Online Safety

Tips For Staying Safe Online

• Never use your real name in chat rooms
• Don’t give out personal information such as your address, mobile number, passwords, school, the clubs you go to, photos of yourself - even if someone tells you things about themselves
• Never respond to rude or mean messages (and don’t send any to other people)
• Never create or post a video or picture you wouldn’t want shared
• Only arrange to meet someone you have been chatting to with your parent’s/carer’s permission and at a time when they can come with you
• Be careful about accepting messages if you don’t know or trust the person who sent them – they can contain nasty images or viruses that may damage your devices
• Remember you can block people in a chat or instant messenger
• Agree some rules with your parents about what’s OK to do online and what isn’t – it will save arguments later!
• If anything makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, talk to your parents/carers/teachers about it

Online Safety and the Law

Taking sexually explicit pictures of yourself and sharing them on the internet or by text has risks attached to it: 

• Peers, friends and others in your social network may share the images
• Once an image is sent it is then out of your control and could be shared with others or posted elsewhere online
• There could be legal implications for you if you send sexually explicit images of yourself or others

In 2015 the offence of revenge porn was introduced where intimate images are shared on the internet to cause distress to a specific victim.

Sometimes a child or young person is groomed to send sexually explicit images by an adult who then uses them to blackmail or trap the child.

Further Information

The following organisations can also help you and give you free confidential advice:

Childnet

Childnet’s mission is to work in partnership with others around the world to help make the internet a great and safe place for children. Online safety advice, activities, games and films for young people, parents, teachers and professionals

Think u know

A CEOP website for children, parents and professionals which covers online safety and internet use. A website where you can report concerns.

CEOP

Are you worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you online? Make a report to one of CEOP's Child Protection Advisors