Childnet have produced an excellent ‘Our Parents’ and Carers’ guide and has examples of questions you can use to start conversations around safe and positive internet use.
Check it out at https://www.childnet.com

Amazon Alexa is one of the most widely known voice assistants in the world. It is used predominantly in smart speakers at home using artificial intelligence software.
Check out the useful guide created by National Online Safety https://nationalonlinesafety.com

Lots of useful information for parents, carers and young people can be found at https://nationalonlinesafety.com/
Online content – conversation starters and Protecting Personal data – what parents and carers need to know.

The Xbox has become one of the most recognised names in the gaming industry. Its current model, the Xbox One, is an all-in-one entertainment hub, offering much more than just the ability to game with internet access, streaming services and online chat features. Children could literally spend hours using it. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help parents and carers understand exactly what the Xbox One is all about. https://nationalonlinesafety.com/hub/view/guide/xbox-one

Triller is the latest video sharing app on the market which is quickly increasing in popularity. A similar concept to TikTok, the platform boasts some of the music industry’s biggest stars as users, including Justin Bieber, Rita Ora and Eminem, and recently announced that it had amassed over 250 million downloads worldwide. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help parents and carers understand exactly what video sharing apps are all about. https://nationalonlinesafety.com/hub/view/guide/triller

This link will help to provide further support and guidance related to a vast variety of Apps and Social Media Platforms. https://www.net-aware.org.uk/

Trolling can take place on any platform. Whilst many celebrities and influencers tend to be high profile targets on social media, online trolls can direct their aggression at anyone online. They often send abusive or malicious messages, goading others to react and leaving a lasting impact, similar to bullying. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help trusted adults understand exactly what trolling and online abuse is all about. https://nationalonlinesafety.com/hub/view/guide/what-parents-need-to-know-about-trolling-online-abuse

The use of webcams has become hugely popular since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Widely used on popular apps such as Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams, they provide users with the ability to take part in video calls and actually see who they’re speaking to. Whether used for remote learning, home working or just keeping in touch with family and friends, webcams have been crucial to helping all of us keep in touch.

Webcams are usually found embedded in laptop screens and smartphones and have provided millions of us with the next best thing to meeting face to face. But are there any privacy and security concerns? What are the risks? And what should we look out for? Find out with this guide. https://nationalonlinesafety.com/hub/view/guide/webcams

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information that can be used to identify your child.

It includes obvious things like their name and email address, date of birth, or where they live. It can also include some less obvious things, like who their family and friends are, where they go to school, or a photograph or video showing what they look like. Online it also includes their username and password.

Personal information also includes bank or payment details – although most of the time this will be your information, rather than your child’s.

Sharing personal information

There are lots of ways your child might share personal information.

This includes:

• Sharing when creating a new online account. Most online sites, apps and games ask you to share some of your personal information, like your name and email address, when you create an account, as well as creating a username and password. If you have primary aged children, the accounts should be set up together or by you, so you know what information has been shared.
• Choosing to share with others. Children love to share, and many of the apps, games and smart toys that children use to learn, socialise and play will also ask them to share information about themselves. This might be a picture of themselves, their birthday or their hobbies and interests
• Accidental sharing. It’s easy for children to share things online and they may share personal information without thinking about it. Such as where they live by putting up a photo and putting #happytobehome.
• Being tricked into sharing information. Your child could be tricked into sharing personal information by an unsafe website, scam email or pop up box. For example, children love competitions, prizes and giveaways, and may share their email address to get something in return.

Once shared, personal information could be used by others. For example, it could lead to the child being bullied, groomed  or blackmailed or it might be used by used by cyber criminals. Don’t worry, there are things you can do to help protect them and places you can go if things go wrong online.

How can you help protect your child?

1. Talk to your child about safe sharing. Talk to your child about personal information – what it is and when it is safe to share. Our Thinkuknow resources can help (see below). Make sure they know that some information should not be shared with others online and if they share something they shouldn’t, they should let you or another grown-up they trust know.

Read our parent’s guide to privacy settings for more information about keeping your child’s information private 

2. Create anonymous usernames. On some sites, apps and games, children may be talking to other people that they don’t know offline. Let your child know that they shouldn’t share their full name or any other personal information about themselves such as the name of their school, address or telephone number.
3. Protect their usernames and passwords. Explain to your child that if other people see their username and/or password, the could use this information to access their account.  Any passwords they set should be strong and safe but easy for them to remember and they shouldn’t share their password with anyone, including their friends.
4. Think before they click. Remind them that some sites, emails and pop ups may try to trick them into clicking on links or sharing information. For example, they may offer free coins, avatars or upgrades. Before they click on any links, they should stop and ask for help from a grown up first.
5. Use Thinkuknow resources: Watch the Jessie & Friends animations for children aged 4-7 or visit our website for 8-10 year olds  to help your child learn more about personal information and safe sharing.

The internet can be a great way for adults and children to connect with friends, family and new people. An increasing amount of children and young people are using social media, gaming and live streaming apps to chat and share content with others. But connecting and sharing with people online can come with risks too.

Once shared, personal information like their name, address, photos, or bank details online, could be used by others. For example, it could lead to the child being bullied, groomed  or blackmailed. It might also be used by cyber criminals.

Privacy settings can help you and your child to manage how much and what kind of information is shared, whilst enjoying their favourite sites, games and apps.

What are privacy settings?

Privacy settings are controls available on many websites and apps to limit who can access your profile and what information visitors can see.

When online profiles are created, it’s often assumed that they will be private by default. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case – many are public until the settings are changed.

How should I use privacy settings?

Follow these tips to help your child explore the internet safely. If you have an older child who creates their own accounts, use this information to talk to them about how they can use privacy settings.   

1. Check the audience.

Before your child shares content online, check who will be able to see what they post. You’ll want to make sure that personal information can only be seen by small groups of friends who they know and trust.

Most apps allow you to change who can see your posts, who can contact you and who can look you up. You can even control who can see different parts of the content you share. For example, apps like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook allow you to share ‘stories’ with smaller audiences, rather than your entire friends list.

2. Switch off location sharing.  

It’s become increasingly common for apps to allow users to share their location. Many social media and  live streaming platforms make it easy for you to broadcast what you’re up to and where you are.

Some apps like Facebook and Instagram allow you to tag your photos with the place they were taken. These tags can list the exact address of your location, not just the city or general area they were taken in. 

Other apps  track users’  locations and update them automatically. For example, Snapchat’s ‘Snap Map’ location sharing feature can update your location whenever you have the app open. Its default setting is ‘Ghost Mode’ which prevents friends from seeing your location. However, some young people turn it on to let their friends see their whereabouts. 

Remind your child  that sharing their location online is risky. It could put them at risk of unwanted contact from strangers. Find out how to turn your child’s location sharing services off, or make sure that they’re only sharing it with people they know and trust.

3. Check the tagging settings.

It can be difficult to control information that others post about you online. Unless the content is abusive and violates community guidelines, it won’t be taken down by the platform. However, privacy settings can be used prevent private photos or information about your child from appearing on their profile.  

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have settings which allow you to review photos and information you’re tagged in before it’s posted to your profile.

4. Review all privacy settings regularly.  

Many websites and apps periodically make changes to the privacy and security settings that they offer. Frequently review your child’s privacy settings to ensure they’re unlikely to encounter the risks associated with sharing personal information widely.

Some sites or apps like Facebook allow you to view how your profile looks to the public (people you’re not friends with). Use this tool to check that you and your child are happy with the information they share to people they don’t know. 

Adults should regularly review their privacy settings too. If you posting pictures of your child, you may wish to think about how this could affect their online footprint for years to come. Further advice can be found in our ‘Sharing pictures of your child online’ article.

Even when privacy settings are put in place, it is important to remember that information posted online is never completely private. Further information on talking to your child about sharing personal information online can be found in our personal information article.

For specific advice about privacy settings on each of the popular apps, read these guides from Internet Matters.