Online Safety

APP Warnings

TELLONYM - a nasty app where bullying messages are sent but are anonymous

and

DOKEY DOKEY LITERATURE CLUB - 

A VIDEO game featuring "psychological horror" and suicide has been linked to the death of a 15-year-old schoolboy.

Police and teachers have warned parents about Doki Doki Literature Club. 

Described as a "visual novel", it features a boy who joins a high school poetry society and grows close to four teenage girls.

While it appears to be a cute "dating sim" game, it opens with the warning: "This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed."

Players follow the story and interact with the characters by chatting and writing poems.

The interactions take a dark turn as the girls become obsessive, and the story contains disturbing references to violence, self-harm and mental health issues and a scene in which a character's neck snaps.

Fortnite

How Technology Impacts Sleep Quality

HMC report May 2017:

The survey – conducted via a mixed state and independent academy chain – reveals:

• Children’s biggest concern about being on-line is lack of sleep (47%) but only 19% of parents chose that as their biggest concern about their children.

• Parents’ biggest concern about their children being online is the impact on their social skills (32%) but only 10% of young people chose this about themselves. Addiction was the next biggest worry (26%) amongst parents with lack of sleep third

• Over a third of children thought parents’ biggest concern about their children’s device use would be lack of sleep (34%)

• 72% of students said they spent anything between 3 and 10 hours online on an average day during weekends and holidays. 11% said they were online during weekends and holidays between 10 and 15 hours a day. However, nearly half of students said they “wouldn’t mind” if all their devices were taken away for a weekend. Another 20% said they would feel ‘isolated’ and 11% would feel ‘panicky’.

• Over a third (36%) of children people say they have asked their parents to stop checking their mobile devices. Almost half of them (46%) say it makes no difference when they do so. However, under 10% of parents thought their time spent on devices was concerning their children.
• 22% of students felt that the use of mobile devices stopped their families from enjoying each other’s company and 82% of children say meal times should be device-free

• 95% of parents reported that they do not use mobile devices at meal-times (but 14% of children said their parents were on-line at meal-times and 42.44% of them felt ignored or annoyed by it)

• 43% of parents thought they spent too much of their own time online. 21% of parents report being online for 6-10 hours during an average working day and 37% say they are online between 3 and 5 hours a day at weekends. 5% are online between ten and 15 hours at weekends

• 72% of students said they spent anything between 3 and 10 hours on-line on an average day during weekends and holidays. 11% are online between 10 and 15 hours a day and 3% say they are online 16-20 hours a day during those periods.
• However, the majority of children don’t think their parents are concerned about the amount of time their children spend on mobile devices. 56% answered no to that question.

Breaking news: 22 April 2017:

The Blue Whale Challenge is about targeting vulnerable young persons on line and befriending them. Once their trust is gained they are set 50 challenges.  These are a variety of challenges that build upon the previous in terms of risk and severity.  The 50th challenge culminates in a dare to the vulnerable person to kill themselves. There have been reports of this happening.

Safeguarding Your Children – New APP

Parents worried their children are swapping inappropriate pictures and selfies with friends or even strangers online are being offered a smartphone app to automatically spot suspect images.

The firm behind Gallery Guardian says it uses sophisticated image recognition software to scan pictures appearing on a child’s mobile to detect naked skin, genitalia or breast exposure.

If the app spots a suspect image on the child’s phone, the parent is immediately sent an alert reading “suspicious image detected”.