Dear Editor,
re Safer Internet Day.
The half-term holidays are just around the corner which means that children and young people will have a break from their usual routine and, inevitably, spend more time online. The online world is an invaluable educational and social resource for children and for many of them is as immediate and real as the one offline.
But at the NSPCC, we know that child safety online is becoming an increasingly important issue with bullying, inappropriate content, sexual exploitation and loss of privacy among the real risks young people now face.
With the rising use of smart phones and tablets, more young people are exploring the online world behind closed doors, making it ever more difficult for parents to know what their children are doing. The rise in the ‘selfie’ culture and use of social media could also be fuelling the problem with young people putting themselves at greater risk of sexual exploitation and grooming by online predators by publishing often very personal material on social media platforms.
In 2016/17, our Childline service carried out more than 12,000 counselling sessions across the UK with young people concerned about online safety and abuse. This a 9% increase on the previous year and illustrates why it is imperative that we take action to help create a safer world for our children because, unfortunately, a wrong decision could be just one click away.
That is why we are supporting Safer Internet Day, on Tuesday 6 February which is calling on everyone to “Create, connect and share respect”, and is encouraging children to use the internet positively, and to highlight the role that everyone plays in making the internet as safe as possible.
One of the most important things parents can do is it to talk to their children about internet safety. We know this it can be a daunting task for many parents but the NSPCC has a wealth of advice to help them talk to their children and this covers everything from introducing young children to the online world, to starting conversations with older children about the risks of sexting, what the law says, and what to do if their child has shared a nude image that is being circulated online or among their peers.
There is a range of guidance and information on the NSPCC website, including the charity’s Net Aware tool, (at Net-Aware.org) which gives parents up to date advice on social networking. Additionally, NSPCC’s partnership with O2 gives parents the opportunity to speak to an O2 guru about social networking sites, and setting up parental controls.
Crucially, we want to have an ongoing dialogue with the big social media providers about they’re doing to keep our children safe on their platforms. Whether that’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any other emerging company we want to see child protection at the core of what they do.
Let’s do everything we can to make sure Northern Ireland leads the UK in fighting online abuse.
Yours sincerely,
Neil Anderson
Head of the NSPCC in Northern Ireland.
