Online Safety Briefing: Term 5 2017-18

This is the 5th edition (April-May) of the Kent Education Safeguarding Team’s Online Safety briefings 2017-18. The aim of these posts is to help Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) in educational settings keep up to date with of some of the emerging online safety issues and research which may be of interest.

The following links are not endorsed, controlled or promoted by Kent County Council. This briefing should not be shared or forwarded directly to children, young people or parents/carers due to the sensitive and potentially distressing nature of some content.

Before sharing content that names specific apps or websites, we recommend DSLs access the following links:

• Online Safety Alert: Think before you scare
• Engaging parents in children’s use of apps
• UK Safer Internet Centre – Online Challenges: Advice for parents

Articles and Research

General

• TES: From Fortnite to the classroom: the ‘floss’ dance craze sweeping schools
• Huffington Post: People In The UK Now Spend A Day Online Every Single Week
• Daily Mail: Why good people turn bad online: Experts reveal how the internet boosts the 'personal rewards of expressing outrage'
• BBC: We put today's school pupils through an old tech challenge
• SWGfL: Exploring Online Reputation
• UK Safer Internet Centre: Schools, Fake Accounts and RIPAs - advice from the POSH Helpline
• DCMS: New laws to make social media safer

Cybercrime

• BBC:
  • Fake five-star reviews being bought and sold online 
  • 'Sharenting' puts young at risk of online fraud

Gaming and Gambling

• BBC:
  • Fortnite Battle Royale adds cheeky warning for students
  • Girl gamers told to 'get back in the kitchen'
  • Wish.com: adult advert appeared in video game apps
  • Fortnite: 13-year-old is game's youngest professional player
• The Guardian: Video games such as Fortnite aren't harming children – screen time is the problem

Information Governance, Privacy and Data

• DfE: Data protection: toolkit for schools
• TES: GDPR: A guide for teachers
• The Guardian: Thousands of Android apps potentially violate child protection law
• Mashable: Facebook takes steps to comply with EU's privacy laws
• SWGfL: GDPR Guidance for Schools and Colleges
• Huffington Post: Facebook Suspends 200 Apps Following Data Misuse Investigation
• BBC:
  • Reality Check: Who controls your data?
  • Are our online lives about to become 'private' again?
  • Children's phone data exposed on cloud server

Peer on Peer Abuse 

• The Guardian: Online anonymity has turned a global village into a lynch mob
• BBC: Bait out: Kent school children the victim of online group

Professional Conduct

• BBC:
  • Teacher banned for watching porn at School
  • Teacher banned for online pupil photos
• Huffington Post: Six In Ten Britons Post Something Online That They Later Regret
• TES: Boarding school house master banned after sharing hotel bed with pupil

Self Esteem and Mental Health 

• The Telegraph:
  • Rise of 'study tubers' is 'whipping up hysteria' among schoolchildren, experts warn
  • Selfies are the greatest threat to childhood, Dame Jacqueline Wilson says 
  • Fitness trackers are damaging youngsters’ mental health, leading headmaster warns
• Huffington Post: Please Stop Blaming The Internet For Young People's Loneliness
• APO Research: Turning to online peer forums for suicide and self-harm support: “It does help having you guys”

Sexual Abuse and Grooming

• Internet Watch Foundation:The IWF annual report 2017
• The Guardian:
  • Child abuse images increasingly hidden on adult pornography sites
  • Growing number of children groomed to film own sexual abuse
• BBC: 'I was groomed by a man on Twitter'
• National Crimes Agency: National Crime Agency publishes 2018 analysis of serious and organised crime threats

Social Media and Technology

• Engadget: Facebook launches 'Youth Portal' with privacy tips for teens
• Mashable: Studious teens find out that doing their homework on YouTube can make them go viral
• BBC:
  • The design tricks that get you hooked on your phone
  • I tried to make Alexa my best friend
  • Can you really revise while chatting online?
  • YouTube publishes deleted videos report
  • WhatsApp to raise minimum age limit to 16 in EU
  • Amazon Alexa to reward kids who say: 'Please'
  • The YouTube stars being paid to sell cheating
  • I wish mum's phone was never invented
• Huffington Post:
  • Understanding Could Safeguard Kids On Social Media
  • Kids And Social Media: Who Is Responsible For Policing The Age Restriction?
  • Facebook Has Started Rolling Out Its Dislike Button, Here's How It Works
• Daily Mail: The psychology behind the 'Finsta': Researchers say secret Instagram accounts used to post 'inappropriate' pictures may boost social bonding
• The Guardian:
  • Safeguards for social media ‘inadequate’, says Jeremy Hunt
  • WhatsApp plans to ban under-16s. The mystery is how
  • Detoxifying social media would be easier than you might think
• Childnet:
  • Age Restrictions on Social Media Services
  • YouTube announce new parental controls for YouTube Kids
• Reuters: Facebook says posts with graphic violence rose in early 2018

Trust, Radicalisation and Extremism

• The Guardian:
  • Fake terror attacks: why are the frightening pranks going viral?

Educational Content

Teaching Materials, Tools and Videos

• Childnet:
  • Picture This – drama resource about sexting Updated for 2018 (KS4/5)
  • Critical Thinking - New Hot Topic (KS3/4/5)
• BBC Tomorrow's World: Is social media killing creativity? (KS4) - YouTube
• CBBC Newsround (KS2/3):
  • YouTube makes changes to try and protect kids online
  • You'll now need to be 16 to sign up to WhatsApp
  • Social sites ordered to do more to protect children
  • Snap happy: MPs caught taking selfies in parliament!
• CBBC Own it (KS2/3):
  • The truth about being a YouTuber
  • Take our digital detox challenge...
  • Which online superpowers would Kid Normal have?
  • "I'm a MEME!"
  • The boy troll creeping us out
  • Ainsley the vlogger

Articles for Parent/Carers

• Internet Matters: Sharing tips for parents
• Mother Pukka (Blogger): Private: No access
• BBC:
  • 'Sharenting' puts young at risk of online fraud
  • I wish mum's phone was never invented
• The Guardian:
  • Should we buy our 10-year-old daughter a smartphone?
  • My nine-year-old wants a phone – but will a non-smart device cut it?
  • The 'sharent' trap – should ​you ever put your ​children on social media?

Resources for parents/carers

NSPCC and O2 have updated the Net Aware resources with new apps and games.

• Childnet:
  • New Staff Led Online Safety Presentation for Parents and Carers
  • Having an open and honest conversation about online safety – 5 questions for parents
  • A parent’s guide to YouTube Restricted Mode
• Think U Know: Gaming: What parents and carers need to know
• Parent Zone: Fortnite: everything you need to know about the online game
• NSPCC/O2:
  • Keeping children safe on social networks
  • Fortnite: all you need to know
• Internet Matters: Wellbeing apps guide for kids