No child should exercise any right to privacy on their phones and parents should take monitoring what they consume online seriously and protect them from exposure to harmful and disturbing harmful material.

This concern was raised by the chief operations officer of the Film Publications Board(FPB), Mr Sipho Risiba during a public consultation regarding a draft online policy.

Here are a few FPB tips to ensure internet and cellphone safety.

1. When you are on a chat site, do not use and send your personal information, like your real name, home address, telephone number or school name.
2. Follow your child on Twitter and befriend them on Facebook.
3. Be careful what information you give out on your profile. Remember that you don’t know who you are chatting to-not everyone is your friend.
4. Use a nickname or your initials instead of youth full name-you don’t want just anyone knowing who you are.
5. Be careful who you agree to accept into your forums/private chat areas.
6. Do not just accept any friend request from people you do not know.
7. If you are receiving unwanted or insulting text, you can contact your cellphone network provider.