6th February is Safer Internet Day 2024, where we highlight the need for careful consideration of what children are viewing online, how much screen time they are getting, and how to keep them (and ourselves) safe.

In a recent survey (Ofcom 2023), it was found that 48% of parents believe that their children know more about the internet than they do and 73% of children agree. Added to this, 1 in 3 children hide websites they’ve been visiting from parents while 1 in 5 change the social media safety settings enforced by their parents. Parents of 3-11-year-olds felt that the risks to their child of using social media, messaging or video sharing apps/sites outweighed the benefits (42%).

But it isn’t all doom and gloom, and there are many positives about the internet and social media. In a 2023 Ofcom survey both parents and children identified positive benefits of being online, especially in relation to learning (81% children, 84% parents) and to building and maintaining friendships (68% children, 65% parents). Compared to last year, children were more positive about social media; 67% say that it makes them happy all or most of the time and that it helps them feel closer to their friends (66%).

Across SCPS we regularly teach online safety as part of our PSHE and Computing lessons and we have robust filtering and monitoring systems in place to protect children from online harm when at school.  Keeping the same level of safety at home can bring its own challenges; and the advent of the smartphone has also added a whole extra layer of challenge as the whole world is now accessible in our pocket.  You might find this guide from Internet Matters useful

Online safety guide 6 -10 year olds

Advice is available on other websites :

https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/6-10/

BBC Safer Internet Day Resources