What do we need to know about online safety?

Online safety is an ongoing fear for many parents and professionals. How do we ensure that young people are kept safe from the risks that they cannot see?

Further, because many of us grew up in a world where technology was not as fast growing, and do not use technology in the same ways, we are looking to protect children from things that we do not see or know about. So, where are the risks?

Apps and online safety

Being aware of how Apps are used, and their risks to young people is important. Taking time as a parent and professional to learn about the apps, explore them and consider what is appropriate is also paramount. You cannot protect children from something you know nothing about, taking time to find out more and make the most informed decisions is important. Some of the most frequent risks include:

• Online bullying
• Sharing inappropriate/explicit content – Young people feeling pressure to share sexually explicit imagery.
• Sharing inappropriate content and then being threatened because of it – Where a young person shares inappropriate imagery, there is now a rise in this being used as leverage to threaten or coerce them into further, or more dangerous behaviours.
• The risk of being groomed by adults – Where young people add people they do not know, or their usage is not monitored there is a risk of grooming online
• Being able to access drugs with no trace of conversation – A lesser discussed aspect of online usage, particularly apps like Snapchat is the sale and purchase of drugs using the story facility
• Sharing locations with people they do not know on apps such as Snapchat – The app has a live map feature which tracks the user’s whereabouts, where bullying is involved this can increase risk, as well as affect friendships, relationships and strangers can locate the user
• Exposure to triggering or traumatic content – Apps such as Tik Tok share trigger warnings for sensitive content, but this does not stop a child from viewing it.

Recently, the NSPCC released new statistics about online offences:

• Police recorded 7,263 Sexual Communication with a Child offences in the last year, almost double since the offence came into force in 2017/18.
• Where the platform could be identified, 40% of offences took place on Snapchat, 9% on WhatsApp and 9% on Facebook and Instagram.
• 6,350 Sexual Communication with a Child offences were recorded last year (2022/23). This is an 82% increase since 2017/18 when this offence came into force.
• More than 5,500 offences were against primary school children, with under-12s being affected by a quarter of cases
• Where the gender was known, 83% of online grooming offences were against girls.
• 150 different apps, games and websites were used to groom children online.
• 26% of online grooming offences against children took place on Snapchat.
• 47% of online grooming offences took place on Meta-owned products such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.

Want to learn more? 

Would you like to deliver emotional literacy interventions in your work? Our Level 3 Emotional Literacy Mentor qualification takes you through the theory and practice to deliver emotional literacy support for children aged 3-12 years. You can start today by joining (click here)

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© Nicky Edwards – All Rights Reserved

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