Online Exploitation & Cyberbullying

Online exploitation can affect anyone, boy or girl, from any community.

Devon & Cornwall Police’s campaign aims to raise awareness of online grooming and child exploitation.  To help keep young people safe and protect them from offenders who might attempt to target them online, they have collected information to support parents, carers and young people to spot the signs of online exploitation.

There is also advice on who to talk to and where you can get help.  Please remember – it is never the child’s fault.

STOP CYBERBULLYING DAY is every third Friday in June.

Stop Cyberbullying Day is an internationally recognized day of raising awareness and activities (on and offline), celebrated in over 150 countries.

Stop Cyberbullying Day official website stop cyber bullying

Some Cyberbullying Statistics:

• 90% of young victims do not inform adults of online bullying issues
• Girls are twice as likely to experience cyberbullying
• Over 40% of all UK Secondary school students have been bullied online
• Cyberbullying can lead to depression, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, self-harming, social isolation and, in the worst cases, suicide
• What is Cyberbullying? website

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and the Young Health Movement have just published a new report #Statusofmind:

Instagram and Snapchat are identified in the report as being detrimental to young people’s mental health and wellbeing

13+!  Instagram’s Minimum Age is 13+

(According to Instagram’s Terms and Conditions)

What is Instagram?

Instagram is an App which allows:

• the user to share pictures and videos
• the user to post content and use ‘hashtags’ to share experiences, thoughts or memories with online communities
• the user to follow friends, family, celebrities and companies
• live streaming

Would you know if your child is using Instagram?

• Did you know that it is very easy for anybody of any age to register with Instagram?
• Did you know that there is no way to stop underage children from creating an account?
• Did you know that underage (13+) children could be seeing inappropriate content

Would you like to find out more about Instagram (and other popular Apps such as Snapchat)?

Visit the NSPCC and O2’s website NetAware and find out more about how to start a conversation with your child about using Instagram and how to set ‘Privacy Settings’