Information – New trend Siren Head.
Siren Head is a Fictional Character, first created in 2018 by Trevor Henderson. Siren head is a 40-foot tall, humanoid monster, covered in mummified flesh, and an air raid siren for a head. It communicates by emitting air raid siren noises, or an amalgamation of old radio broadcasts.
As Siren Head has being receiving more attention, it is trending online. More people are talking about it and spreading the word. This is also an opportunity for people to cash in on the popularity. There are several games on Roblox and mobile that I have found just from searching ‘Siren Head’. Some will be horror games; however, others aren’t related. The initial thing that was trending can spill into other medium. People have made siren head in Minecraft. As well as the increase in games, streamers with be both playing these games, and talking about the subject. It will be easy for young people to come across, even if they weren’t looking.This has happened with other trends, such as Squid Game, and going even further back, IT and MOMO and will continue to do so. When children and young people are talking about these things, they may not always have seen the real thing, but have come across some other content based around it.
Please take extra care when yourself or your children are on online.
Information regarding Squid Games.
Netflix’s Squid Game is set to become the streaming service’s most successful show of all time, with huge numbers of viewers taking to social media to discuss each new episode. The South Korean thriller features some scenes of fairly brutal violence and is rated 15 by the BBFC. It follows a group of adults who compete to win innocent-looking playground games, but who are killed if they do not succeed at the tasks.
An unexpected success in terms of viewing figures, Squid Game’s popularity is beginning to spread across various online platforms. There has been a slew of content created – ranging from memes to apps – that convey the violence of the show, so it is important for parents, carers and educators to understand the basis of Squid Game and the potential risks to young people who might be exposed to it.
Please find the attached link below to learn more about Squid Games.
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/wakeupwednesday/squid-game-trending-across-platforms-what-parents-need-to-know?fbclid=IwAR3pamgasJuLeu8FlyOyg4s-Cl4g73J7hlUu_NUxKc5XSHuB90HEpGsYbSI
Check in with Your Friends
According to the Office for National Statistics, 12% of British children who don’t use any social networking apps or sites on a normal school day exhibit symptoms of mental ill health. When those parameters are extended to include young people who spend three or more hours on those platforms in a day, however, the proportion with mental health difficulties leaps to 27%.
Many of the staunchest challenges that children face in modern life are encountered online – but they don’t have to overcome those obstacles alone. To tie in with Children’s Mental Health Week, our #WakeUpWednesday poster has tips for how young people can also use the digital world to support any friends who may be enduring a tough time.
Please click the link below, to access the help guide.
What parents need to know about social media scams
It’s a sad fact of life that where technology leads, crime usually follows. The printing press was eventually perverted to produce counterfeit money. The first car theft took place only three years after the vehicle’s invention. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that social media – as the overwhelming fascination of the digital age – would soon become a conduit for criminal activity.
The risks usually associated with social media are personal in nature: abusive comments, distorted perceptions; cyber-bullying and so on. Increasingly, however, criminals are using networking platforms to snare potential victims. Today’s #WakeUpWednesday guide examines social media scams – outlining some common examples and providing ways to avoid them.
Please click the link above, to learn more about social media scams.
How to set up parental controls for apps on Android phones and iPhones
Some adults tend to ignore the parental controls on their smartphone, because they expect them to be hard to understand and complicated to set up – but actually it’s surprisingly simple! This #WakeUpWednesday, we’ve produced step-by-step guides to help parents adjust these settings to block unsuitable games and apps from their child’s iPhone or Android smartphones.
Whether a young person plays games and enjoys apps on their own phone or borrows a family member’s, it’s worth spending some time reviewing the parental controls on that device. Our guides walk you through the process, to help reduce the chances of children downloading and using apps or games which aren’t appropriate for their age group.
Please click the above links for help on how to apply parental controls onto a smart device.
What parents need to know about Pokémon GO
How often do you see someone not paying attention to where they’re walking because they’re engrossed in their phone? Those distractions might just last for a matter of seconds – but Pokémon GO is a game which actually relies on players focusing on their screen for long periods while they’re out and about – with all the glaring physical hazards that entails.
Pokémon GO was rightly heralded as a game-changing release thanks to its pioneering use of augmented reality on mobile phones (in fact it was the first ever title to utilise that feature on Android devices). As today’s #WakeUpWednesday guide explains, however, an increased likelihood of injury isn’t the only safety concern around the game.
Please click the link above, to access the help sheet.
What parents need to know about Tinder
Since its launch in 2012, the mobile dating app Tinder has recorded more than 340 million downloads globally. More than half of those users fall into the 18–25 age bracket … and a study by moderndatingmyths.com revealed that 95% of couples who match on Tinder meet in the real world within a week of making initial contact.
So Tinder is quick, it’s convenient and it’s hugely popular with young people (especially young men, who outnumber women on the app by more than three to one). Even though Tinder takes users’ safety seriously, the inherent risks it poses are clear. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide has everything that parents and carers of older teens need to know about Tinder.
Please click the above link, to access the help sheet.
What parents need to know about Apple Guided Access
Help sheet on Apple guided access
The majority of parents and carers with an iPhone or iPad quite happily let their children borrow the device for some easy entertainment. Most digital devices, however, contain apps that adults would probably prefer that children weren’t let loose on. A few accidental presses in the Amazon app, for instance – or in iTunes or the App Store – could add up to a costly shopping disaster.
Those worries can be avoided, though, by setting up Apple’s handy Guided Access feature. It effectively keeps the phone or tablet locked on one app – so if you say ‘yes’ to a quick game of Angry Birds, for example, then that is all a child will be able to do on your device. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide explains how to enable this valuable safeguarding function.
Please click the help sheet on the top of this post to learn more.
What parents and carers need to know about social bots
Around one in every three people has been fooled (even if only briefly) into thinking a social media bot was a real person. Evidence suggests that bots are increasingly being used on social platforms to artificially amplify the popularity of a person or movement, to influence political outcomes and as accessories in phishing scams – so their ability to deceive us is becoming more of a concern.
Twisting public debate, disrupting online courtesy and – in some cases – jeopardising human wellbeing are among the more worrying threats that bots can pose. In our #WakeUpWednesday guide this week, you’ll find useful tips on how to identify bots on social media – including giveaways like odd usernames, unusual patterns of posting and dubious profile pictures.
Please click the above link to access the help sheet on social bots.
What parents and carers need to know about TikTok
TikTok has quickly become one of the world’s most downloaded apps. There are now around a billion TikTok users worldwide, almost half of whom (41%) are in the 16–24 age bracket. TikTok itself advises a minimum age of 13 to access the platform, but reports suggest that some children as young as 10 use it.
Like all social media platforms, TikTok is constantly evolving and has recently brought out features linked to in-app spending as well as accessing third-party content through TikTok Jump. That’s why this week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide provides a fresh look at the hugely popular video-sharing app.
Please click the above link to access the help sheet on TikTok.
https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/online-gaming-advice/
Support for parents and carers to keep children safe online
Options for reporting or talking through online problems:
CEOP
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is dedicated to eradicating the sexual abuse of children. It is part of UK policing and very much about tracking and bringing offenders to account either directly or in partnership with local and international forces. Anybody with concerns that a pupil is being groomed or sexually exploited, including involvement in Sexting, should contact them directly using the link below. I would strongly recommend that if possible, you also contact Mr Lindsay or any member of the Safeguarding team here at Hurworth as we may need to make additional referrals to Children’s Services.
www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre
Childline Instant Help
The link provided below will take you to the Childline website where you can click the explore button to find out more about topics such as Cyber Bullying and Online and Mobile Safety. More importantly if you click on the 1 to 1 Chat Online link you can contact a Childline counsellor in a 1 to 1 online chat (like instant messenger) about any online problems. Childline state that no problem is too big or too small.
ThinkUKnow
Here you can find the latest information on websites, mobiles and new technology. Find out what’s good, what’s not and what you can do about it. If you look after young people, there’s an area for you too with resources you can use at home or just to get yourself up to speed with the latest developments. Most importantly, there’s also a place which anyone can use to report if they feel uncomfortable or worried about someone they are chatting to online.
Here you can find a parents/carers guide to safely stream online and share images.
Delivering Online Safety at Home
Internet Watch Foundation
If you have inadvertently stumbled across potentially illegal online content, specifically images of child sexual abuse, criminally obscene material or anything that incites racial hatred then please submit a report to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). The IWF works in partnership with the police, government, the online industry and the public to combat this type of material and you are helping to make the internet safer for all by taking this action.
Options for finding information about online safety guidance:
All the websites listed above have both reporting tools and sections of information and advice relating to e-safety. In addition to these you may find the following useful:
The Twitter feed from the CEOP website has many tweets with up to date information about online safety. It covers the type of current activity taking place not only across the UK but also specifically what is happening regionally.
Get Safe Online
Get Safe Online is the UK’s leading source of unbiased, factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety.