E-Safety
Parental Advice
EST - E-Safety Training (The Two Johns)
We recently welcomed The Two Johns at Mildmay who made presentations to children, staff and parents throughout a very long day. We have found their guidance and advice to be extremely useful and recommend their Facebook page and website for your reference.
The site is kept very up to date and advises of new and changing dangers that you may wish to be aware of as your child grows up in an ever-changing online landscape.
YouTube Guidance and Advice
What is the problem?
You may have seen news reports about inappropriate children’s videos on YouTube.
These are videos that, at first, appear to be for children, as they include cartoon characters such as Peppa Pig, or characters from Disney films such as Frozen. However, later on the videos become violent or disturbing. One, for example, shows Peppa Pig being tortured at the dentist.
The videos can appear in YouTube search results when children look for genuine children’s videos.
YouTube says that such videos will be age-restricted if they are reported by users, so they cannot be viewed by anyone under 18.
This factsheet explains how you can protect your child when they are using YouTube apps or the website.
What safety options are there on YouTube Kids?
The YouTube Kids app automatically filters out inappropriate content. However, YouTube explains that “no algorithm is perfect” and “your child might find content you don't want him or her to watch”.
To help protect your child in YouTube Kids, you can set parental controls and change settings: tap the ‘Lock’ icon in the bottom corner of any page, enter your custom passcode and click ‘Settings’. Here you can:
- Turn the search function off, so your child can only see recommended, curated videos under each category on the home screen: toggle ‘Search’ to off
- Set a timer to limit how much time your child spends on the app: select ‘Timer’ and use the slider bar or the plus and minus icons to set a time limit, then tap ‘Start Timer’
You can also block videos or channels you don't want your child to watch:
- Tap the 3 dots (‘more’) at the top of the video, tap ‘Block’ and select ‘Block this video’ or ‘Block this channel’ to block the whole channel associated with the video
- Tap ‘Block’ again, then enter the numbers you see written on the screen, or your custom passcode
To report content to YouTube that you think is inappropriate, use the ‘flagging function’: tap the flag icon next to a video or comment and select your reason for flagging.
The app does have advertising, but YouTube says it restricts adverts that aren’t child-friendly.
What safety options are there on YouTube?
Turn on ‘restricted mode’
This hides videos that may contain inappropriate content. YouTube says that “no filter is 100% accurate, but it should help you avoid most inappropriate content”. To do this:
Flag inappropriate videos
If you think a video or a comment on a video is inappropriate, you can use the ‘flagging feature’ to prompt YouTube staff to check it and decide whether to block or restrict it:
Flagged content is constantly reviewed to check for any violation of YouTube’s Community Guidelines.
How can I help ensure my child’s safety online?
The tips below will help you to set rules for your child about accessing videos on the internet and their online behaviour, and support them to understand the risks and what to do if something happens.
- Try to have your child in the same room as you when they are using the internet, and discourage them from using headphones
- Chat to your child about what online videos might not be suitable for them to watch and share
- Regularly check the history of videos they have watched online for anything inappropriate, or create a playlist for them
- Encourage your child to tell you if they see something they find worrying or nasty
- If your child wants to share a video they have recorded, check they get permission from anyone who features in it before they upload it
- Tell your child not to give out any personal information or anything that can identify them, such as a school uniform or street name
- Regularly check comments made on your child’s videos. Talk to your child about how they could receive nasty or negative comments from other people, and what they should do if this happens
- If another YouTube user posts a video of your child or shares personal information without consent, you can ask for this content to be removed by using YouTube’s privacy complaint process
Where else can I go for support?
Policies, safety and reporting, YouTube: https://support.google.com/youtube/topic/2676378?hl=en&ref_topic=6151248
Privacy complaint process, YouTube: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/142443
YouTube Kids parental guide, YouTube: https://support.google.com/youtubekids/#topic=6130504
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has a range of resources for parents on internet safety: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
Sources for this factsheet
This factsheet was produced by Safeguarding Training Centre from The Key, in collaboration with National Online Safety: www.thekeysupport.com/safeguarding and https://nationalonlinesafety.com/
YouTube to restrict 'disturbing' children's videos, if flagged, BBC News, 10 November 2017
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41942306
YouTube Kids parental guide, YouTube: https://support.google.com/youtubekids/#topic=6130504
** New **
CyberSense has released a new E-Safety app for parents and children.
It is designed to help parents talk about e-safety issues with their children to ensure that they make smart choices to stay safe online.
Here are some top tips for helping your child stay safe from the thinkuknow website:
Talk to your child about what they’re up to online. Be part of their online life; involve the whole family and show your interest. Find out what sites they visit and what they love about them, if they know you understand they are more likely to come to you if they have any problems.
Watch Thinkuknow films and cartoons with your child. The Thinkuknow site has films, games and advice for children from five all the way to 16.
Encourage your child to go online and explore! There is a wealth of age appropriate sites online for your children. Encourage them to use sites which are fun, educational and that will help them to develop online skills.
Keep up to date with your child’s development online. Children grow up fast and they will be growing in confidence and learning new skills daily. It is important that as your child learns more, so do you.
Set boundaries in the online world just as you would in the real world. Think about what they might see, what they share, who they talk to and how long do they spend online. It is important to discuss boundaries at a young age to develop the tools and skills children need to enjoy their time online.
Keep all equipment that connects to the internet in a family space. For children of this age, it is important to keep internet use in family areas so you can see the sites your child is using and be there for them if they stumble across something they don’t want to see.
Know what connects to the internet and how. Nowadays even the TV connects to the internet. Make sure you are aware of which devices your child uses connect to the internet such as their phone and games console. Also find out how they are accessing the internet, is it your connection or a neighbour’s Wi-Fi? This will affect whether the safety settings you set are being applied.
Use parental controls on devices that link to the internet, such as TV, laptops, computers, games consoles and mobile phones. Parental controls are not just about locking and blocking, they are a tool to set appropriate boundaries as your child grows and develops. They are not the answer for your child’s online safety, but they are a good start and are not as difficult to install as you might think. Service providers are working hard to make them simple, effective and user friendly.