CYBERBULLYING
•
Cyberbullying is when someone bullies others over the internet or on a mobile phone by
sending abusive emails or texts directly or by posting nasty comments or humiliating images
for others to see. Like any form of bullying, cyberbullying can be horrible for the children
involved and hard for them to talk about
•
One of the biggest differences between cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying is that it can be
hard to get away from. Young people could be bullied anywhere, anytime – even when they’re
at home.
•
Cyberbullying can have a large audience too. Posts on social networks, emails or group chats
can be seen by lots of people very quickly.
•
Cyberbullies can also remain anonymous, by using fake profiles on social networking sites or
blocking their phone numbers. This can make it harder to identify the bullies, but texts and
other messages can be saved as proof of the bullying.
INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT
•
It’s possible that you may sometimes come across things online which are inappropriate for
your age and stage of development.
What sort of inappropriate content might you see?
•
Inappropriate content includes information or images that upset you, material that’s directed at
adults, inaccurate information or information that might lead or tempt you into unlawful or
dangerous behaviour. This could be:
•
•
•
•
•
•
pornographic material
content containing swearing
sites that encourage vandalism, crime, terrorism, racism, eating disorders, even suicide
pictures, videos or games which show images of violence or cruelty to other people or animals
gambling sites
unmoderated chatrooms – where there’s no one supervising the conversation and barring
unsuitable comments.
PORNOGRAPHY
• As a result of your curiosity, or just by accident, you
could find pornography fairly easily on the internet. You
may find this upsetting or confusing as pornography
portrays an unrealistic image of sex and relationships.
• As you explore the internet you can sometimes come
across sexual content accidentally, and some of what you
become exposed to may be unpleasant, hard-core
pornography and extreme images.
GROOMING
• It’s easy to pretend to be someone else on the internet, so you can sometimes end up
having conversations with people whose real identities you may not know.
• Groomers may go to a social network used by young people and pretend to be one of
them. They might attempt to gain trust by using fake profile pictures, pretending to
have similar interests, offering gifts and saying nice things to you.
• Once they have the your trust the groomer often steers the conversation towards your
sexual experiences, even asking you to send sexual photographs or videos of yourselves.
Some may try to set up a meeting, or even blackmail you by threatening to share the
pictures or videos with your family and friends.
• Online groomers are not always strangers. In many situations they may already have
met them through family or social activities, and use the internet to build rapport with
them. Sometimes children don’t realise they’ve been groomed, and think that the
person is their boyfriend or girlfriend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwcL-VP3FYc
SEXTING
• What are the possible consequences of sexting?
• You may may see sexting as a harmless activity but taking, sharing or receiving an image can have a longlasting impact on a your self-esteem.
• It may cause emotional distress
• The sharing of inappropriate content can lead to negative comments and bullying and can be very
upsetting.
• It could affect your child’s reputation
• Explicit content can spread very quickly over the internet and affect your reputation at school and in the
community both now and in the future. It could also affect your education and employment prospects.
• Sexting is illegal
• When children engage in sexting they’re creating an indecent image of a person under the age of 18
which, even if they take it themselves, is against the law. Distributing an indecent image of a child – e.g.
sending it via text – is also illegal. It’s very unlikely that a child would be prosecuted for a first offence,
but the police might want to investigate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1n9Jly3CQ8
RADICALISATION
• There’s a chance that you may meet people online or visit websites that could
lead to you adopting what is considered to be extreme views, and becoming
radicalised. Curiosity could lead you to seek out these people, or they could
befriend you in order to encourage you to adopt beliefs or persuade you to
join groups whose views and actions most would consider extreme.
• Social media sites, like Facebook, Ask FM and Twitter, can be used by
extremists looking to identify, target and contact young people. It’s easy to
pretend to be someone else on the internet, so children can sometimes end up
having conversations with people whose real identities they may not know,
and who may encourage them to embrace extreme views and beliefs.
SELF HARM & SUICIDE
• Some sites on the internet are very good - extremely
useful for those children who are looking for advice &
guidance; fantastic for helping children contact someone
in confidence, just to talk to about their concerns;
• BUT some websites actively encourage you to self harm
or even encourage you to commit suicide.
ONLINE REPUTATION
• The internet keeps a record of everything we do online –
the photos we upload, the comments other people make
about us and things we buy. This is our online reputation.
It’s important children understand how to manage their
online reputation and the impacts for them of a negative
online reputation.
PRIVACY & IDENTITY THEFT
•Just like adults, you are at risk of having your
online identity stolen and misused.
•You could give away your or your parents
financial details.
•You could open up your computer to viruses,
scams and phishing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOHXGNx-E7E