsche Telekom platform that combines everything in one package. We present the offer and explain what parents should look out for.
MagentaTV is a bundled offering of Internet, telephony, and a selection of TV channels and video streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, some of which cost extra. The platform can be used on various devices such as SmartTVs, smartphones, tablets and computers. Those who do not have an Internet or phone contract with Deutsche Telekom can access TV channels and video streaming services via the paid MagentaTV app. In addition to the basic offers, various packages can be added. Extensions are available, for example, for special subject areas such as sports, languages such as Turkish or Polish, or target groups such as children and families.
To use MagentaTV safely, child and youth protection settings can be made on all devices on which the service is used: on smartphones, tablets and computers, on the SmartTV, the MagentaTV box and the media receiver. An adult PIN prevents children and teenagers from accessing content that is not approved for their age. If content does not have an age rating from the FSK , streaming services must make the assessment themselves. It is not always obvious how this is done. In addition to the PIN, a purchase block and a hiding of erotic content can be set up. You can find detailed settings for parental control with MagentaTV at medien-kindersicher.de.
Watching movies, series or TV shows has a great appeal for children and young people. Whether they use it to inform themselves, entertain themselves, or relax after kindergarten and school, watching videos is often an integral part of their everyday lives as a media ritual. A comprehensive offering like MagentaTV can entice your child to watch endless videos. Also, your child may be shown content that is not age-appropriate. Therefore, note the following points:
“Allow all cookies”, “Only 5 left in stock!” – does something like this sound familiar? Maybe you’ve clicked on something while browsing or spent more money while shopping online when you really didn’t mean to. Behind this is a mechanism that deliberately deceives users on websites, in online commerce, in apps and games.
Dark patterns are designed to induce Internet users to take actions that are not in their interest, but work in favor of the provider. This involves working with design principles from graphic design as well as tricks from behavioral psychology. The aim is to obtain personal data from users or to tempt them into excessive purchases of products, subscriptions or contracts. Well-known examples are:
Children and young people also encounter manipulative strategies every day on the Internet. Especially on social media platforms, in apps or video games, they have to deal with hidden information, advertising banners, sales strategies and psychological tricks. The special algorithms and endless feeds of TikTok, Instagram and the like are deliberately designed to keep users in the apps as long as possible. Likes and comments inspire, but also create social pressure. Video games like Fortnite and gaming apps like Coin Master use mechanisms such as unnecessary time pressure, intrusive in-app purchases, and opaque loot boxes, among others. On websites and search engines, it is not always easy to distinguish advertising from content. Younger children in particular do not yet have the experience and maturity to see through Dark Patterns and not be guided by emotions.
Be careful when surfing the Internet, protect your child’s data and encourage your child to use data sparingly. Discuss with your child the conscious use of money and accompany him or her when making first orders or payments online. Educate your child about the mechanics of online advertising and sales tricks on the Internet. Consider the following tips and discuss them with your child:
In addition, solutions from the technical youth media protection can support the safe Internet use of your child, for example, youth protection filters, access restrictions or ad blockers.
Are such strategies allowed at all? Legally, dark patterns operate in a gray area. If you or your child have had a negative experience with it, report it together to the consumer center: verbraucherzentrale.de/beschwerde.
Free access to the latest music videos from around the world, endless cooking recipes, and the latest news every hour – for a long time, this was commonplace on the web. Meanwhile, more and more advertising can be found on websites and in apps, or we are lured with premium offers and subscriptions. This can be annoying and seem like a rip-off, but there are good reasons to invest or charge money for certain content.
A lot of content is consumed digitally these days: We listen to music via streaming, read newspaper articles online, listen to podcasts on Spotify and watch videos on YouTube or other platforms. There is often just as much work behind this content as in a printed book or CD. With the development of online offerings, new content has been added that did not exist before, such as let’s play videos. Many influencers, gamers, YouTubers, artists, etc. who distribute their content online earn a living from it. Among other things, this is possible via Advertising. It is ubiquitous on the Internet. Those who find advertising annoying can pay to use certain offers free of advertising. Many popular platforms offer their content ad-free from the start – but only after paid subscriptions are taken out. The aim of such strategies is to convince more and more users to pay for good content.
Meanwhile, there is an increasing awareness of data protection. Not everyone consents to the use of cookies when visiting a website. Stricter laws around data protection and the protection of minors make it more difficult to earn money through advertising, as companies can no longer make personal ads as easily. That’s why website writers are looking for additional ways to make money. On the pages of newspapers, cookies and advertising usually have to be agreed to in order to use the offer at all. Others offer additional payment options or paid subscriptions. With the paid Premium subscription from X, for example, posts can be edited. YouTube Premium makes it possible to play music even when the app is closed.
In addition, there are other ways for artists to earn money online. Read more in our article Patreon, Steady & Co.
There are several reasons why many who could afford it financially still struggle with online paid offerings: First, we have long been used to accessing content on the Internet for free. Second, the content is not really tangible because it is digital. It can be hard to give them the same value as a book or newspaper. Third, many of these offerings only work if Internet access is available. Although some providers also offer the option of storing content offline, this requires at least power and memory. If the subscription is cancelled, the paid content can usually no longer be accessed. So you’re only paying for permission to use content, not to own it, as you would with a CD. In addition, some payment models do not fit our ideas. For example, we may only want to read one article and not take out a monthly subscription for it. Or we shy away from signing up for a free trial for fear of missing the cancellation deadline.
Make your child aware of the value of online content. Talk about the fact that there’s a lot of work behind it, whether it’s a movie, a song, or an interesting text. Think together about what content you want to invest money in. If your child likes to spend money on something, he should not lose track of it. Make sure your child cannot access saved payment information.
Klick-tipps.net is a free service on the Internet with recommended apps and websites, especially for children from 6 to 12 years.
At klick-tipps.net children and young users, as well as parents and interested multipliers, can find safe surfing spaces, pages and apps with which they can inform themselves, play games and test their knowledge on a particular topic. The presented websites and apps are reviewed by media educators.
Klick-tipps.net offers a good overview and information for children’s offers on the Internet. In addition, children and young users can make their own suggestions. Using the “Likes” rating tool, children can save and collect their personal favorites, as well as identify “page winners”. From these ratings, they get information about what is important to children on these sites, what they pay attention to, or what they are missing.
jugendschutz.net ‘s recommendation service is funded by the Media Competence Forum Southwest Foundation and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
Klick-tipps.net wants to make good children’s sites and apps visible and guide children to tested, informative and interesting children’s sites. Providers of recommended websites and apps should thus become better known. Children should have their say and the offer should support them in mastering “their” Internet safely and competently.
Parents get an overview of tested children’s sites and apps, as well as to specific, selected sites, games or similar. In addition, there is an overview for each presented offer, which contains, among other things, information on age recommendations, costs and safety. These concise checklists allow parents to better assess whether or not the offer is suitable for their children.
Especially in winter or during pandemic times, there are fewer opportunities to exercise outside and with friends. So why not move the exercise indoors to the children’s room or do sports together with the family in front of the TV? Exercise is an important balance if you spend a lot of time indoors, in front of the game console or on your cell phone, especially in the dark season.
Since the first Corona Lockdown in the spring of 2020, clubs, television stations, health insurers and others have recorded home sports programs and made them available on the network. Our compilation will help you choose the right physical activity program for you and your family based on your child’s age:
On theYouTube channel of the Berlin basketball club there are sports instructions for different age groups. In a playful and entertaining way, the children’s and youth trainers guide you through different age-appropriate exercise programs ranging from 20 to a maximum of 50 minutes in length: daycare children can travel with the ghost ship, elementary school children get fit with kitchen stuff, teenagers can keep fit with the power workout, and much more. There are already over 100 videos on YouTube and on the site of the club.
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg has teamed up with various sports clubs and offers very different sports videos on its YouTube channel or in the media library. For families with children of daycare and elementary school age, the episodes Kinderport with Heike, Kindertanz with Susi or the family workouts are suitable. For older kids and teens, it can be yoga, street dance, or working out with everyday objects. The entire playlist is available here.
Former ski racer Felix Neureuther has teamed up with Bayerischer Rundfunk to produce two web series to help kids stay fit and get fit. The ten-minute clips bring the Olympics into the children’s room. The shorter clips from the Beweg dich schlau series are about movement in everyday life and coordination. Felix does sports with kids and it’s entertaining. With his friendly manner, Felix certainly appeals to many children, especially those of preschool and elementary school age. Here are all the clips to watch and join in.
Sports games for game consoles can also provide fun and exercise. Some consoles, such as Wii, Nintendo Switch or XBox, offer accessories that allow you to play sports. But even without such additional equipment, exercise is possible with the game console, with Zumba Fitness, Just Dance, Wii Sports Resort and many other games.
If you look around on the net or specifically on YouTube, you will see that there are many more offers. Before recommending or doing them together with your child, see if the sports program is age-appropriate and if you and your child can do it all. After all, exercise should be fun, not frustrating. If you keep at it together, you can slowly increase.
If you have an Internet-enabled TV (smart TV) or large computer monitor and make some space in front of it, you can play sports together by opening YouTube, going to the media library or connecting the game console. Together, sport and exercise is more fun and especially motivating!
fragFINN is a children’s search engine that provides adolescents with a protected surfing space with harmless content. With fragFINN‘s child protection app, children only move around in this surfing space. The basis of the child search engine is the so-called positive list. This is a list of websites that have been tested and deemed safe. Thus, the search engine searches only the websites that are on the positive list. Since your child is in a closed surfing space with the app, he or she can therefore only access the websites that are included in the safe list. If your child is on a verified website and clicks on an external link that is not approved (for example YouTube or Amazon), a so-called stop page appears with the notice that the website is not part of the fragFINN surfing space. So your child will not be able to access this page.
Many children use the fragFINN children’s search engine because it is easier for them to find content there that is made especially for them. This is because many children’s sites are difficult to find via the usual search engines. In fragFINN, these are displayed preferentially. Thus, the fragFINN app can be used for homework research as well as for playing games during free time.
With the children’s search engine, the provider fragFINN e.V. pursues the goal of providing children between the ages of 6 and 12 with a protected digital space and offering young children in particular a safe start on the Internet.
Children’s search engines are a very good introduction to the Internet. With them, children learn how to use search engines properly. You will learn search techniques and understand the principle of a search engine. Keep in mind, however, that children’s search engines like fragFINN are maintained manually, which means that only those websites that have been pre-screened and included will be found. So be aware that your child won’t find every piece of information he or she is looking for, and child search engines will reach their limits at some point. Use the opportunity to make the provider aware if you are shown content that is not suitable for children or if you are missing children’s pages. In this way, the fragFINN surfing space can be improved and expanded. Learn more here.
Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube – the Internet is not a lawless space. Anyone who uses social media should be aware of some legal terms to consider when uploading photos, sharing articles, and protecting their own data. As parents, you should familiarize your children with the rules on the Internet at an early stage and set a good example.
If you accompany your child during their first steps on the Internet, you can introduce them to the correct handling of personal data in an age-appropriate manner. Vivid comparisons help with understanding: Your child does not want his secret to be divulged to the class. Then it should tell as few people as possible – not even on WhatsApp. Advise your child to reveal as little as possible about themselves on the web and to ask themselves each time beforehand if it is really necessary to share this information. This applies to the full name, phone number, address or date of birth, but also to pictures, videos, messenger IDs, location-based data or passwords. Personal data of other persons may also not simply be passed on.
Explain to your child which permissions they should give to certain apps and which ones they’d rather not. For example, not every app necessarily needs the location information or access to the microphone. So be sure to look together at the preferences in any app you or your child is using for the first time and disable them.
Especially on YouTube and TikTok there is a lot of content that people have uploaded but not created themselves. They often do not own the rights to the content. Such protected works in the copyright sense are, for example, pieces of music, films, texts, television programs, computer programs or graphics. It can be problematic to post such content publicly on the web and bring lawsuits. Private use is often permitted without consent. However, the basic rule is: if you want to put someone else’s work online, you have to ask the rights holder. This applies to the favorite song that your daughter wants to put on YouTube in her dance video as well as to a picture of your favorite soccer player that your son wants to use for his Instagram-account.
However, this does not mean that your children and you can no longer put anything online that they did not create themselves. There is a lot of content on the web that has a free license and can thus be used and distributed by anyone. You can often recognize them by the CC logo. You can read more about this in our article.
The right to one’s own image is part of the personal right to which everyone is entitled – including underage children. It states that a mapping, e.g. a photograph, may only be disseminated or published if the person shown on it has given his or her consent. This also applies to photos of your child. This applies to publishing a photo on a social network as well as sending it via a messenger app.
Agree on rules with family and friends about sharing photos. Also, go through the settings options of the apps through which you send or even publish photos. Check who can see your photos, for example in stories or your profile picture, and use the privacy settings.
Actually, Leon should have been asleep a long time ago so that he would be fit for the class test tomorrow. Instead, he’s probably chatting with his buddies all night again or the incoming messages in the class group are keeping him awake. But you don’t want to switch off the WLAN connection, because you still have to write an important e-mail. Conveniently, there are routers where you can assign user profiles so that Leon can no longer access the WLAN after a certain time and sleep peacefully.
There is an Internet connection in almost every family. Most often provides a WLAN router in the hallway for stable Internet. You can usually borrow one from your Internet provider. Or you can buy a FRITZ!Box. With the settings options of this router, the Internet use of individual devices can be restricted and adjusted. These parental control settings are one way to make surfing safer for your child.
With FRITZ!Box, you can access all devices logged on to the network in the browser at http://fritz.box and make settings. In addition to account, telephony and software settings, you can also limit and adjust the Internet usage of individual devices here.
To make parental control settings, go to “Filters” in the left column via “Internet”. There you can control Internet access for all devices registered in your home network. Under “Parental Control” you assign access profiles to individual devices. You can define and customize these yourself under “Access profiles”. You use it to define how network devices, whether smartphones or computers, are allowed to use the Internet. For each profile, you can limit online time, share or restrict network applications, and block certain Internet sites. There is also the possibility to block websites that are harmful to minors, as well as to store a blacklist and whitelist, i.e. permitted and prohibited websites. These can be edited under “Lists”.
Unfortunately, adolescents in puberty do not always think about the consequences of their actions. So Leon probably doesn’t worry about the fact that he might have to write an overtired class assignment tomorrow. That’s why technical solutions such as settings on the WLAN router can support media education at home. You can partially protect your child from content harmful to minors and limit online time if they don’t think of it themselves and you can’t check it. Discuss such settings with your child beforehand and still give him or her the necessary freedom to decide on his or her own media use. Technical settings are no substitute for the joint negotiation and establishment of clearly understandable media rules for everyone.
Apps are small programs that are usually installed on the smartphone or tablet. With a web app, installation is not necessary; instead, you use it via the Internet browser – for example, in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari.
This allows you to access programs such as messenger services or games, among others, if you don’t have your own smartphone or are not on your own device at the time. Sometimes not all the features that the app installed on a device has can be used in the web app. Not every app is also available as a web app, or some apps are only available as web apps.
By the way, so-called desktop apps work in a similar way. These small programs are placed on the desktop of your computer.
Your child is approximately between 6 and 12 years old and already on the Internet? Children of this age should be accompanied by adults when surfing. Make sure your child only gets to websites that are safe and suitable for children. Germany has a comparatively uniquely large and diverse children’s website landscape. Do you and your children know and use them? So-called children’s search engines are quite well known. If you enter a search term, you are usually referred to websites that are specifically aimed at children. The best-known German children’s search engine is fragFINN. There are many other web offers for children. You can find out how to recognize a good children’s site and how child-friendly your child’s favorite site is. We have compiled the most important criteria for good children’s sites for you:
If your child surfs on good children’s sites, he or she can learn how to recognize reputable websites. If your child would like to find out in a playful way how fit and safe he or she already is on the Internet, he or she can take the “internet license” at the Internet ABC: To the surfing license quiz
A router is a network device that provides a stable Internet connection and can connect computers together. Most often it is connected to the DSL connection. The router shares the Internet signal with other computers and smartphones via a WLAN signal. To be able to receive the WLAN signal, a password or so-called WLAN key must usually be entered in the device settings. The devices are then all on the same network. This allows information to be exchanged via the WLAN among the devices registered in the home network.
