What parents need to know about WhatsApp
Founded in the US by two former Yahoo employees, WhatsApp was already extremely popular when it was bought by Facebook in 2014, sending its usage figures stratospheric. Now, more than 50% of the two youngest generations (Millennials and Generation Z) use WhatsApp every day – including many who are well below the app’s specified age threshold.
Wherever there is a young and dedicated user-base, of course, the threat of grooming is a sinister, ever-present spectre. Indeed, some aspects of WhatsApp which are designed to be helpful or increase privacy – such as disappearing messages and live location services – actually exacerbate the risks. Check out today’s #WakeUpWednesday guide for all the details.
Please click the link above, to learn more about Whatsapp.
What parents and carers need to know about YouTube
The first YouTube video (of co-founder Jawed Karim at San Diego Zoo, trivia fans) was uploaded in April 2005. Since then, YouTube has grown into an absolute colossus of the online world: 2.3 billion users, watching an average of almost five billion videos between them every day – with 300 hours of footage being uploaded to the platform every minute. Truly astounding figures.
Anywhere that such a mountain of users encounters an ocean of content, however, are the crashing waves of risk. Youngsters discovering the diverse delights of YouTube can be jeopardised by other people’s toxicity, unsuitable ‘recommended’ content and dangerous online challenges. Our #WakeUpWednesday guide has everything you need to know about YouTube.
Please click the link above, to access the help sheet about understanding Youtube.
10 Top Tips for Respect Online
10 top tips for respect online 1
10 top tips for respect online 2
Between chatting and gaming online, scrolling through social media, and streaming music and video, young people are almost constantly connected to the digital world in their free time. Now more so than ever: recent research identified that 77% of youngsters were spending more time online on games and apps than they did before the pandemic.
One immediately obvious issue with that is – as outlined in Ofcom’s Media Use and Attitudes Report 2021 – almost half (45%) of parents have concerns about their child being bullied on the internet. In support of next week’s Safer Internet Day, our two #WakeUpWednesday guides suggest ways that we can all contribute to more respectful, positive relationships with each other online.
Please click both of the links at the top of the post to learn more about how to be respectful online.
What parents and carers need to know about Wink.
Wink’s description on the App Store and Google Play does state that the networking app “is for friendships only”, although more worldly readers may consider that a rather feeble deterrent. The app launched in 2020, and there has already been at least one criminal trial resulting from an adult meeting up with a minor who they befriended through Wink.
The app requires users to be at least 13 – but with an absence of effective age verification, there is nothing to stop someone younger from simply entering a fake date of birth. Children occasionally connect with strangers online simply to increase their friend count, which is just one of potential risks highlighted in our #WakeUpWednesday guide to Wink.
Please see the link at the top of the post for more information.
What parents and carers need to know about NFT’s.
You may recall from last year that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold the first ever tweet for $2.9 million. Three months later, someone paid $4 million for a version of the popular ‘Doge’ meme. How, though, does anyone sell a tweet or a meme? Given that they were freely available on the internet in the first place, why were they so expensive? Welcome to the complex world of NFTs.
This developing marketplace might be easily dismissed as a fad right now – but it’s gaining traction at such a rate that it will probably be an entirely standard practice by the time the current generation of children are adults. In this week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide, we bring parents and carers the basics – and, of course, the common risks – of non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
Please check the link to the top, to learn more about NFTs.
Young people reportedly at risk of far-right extremism through online gaming channels
Online gaming is being used to recruit young people to far-right extremist groups. The news follows a report published by the Home Office concerning the Prevent anti-extremism programme.
Figures show the number of referrals of people vulnerable to a risk of radicalisation, of which the majority (46 percent) were regarding Extreme Right-Wing radicalisation. As reported by The Guardian, the use of online apps and platforms is appearing more and more in referrals of far-right extremism, according to Prevent coordinator Sean Arbuthnot.
In particular, that includes gaming platforms and chat apps like Discord. Click here for more information
National Online Safety – Parental guidance
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.
Squid Game’s 15 rating has not prevented clips and images from the show being uploaded onto social media sites such as TikTok, with the #SquidGame hashtag being viewed more than 22.8 billion times. There have been reports of children who have accounts on these platforms inadvertently viewing gory, explicit scenes from the programme, and parents and carers should be mindful of the prevalence of these uploads.
The popularity of the programme has also led to online challenges based on various scenes, which see people taking part in seemingly innocent children’s games. On the show, however, characters are executed if they fail in the game – and videos of people pretending to kill each other after competing in Squid Game-style contests are going viral on social media, where they are easily accessible to children.
Please take a look at the parental guidance information produced by National Online Safety
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/wakeupwednesday/squid-game-trending-across-platforms-what-parents-need-to-know
Netflix – Squid game
It has come to our attention that young people have started to watch this show on Netflix, please be aware that it is not suitable for school aged children, The premise of the show is contestants play games to win money, however if they are eliminated, they are killed. People are killed by either being shot or killed as part of the game. Some contestants also murder each other. It is very graphic and has a lot of blood and gore, as well as a sex scene.
Here is a parent’s guide and the British Board of Film Classification Rating.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10919420/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/squid-game-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc01mzm3ndg
Netflix parental controls
Parents and carers setting up Netflix for their children – easy link to set age limits that filter out inappropriate content
https://www.childnet.com/blog/new-parental-controls-launched-on-netflix
What Parents and Carers need to know about email scams
Email scams are when you receive an email from someone purporting to be a genuine person or company, but is actually an online fraudster trying to trick you into disclosing personal information. This is often referred to as ‘phishing’. Normally, people click on the links in an email assuming that they will be directed to a trustworthy website – but fake sites, closely resembling the real thing, are increasingly being set up by cyber criminals specifically to capture your personal information, which could, in turn, jeopardise your financial, emotional and possibly even physical wellbeing. Please take a look at this help guide produced by National Online Safety
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/hub/view/guide/scam-emails
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.