Thank you to everyone who completed the recent online safety survey. We are in the process of organising workshops for parents on this topic to help you to feel more confident.
Social media has changed how we communicate and it is now a part of everyday life for many people. There are some wonderful benefits of social media including relationship building, collaboration, education and making connections. However it can present some risks and it is important to give your child the guidance they need to make the best out of their social media use and to be safe online.
WhatsApp is a free messaging app. It allows you to send text and multimedia messages (video, images and voice recordings) to people in the contact list on your phone. It also allows users to set up group chats where the administrators can invite up to 256 people to share messages and images publicly within the group. Although the age limit for WhatsApp was recently raised to 16, it is popular with primary age children and above. So what are the risks?
Risks can include being exposed to ‘chain messages’ that may be distressing for children. Children may be encouraged to share personal information and may not understand the idea of leaving a ‘digital footprint’. The privacy settings means that others can see when your child was last online and their profile picture should they use one. A group administrator controls who joins the group meaning that you may not know everyone in a group. However there are practical steps that can be taken to keep safe online such as checking privacy settings, checking who is included in the group, leaving a group, and even blocking an admin from adding you to a group.
Please read this helpful information poster and visit Online Safety Alliance for further details.