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Let's work together to keep children safe online
Keeping Children Safe
What's This About?
Like many things, digital living comes with certain risks if used inappropriately and, as in the real world, it's good to be aware of these risks. Things like cyberbullying, accessing inappropriate content, sexting and grooming all sound quite scary for a parent. But, if you understand them, you’ll be able to talk to your children about them.
Education and information really are the solutions – helping your kids to be sensible and respectful in their digital lives, as well as when they're offline. We know our children are often ahead of us when it comes to tech knowledge. We aim to help you understand the issues so you can support them.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Talk to your children about any issues they encounter
- Encourage them to be respectful to others and be careful what they post – their standards will be different than an adult's, so they may not see your point of view straight away
- Remember games consoles have access to the internet too. They all feature parental controls so you can be sure your children are only accessing age-appropriate content
- Most parental controls don't block social networks (like Facebook and Twitter) or chat rooms. It comes down to talking to your children and teaching them to act appropriately
- Stay informed – try to keep abreast of what's happening in the digital world so you don’t get left behind
How we can help
We’ve created an Advice for Parents PDF guide that has lots of information on keeping your family safe. It provides guidance on setting parental controls and having discussions with your children about sensitive issues. It even has a glossary to help you keep up with the lingo your children may be using!
Below you'll find a series of short films that cover a variety of safety issues. Each film comes with an activity guide (available as a PDF) so you can talk about the issues with your children or those in your youth group.
We also have content filters on our mobile devices. On EE devices this is switched on by default, so access to adult content is blocked on your child's phone unless you choose to unblock it, in which case we ask our customers for age verification. It’s worth checking the filter setting if your child has been handed an old phone or SIM card by a friend or family member or if you're with another mobile phone operator.
And finally, EE broadband customers have access to McAfee security software.
Films to get your children thinking
How to stay safe online
An abstract film that reminds us all of the dos and don'ts when it comes to staying safe online. We've put together an activity guide that you can work through with young people in a classroom, at a youth group or at home.
Your digital profile
This film reminds young people that the things you post online are like a digital shadow and you need to think beyond the here and now. We've put together an activity guide that you can work through with young people in a classroom, at a youth group or at home.
Smart sharing online
The message of this film is think before you post. The internet is great for expressing your opinions, but restraint is often needed. We've put together an activity guide which you can work through with young people in a classroom, at a youth group or at home.
Playing safely online
Like a playground, the internet can be lots of fun. But we need to make sure we stay safe when we're playing. We've put together an activity guide which has talking points that you can work through with young people in a classroom, at a youth group or at home.
Cyberbullying
This video reminds us that cyberbullying is real and has just as much impact as physical bullying. We've put together an activity guide that you can work through with young people in a classroom, at a youth group or at home.
A film we've made for parents
A short film to get parents thinking
Here's a film we made to help parents think about the online world and learn to navigate it with their children.
Other things you can do
There are lots of websites out there that provide child safety advice. The Think You Know website has lots of information for parents and for kids aged up to 16. The information is clustered by age group, making sure it's appropriate - whatever age your little ones are.
The UK Safer Internet Centre also has lots of resources to advise on using the internet safety and responsibly.
