TParents face a massive challenge in the ever-changing digital world to keep up to date with the latest information.
These four websites offer a vast range of resources for keeping yourself or your child safer online.
Online Safety
Thank you very much to Alan Mackenzie (esafety-adviser) who provides the school with the latest onlines safety information.
National Crime Agency Alert (2/5/24)
Following on from the figures in relation to the significant and concerning rise in young people who are being financially extorted, the NCA has put out THIS alert.
Does your child use SnapChat? (2/5/24)
Snapchat is one of the main social apps used by children from approx. Y3 upwards. Snapchat introduced MyAI as a new feature which can't be removed within Snapchat. Thanks to Wayne Denner who has put together a really handy article explaining all about MyAI, the features, issues and some tips for parents. Find the article HERE
2024 Dirty Dozen List (2/5/24)
The Dirty Dozen List is an annual campaign calling out twelve mainstream entities for facilitating, enabling, and even profiting from sexual abuse and exploitation. There may be a couple of companies that surprise you! Here is the list.
Do you know what your child is doing on their device? 19/4/24
How to report on Roblox-Watch this one minute video. 18/4/24
County Lines explained for parents. 18/4/24
Grooming is often associated with sexual grooming, but as we all know the process of grooming can be used for a multitude of crimes where children and young people can be exploited.
Internet Matters have put together a really useful guide for parents explaining county lines, how children are targeted, how children may be vulnerable and some resources/support. Access the guide HERE
Disney+ (28/3/24/)
Do your children watch Disney+. Internet Matters have a really good guide for parents about the settings that are available to keep content at a level suitable to the age of their children. The full guide can be found HERE.
Supporting children and young people with SEND (20/3/24)
From InternetMatters.org advice for parents and carers:
To help children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have a safer and more positive time online find a range of expert guides providing advice on the main activities that children do online. Access the resources HERE
Navigating the Nuances of Social Media (13/3/24)
If, like me, your teenager years were a very long time ago, it can be difficult to think like a teenager. But we can probably remember the difficulty of relationships, friendships and social approval. For many young people much of this is carried out online, and for parents/professionals this can be difficult to understand, it might feel secretive, which can cause concern.
Linda Kaye, Associate Head of Psychology at Edge Hill University has written a great article in The Conversation which gives a really good insight into how teenagers navigate the nuances of social media, and what adults can learn from them. Access the article HERE
What is Y99 chat? (13/3/24)
Y99 is an online chat room service that lets people anonymously chat with others. Users only need a username to talk with others. Users can then enter chat rooms to talk with strangers via text or voice, or they can share photos and links to videos. Find out more HERE
Reporting Online Issues. (6/3/24)
Seeing some images/videos online could be significantly traumatising to any person. The RHC website, it's a support service provided by South West Grid for Learning where any person over 13 can make a report about a range of online issues. If the reporting person has reported content to a provider (e.g. social media provider) and have not received a response, RHC can help. HERE is the link.
Make used devices safe for children with this guide. (6/3/24)
Parents will often hand down out of contract devices to their children. This is great, it can save a lot of money, but there needs to be consideration before handing older devices to children. You can find lots of useful information, things to consider and guides to second-hand devices from Internet Matters HERE
Are your children playing Palworld? (29/2/24)
If your child is interested in playing the Palworld game, see how you can help them stay safe with this article from Internet Matters.
Facebook checklist for 2024 kindly provided by SWGfL. (1/2/24)
A Shocking Report from the IWF. Do you know who your child is talking to? (24/1/24)
A “shocking” number of under 10s are being manipulated into performing sexual acts online, as experts discover more child sexual abuse imagery online than ever before.
New data from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) today (January 17 2024) shows a dramatic rise in the number of webpages on the open internet showing children under 10 being groomed, manipulated, or coerced into performing sexually by a predator.
The Government said the findings are “alarming” and warned that the planned roll out of end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger will have a “catastrophic” effect on law enforcement’s ability to bring perpetrators to justice.
The IWF has found there is now more child sexual abuse imagery being discovered on the open internet than ever before – with almost every webpage (92%) it worked to remove in 2023 including “self-generated” material extorted from children who have been groomed or coerced by predators using webcams.
Younger children are also at more risk of grooming and abuse, with the data showing a dramatic rise in the number of images or videos featuring under 10s where they have been coerced into performing sexually via a webcam or handheld device. Read the full report HERE
"Is my child old enough to have a phone?" (24/1/24)
The Institute for Digital Media and Child Development have put together some tip sheets for parents. There are 3 parts:
Assessing readiness.
Preparing for healthy use.
What now?
You can view all the tip sheets HERE.
Snapchat - New Parental Controls (18/1/24)
In April 2023 Snapchat introduced My AI, essentially a chatbot. There was no choice, it was an embedded feature, and whilst many users are reporting a positive or mixed experience there have been some significant concerns over the advice being given to younger users.
Last week Snapchat expanded their Family Center tools which, amongst other features, allows parents to restrict the ability for My AI to respond to chats. Further details of these new features can be found HERE More help on all Snapchat safeguarding HERE
Social Media Influencers (18/1/24)
The things social media influencers do and say online can be quite impactful. Around a third of children and young people think that, because the influencer is a 'celebrity', what they share is always good. But we know that isn't the case, sometimes it can be advice based on pseudo-science, selling something because they've been paid to and much more.
Internet Matters have a great article where various specialists offer advice and guidance to parents/carers to help them to to their children thing critically about social media influencers. You can find the article HERE
Game Safe Festival (9/1/24)
Roblox A parents guide (19/12/23)
Roblox and SWGfL have collaborated together and created a checklist for parents which includes:
How to report abuse.
How to block users.
Setting up a parent control pin.
And more.
The resource can be downloaded HERE
Little Digital Helps Toolkit (19/12/23)
This is a really useful toolkit for parents/carers who may be unsure about what parental features are available on their children's devices. Put together by Internet Matters and Tesco it takes around 8 minutes to answer a few questions and then receive a tailored toolkit.
All details about the toolkit can be found HERE.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) (19/12/23)
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a security tool used to make sending and receiving messages, images or videos more secure. It means that as *data is sent from one person to another, it cannot be seen by anyone else other than the sender and receiver. It works by encrypting or ‘scrambling’ the data as it travels through a server, to the other person.
Whilst E2EE can help protect your child’s privacy and security, it also means that platforms are unable to use tools to detect when people are targeting children online for illegal reasons and take action. For example, platforms are unable able to detect when someone grooms, tricks or forces a child into:
online sexual abuse
taking and sharing nude images of themselves
To find out more click HERE
Why do Children use Anonymous Apps? (6/12/23)
WhatsApp - Locked Chats (6/12/23)
Did you know that you or your children can hide conversations and lock them away in WhatsApp? This was a feature introduced in May 2023 and was easy to spot (if you knew how), but WhatsApp have updated the feature which makes it much more difficult to find.
In the original update other people (parents, teachers, partners) would be able to see that you have got locked chats, even if you can't see the content. WhatsApp have just updated this (being rolled out worldwide from the beginning of December) and locked chats can now only be viewed by entering a secret code into the search bar, meaning that you will not be able to tell if there are any locked chats without knowing the code which WhatsApp briefly explains HERE.
What are social media scams? (1/12/23)
Social media scams target young people in a range of ways, including through their spending habits.
Get support and guidance on protecting young people from social media scams, including what you can do to tackle scams if they happen. Access HERE
How to choose the right phone for your child (22/11/23)
Buying your child a mobile phone can offer them a new level of independence, but it can be tricky to know where to start. Internet Matters guide to smartphones looks at the different options that could be right for your child. Access HERE
Children’s tech guide 2023 (22/11/23)
As Christmas is approaching many children and young people will be asking for new devices. It's important that parents think carefully about these devices and the parental features that are available. It's equally important parents think about what the device will be used for.
Internet Matters has put together a really good guide for parents. Access HERE
SWGfL TikTok Checklist Updated for 2023 (22/11/23)
From SFGfL a great guide for everything TikTok related. Access HERE
SWGfL Snapchat Checklist Updated for 2023 (22/11/23)
From SFGfL a great guide for everything Snapchat related. Access HERE
Parents Guide to WhatsApp (16/11/23)
As one of the most popular messaging apps used by all age ranges and around 2.7 billion monthly users, WhatsApp has been adding new features over the last year. Internet Matters have put together a really good 'how-to' guide for parents which you can access HERE.
Parents Guide to SnapChat MyAI (16/11/23)
A better explanation to the artificial intelligence chatbot uses within Snapchat. Chatbots are springing up everywhere now, including within apps that children and young people use, and there have been some concerns over the ethics, the information and guidance that is being given by the chatbot and more, particularly in relation to guidance that is age appropriate, privacy concerns and misinformation.
Wayne Denver has put together a really useful updated article for parents explaining what the chatbot is, how it works, the issues and some tips for parents. You can find the article HERE.
Lego-Bulid and Talk (8/11/23)
Lego, have created some wonderful activities for children aged 6-9 years. There are six different topics which are designed to help children navigate the online world safely, including conversation starters. The topics include cyber bullying, screen time, false information and others. All the activities and resources are free. See HERE for further information.
AI and Child sexual abuse material (1/11/23)
Wired magazine have put together a number of reports from around the world where the stark reality of the worrying increase in AI and child sexual abuse material is becoming more apparent: not only is the realism of AI generated CSAM better than ever, victims are being re-victimised by offenders creating new images based on older ones and selling them via monthly subscriptions. The software used to create this illegal imagery is free and publicly available to anyone.
In one month the Internet Watch Foundation found 2.978 illegal images. More than half were primary aged children and 132 were children aged 3 to 6.
This new generation of software is being used in many different, negative ways, such as de-clothing children and de-aging adults. As the reality of AI and criminality surges ahead (e.g. deepfakes, voice cloning, CSAM etc.), we need to re-emphasise to children and young people the concerns over sharing data, such as images and videos, publicly online.
You can read the Wired article HERE and the full IWF report HERE.
Google Family Link
The Google Family Link has come on in leaps and bounds over the years, allowing parents greater management of their child's Google accounts (e.g Youtube) and Android devices. This includes children under the age of 13.
Internet Matters have put together a great article explaining exactly what Google Family Link is plus details instructions on how to set it up and use it. You can find the article HERE
Resources - Cyber Security
- The National Cyber Security Centre have some great resources for 7-11 year olds. Cyber Sprinters is a digital game that can be played on phones, tablets and desktop computers with activities to learn more about cyber security. You can view the resources HERE.
- Internet Matters have a whole range of topics and resources related to issues such as phishing and ransomware, privacy and identity theft, doxxing and more. You can view the resources HERE.
- Also from Internet Matters and very useful for parents is an interactive guide to creating secure accounts, e.g strong passwords and two-factor authPlease access these entication. You can access this HERE.
Young People's Relationships with AI Chatbots
- A chatbot admitting to self-harm and initiating extreme role-play.
- Sexual dialogue.
- Lack of empathy and interpersonal skills.
- Unrealistic relationship expectations.
