CYBERBULLYING Cyberbullying is when someone bullies others over the internet or on a mobile phone by sending abusive s or texts directly or by posting nasty comments or humiliating images for others to see. Like any form of bullying, cyberbullying can be horrible for the children involved and hard for them to talk about One of the biggest differences between cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying is that it can be hard to get away from. Young people could be bullied anywhere, anytime – even when they’re at home. Cyberbullying can have a large audience too. Posts on social networks, s or group chats can be seen by lots of people very quickly. Cyberbullies can also remain anonymous, by using fake profiles on social networking sites or blocking their phone numbers. This can make it harder to identify the bullies, but texts and other messages can be saved as proof of the bullying.

INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT It’s possible that you may sometimes come across things online which are inappropriate for your age and stage of development. What sort of inappropriate content might you see? Inappropriate content includes information or images that upset you, material that’s directed at adults, inaccurate information or information that might lead or tempt you into unlawful or dangerous behaviour. This could be: pornographic material content containing swearing sites that encourage vandalism, crime, terrorism, racism, eating disorders, even suicide pictures, videos or games which show images of violence or cruelty to other people or animals gambling sites unmoderated chatrooms – where there’s no one supervising the conversation and barring unsuitable comments.

PORNOGRAPHY As a result of your curiosity, or just by accident, you could find pornography fairly easily on the internet. You may find this upsetting or confusing as pornography portrays an unrealistic image of sex and relationships. As you explore the internet you can sometimes come across sexual content accidentally, and some of what you become exposed to may be unpleasant, hard-core pornography and extreme images.

GROOMING It’s easy to pretend to be someone else on the internet, so you can sometimes end up having conversations with people whose real identities you may not know. Groomers may go to a social network used by young people and pretend to be one of them. They might attempt to gain trust by using fake profile pictures, pretending to have similar interests, offering gifts and saying nice things to you. Once they have the your trust the groomer often steers the conversation towards your sexual experiences, even asking you to send sexual photographs or videos of yourselves. Some may try to set up a meeting, or even blackmail you by threatening to share the pictures or videos with your family and friends. Online groomers are not always strangers. In many situations they may already have met them through family or social activities, and use the internet to build rapport with them. Sometimes children don’t realise they’ve been groomed, and think that the person is their boyfriend or girlfriend.

SEXTING What are the possible consequences of sexting? You may may see sexting as a harmless activity but taking, sharing or receiving an image can have a long- lasting impact on a your self-esteem. It may cause emotional distress The sharing of inappropriate content can lead to negative comments and bullying and can be very upsetting. It could affect your child’s reputation Explicit content can spread very quickly over the internet and affect your reputation at school and in the community both now and in the future. It could also affect your education and employment prospects. Sexting is illegal When children engage in sexting they’re creating an indecent image of a person under the age of 18 which, even if they take it themselves, is against the law. Distributing an indecent image of a child – e.g. sending it via text – is also illegal. It’s very unlikely that a child would be prosecuted for a first offence, but the police might want to investigate.

RADICALISATION There’s a chance that you may meet people online or visit websites that could lead to you adopting what is considered to be extreme views, and becoming radicalised. Curiosity could lead you to seek out these people, or they could befriend you in order to encourage you to adopt beliefs or persuade you to join groups whose views and actions most would consider extreme. Social media sites, like Facebook, Ask FM and Twitter, can be used by extremists looking to identify, target and contact young people. It’s easy to pretend to be someone else on the internet, so children can sometimes end up having conversations with people whose real identities they may not know, and who may encourage them to embrace extreme views and beliefs.

SELF HARM & SUICIDE Some sites on the internet are very good - extremely useful for those children who are looking for advice & guidance; fantastic for helping children contact someone in confidence, just to talk to about their concerns; BUT some websites actively encourage you to self harm or even encourage you to commit suicide.

ONLINE REPUTATION The internet keeps a record of everything we do online – the photos we upload, the comments other people make about us and things we buy. This is our online reputation. It’s important children understand how to manage their online reputation and the impacts for them of a negative online reputation.

PRIVACY & IDENTITY THEFT Just like adults, you are at risk of having your online identity stolen and misused. You could give away your or your parents financial details. You could open up your computer to viruses, scams and phishing…