The Internet undoubtedly is the best place to stay updated with the latest news and information, to connect with old friends or make new ones. And not to be surprised, the benefits of the internet are now enticing the senior citizens also. The latest researches and surveys show a significant increase in senior internet adopters lately, over 80% of older adults now have a smartphone. Maybe it is online shopping, banking, reading news, and updates, or dating; seniors are the new technology hopefuls.
There are, however, two types of senior internet users, one who want to play safe and remain in the shallow end of the internet and the other category includes the seniors who are largely connected to the latest gadgets and the digital world and want to dig deep into the internet and its benefits.
While it is certainly good to see seniors getting into the internet, it is also worrisome when it is about their online safety. The internet sure is bliss but can turn into a curse if you are not careful with your privacy settings. While it can never be 100% safe but we can certainly minimize the risk by being watchful.
Read: Internet Security article and tips for Windows users
Online Safety Tips Guide for Seniors
Written in simple and readable English, this guide includes almost every aspect of internet safety. Also, the guide gives simple and effective tips to stay away from phishing email attacks, cyberbullying, and spammers. This Online Safety Tips Guide for Seniors also highlights the ways seniors use the internet and the kind of risks linked. Detailed information about online banking, social networking, dating, etc.
There is also a detailed explanation of Identity Theft and the protection against it. You can also learn how to monitor and manage your online finance account without getting into any risk. Charity Scams is another very important topic covered in this safety guide.
Read: Online banking safety tips.
Safe Social Networking
Social networking is the best way to stay connected with your old friends worldwide, make new ones, and stay in touch with your family living far away. Facebook is one of the most popularly used social networking websites today with all age group users.
Adjust your privacy settings- you can use it to share your pictures, videos, and locations with your friends and relatives worldwide and the Facebook messenger lets you chat or have a video call with your loved ones. But the fact is, the more you open up, the higher the risk. While Facebook has its own privacy settings, you always have to adjust those settings to stay safe. Adjust your settings and limit your audience on Facebook. Make sure you know what you are doing. With a few changes in your settings, you can restrict access to your pictures, locations and other personal details on Facebook.
Strong passwords– intruders are everywhere and only strong passwords can keep your online account and other details safe. May it be your email id or an account on some social networking website, strong and unique passwords are very important to stay safe.
Always report the issues- report the cyberbullying issues if any. If ever you get a threatening or harassing message on any of your social networking accounts or email, no need to react or respond, just report the issue immediately and stay safe.
Beware of spam– You may get an email asking for your contact details to win some hundred thousand US dollars, a link to get wonder weight-loss medicine or a link masked with some hot and sexy girl’s profile, think twice before you click on any link. Such links masked with attractive text are often dangerous. Beware of the spam and phishing mail attacks and make sure you know what you are clicking.
Read: Health problems, every senior computer user should be aware of.
Health and well-being
Seniors often use the internet to solve their queries about health and medical issues. There are thousands of websites offering free medical help and suggestions but not all of them are legitimate and trustworthy. This Online Safety Tips Guide for Seniors helps you understand which websites to visit for medical help. Also, you get to know about tips on dealing with Medicare, Social Security, and the IRS. TurboTax.com and IRS.gov are two recommended websites for seniors to deal with their Medicare issues.
The guide also enlists the risk associated with online taxation, scams, and protection against it and the legitimate software and websites to file your taxes. The guide also includes the official contact details of Medicare.
Furthermore, the guide also shows the important reference links off government websites, legitimate health, fitness and food websites, links to support pages of popular web portals like Yahoo, Google, AOI and links to adjust your spam filter settings.
Overall, this Online Safety Tips Guide for Seniors by ConnectSafely.Org is one stop for all your queries and doubts regarding the internet and its usage.
Stay Safe Online & protect your personal information while browsing!
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