Father's Day 2022: WhatsApp tips to share with your fathers

Here are some WhatsApp tips and tricks you can share with fathers everywhere for their online safety and digital well-being.

There's not a single day where our beloved fathers don’t send a ‘good morning’ message on the family WhatsApp group or share a fun fact, unauthenticated of course. While the cyber world is an intriguing though informative space, it must be ensured that online safety and security remain top of mind for our loved ones. Father’s Day is the perfect opportunity to encourage our fathers to understand the various safety tools and resources that can be used to stay safe online. (Also read: Happy Father's Day 2022: Date, history, significance, celebration of fatherhood)

Father’s Day is the perfect opportunity to encourage our fathers to understand the various safety tools and resources that can be used to stay safe online. (REUTERS)

Here are some WhatsApp tips and tricks you can share with fathers everywhere for their online safety and digital well-being. Do tell them to:

Think twice before forwarding messages: WhatsApp has created a label for all forwarded messages and limits the number of times you can forward messages as a way to encourage users to reconsider before sharing. Our fathers should be made aware that if they aren’t sure whether something’s true or don’t know the source of the message, they must not forward it, as it may be fake information.

Fact-check information: In India, there are 10 independent fact-checking organizations on WhatsApp that help users to identify, review, verify information and help prevent the spread of misinformation on its platform. Additionally, WhatsApp also enables its users to verify information by texting The Poynter Institute’s IFCN WhatsApp chatbot to get a message or information validated. Encourage fathers to verify news with just the touch of a button and become more aware.

Enable two-step verification: WhatsApp allows users to add an extra layer of security to their account by enabling the Two-Step Verification feature, which requires a six-digit PIN when resetting and verifying your WhatsApp account. This is helpful in the event of your father’s SIM card being stolen or if his phone is compromised.

Block and report unwanted contacts: Unlike traditional SMS, WhatsApp provides a simple way for users to block accounts. We must inform our dads that they can easily make reports to WhatsApp if they encounter problematic messages. In addition, WhatsApp now provides the option for people to keep reported messages on their phone if they want to share them with fact checkers or law enforcement officials.

Keep conversations private: With features like ‘Disappearing Messages’ where new messages sent in the individual or group chat disappear depending on the duration users select and ‘View Once’ which enables users to send photos and videos that disappear from the chat after they’ve been opened, Whatsapp aims at giving father’s even more control over their privacy than ever before.

Control what’s shared online: Our fathers transact in the online world daily and thus protecting their personal information and privacy is essential when using the internet. Sharing sensitive information such as address, phone number, passwords, credit/ debit card numbers, and bank account information should be avoided. On WhatsApp, users have the power to control their personal details such as - Profile Photo, Last Seen, About, Status and who it's seen by - everyone, contacts only, select contacts, or no one.

Be careful with clicking or believing: The Internet is privy to spam messages, cyber threats and frauds, be it a job offer, winning a cash prize or a fully sponsored trip from an unknown number. These messages often include links to a website or request access to personal information with disguised malware. While we may be aware netizens, our fathers may be more susceptible to falling prey to such scams. Hence, it is important to educate our fathers that they must think before they click - If you receive it on WhatsApp, you can simply report accounts to WhatsApp by flagging a specific message. To do so, you can simply long-press a particular message to either ‘report’ or ‘block a user’. Only download and install WhatsApp for your phone and desktop from authentic sources https://www.whatsapp.com/download/