Staying Safe Online

In March 2024 YOL! met to discuss their concerns with social media and share their tips for staying safe online. Below are some of what was spoken about with links to other sites for more information. 

What are YOL!s concerns with social media?

One of the big concerns is that social media is still very new and something most parents/guardians do not understand. Which creates a problem when young people look to them for advice and support.

There is pressure on young people from other young people to stay in contact with them, reply quickly and keep ‘streaks’ going. Streaks are a part of snapchat that gives you a point every day that you make contact with a friend on snapchat. There is also pressure from the apps themselves such as ensuring you post on ‘BeReal’ in time. BeReal is an app that asks its users to share a picture of where they are as soon as the alarm on the app goes off, if you do not share your picture in time you do not get further notifications that day and are out of the game for the rest of the day.

Another problem is how what is posted by others can change people’s behaviour and feelings. There can be issues around cyber-bullying with deliberate negative comments and actions that are meant to upset someone.  Someone with low self-esteem can see lots of pictures of a ‘perfect body’ and other things which shows others as ‘doing well’ and make them feel worse about themselves.

Other issues with changing behaviours included what influencers say and do. There have been physical fights over young people trying to get celebrity endorsed products and an increase in negative behaviour between young people based on the views shared by influencers.

With more young people being online it can mean those young people that are struggling in ‘real life’ do not get a break. People can continue to make life difficult online as well as in person and this is, again, something most parents have not had to experience and if they did it was most likely not while growing up. 

Members of YOL! spoke of enjoying whatever they were doing or focusing on a task they needed to complete such as homework and their phone pings or they need to quickly google something and suddenly they are back on their phone and find it hard to drag themselves away again.

Fake news is now quite easy to create if you know what you are doing. Photoshop and coding make this really quick to do as well and things can look quite convincing. This leaves young people not knowing exactly who to trust, if they choose to trust anyone at all.

YOL! also spoke about the embarrassment they faced from parents posting about them online, including pictures parents posted when they were much younger which stay online and friends are able to go and see them. 

Tips for Staying Safe

YOL! shared their tips for staying safe online. These are also available on YOL!s Instagram.

What you post

• Remember everyone can see it. Once you have posted something it is out there and cannot be taken back.
• Do not share personal information. Full name, address, where you go to school, when you will be at youth groups etc etc.
• Think how it will make someone else feel. Is it a kind thing to say?

Looking after your health

• Be careful with screen time. It is easy to spend hours on social media scrolling without realising. Or a mix of telly, social media, internet, gaming can lead to lots of screen time and not a lot of physical activity.
• Do not compare yourself to others, especially influencers.
• Do not be on your phone before going to bed. Can take a while to relax before getting to sleep.
• Set boundaries with friends. It can feel overwhelming to have to reply and young people can put pressure on each other to keep replying. Make sure you get time away from your screen and get good sleep.
• Do not share your live location, especially if away on holiday.
• ‘be in the moment’ you do not need to be online, reply or post all the time. Engage in the thing you are supposed to be doing.

Staying Safe

• Keep accounts private. If you want to have a public account get support with this so you stay safe.
• Only accept friends you know. There are signs to make sure they are who they say such as mutual friends and some people have accepted social media friends while face to face so you know it’s them. 
• Be careful with what you watch. Not everything is as it seems. Some things are meant to upset you and encourage dangerous behaviour. Report this content and speak to someone you are comfortable talking to. 
• If someone you care for posts something you are worried about, reach out to them on their phone if you have it.
• If someone starts to be mean. Report them straight away, speak to an adult and report the behaviour on the social media platform.
• Don’t feel you have to be on social media. Join social media because you want to not because you are trying to fit in. 
• Always remember you can report or block someone.