Online Safety – October Update
In the latest release of advice for parents from National Online Safety includes Youtube, Fortnite, Fake Instagram accounts and baiting. Please do read below as many parents could be quite unaware of the websites and social media their children are really being exposed to.
NHS Reveal that limiting screen time can help ‘children’s mental abilities.’
According to a study, which was tested on over 4,000 young children, revealed that those who use their devices recreationally for more than 2 hours a day had weaker test results than those that used their devices for less time. The test was set out to record the children’s mental functioning abilities. As a result of this, it is recommended that children should be restricted to using their devices, including TV, for less than 2 hours a day. Healthy sleep and exercise are also fundamental.
Results from the study found that:
- Children who exercised daily, slept well and used their devices for less than two hours a day scored the highest on cognitive tests
- Only 37% of the children who were tested met the screen time recommendations
- On average, the children were using their devices for 3.6 hours each day
Social Media trend: Snapchat Baiting
Snapchat ‘Baiting’ is the term used to describe the action of requesting somebody, often a stranger, to flirt with a ‘victim’ online and ask them to send sexually explicit images. These images are then sent back to the requester and are used either for personal use or with the aim to bully and humiliate the victim. There are a number of concerns about this type of activity, predominantly, the illegalities and dangers of ‘sexting’ and communicating with strangers. Although the activity is predominantly occurring via the photo-sharing platform Snapchat, people are also using other platforms such as Facebook to initiate contact with the victim, and Tumblr to request for a ‘bait.’
Slang Term of the Month: Finsta
The term ‘finsta’ is a combination of the two words ‘fake’ and ‘Instagram.’ Young people may have a ‘Finsta’ to upload content they don’t want to share on their primary accounts, or even to troll others. Whether or not these profiles are used to post risque photographs, or simply content that they only want their friendship group to see, using fake accounts can have negatives consequences.
