In today’s hyper‑connected households, children move seamlessly across multiple devices and platforms, raising concerns that online safety measures have not kept pace with how digital families operate.
While parents are often advised to manage screen time, monitor apps, and hold open conversations, experts warn that these steps do not address the broader risks of fragmented digital environments.
Data privacy
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) recently flagged data privacy as a growing concern, particularly for children.
On Data Privacy Day 2026, the commission stressed that protecting personal data is inseparable from safeguarding dignity, equality, and freedom.
While South Africa has made progress through constitutional protections and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), gaps remain in how these frameworks are applied.
Security
Research shows younger audiences are spending more time across multiple connected devices, with connectivity flowing through home routers, mobile networks, and platforms that link multiple devices.
Yet security is still often applied piecemeal – app by app, device by device – rather than at the household level. This fragmented approach leaves families exposed, with households operating more like small, unmanaged networks not designed to protect their most vulnerable members.
Bitdefender’s findings highlight how digital parenting has become more complex, with children exposed to risks that escalate quickly and often go unnoticed by parents.
Children
Yaron Assabi, CEO of Digital Solutions Group, noted, “It is not just about what children see. It is about how they are targeted, how they interact, and how quickly situations can escalate without any clear visibility at a household level.”
Ciprian Istrate, senior vice president at Bitdefender, added: “The challenge for families today is not a single device or platform. It is managing risk across an entire connected environment.”
Ai
Experts argue that effective parental control now requires visibility across devices, real‑time behaviour management, and protection that extends beyond apps to the network itself.
This includes parental control capabilities that allow families to manage access and monitor activity, as well as protection against identity theft, phishing, and malicious interactions across devices.
The gap between how families use technology and how they secure it is widening.
In an era defined by AI, social media, and constant digital exposure, privacy violations are no longer abstract risks – they carry real and lasting human consequences.
