NSPCC warns Antrim parents of e-safety threat

THE NSPCC is warning of an e-safety threat putting local children at risk, and is calling for age appropriate lessons to be held in all schools from primary age.

The charity is warning that the latest research, calls to ChildLine, and focus groups with young people now show it’s beyond doubt that one of the major child protection issues facing young people today is abuse via the internet and mobile phones.

ChildLine carried out 3,745 counselling sessions last year about these issues with most callers aged between 12 and 15 years-old. A further 250 contacts were from children who actually said they were being ‘groomed’ online. And there was a sharp increase in contacts about exposure to online pornography with 641 contacts representing a 70 per cent increase for boys, with some callers as young as 11 years-old.

Whilst the best schools are already providing lessons on these issues, the NSPCC believes it’s no longer a topic that can be left to chance and it’s something parents struggle to keep up with. A recent study by the charity found that young people want peer lessons where they can share tips and advice with other young people. ChildLine is visiting every primary school in the country to discuss these and other child protection issues in an age appropriate way.

The NSPCC is warning that:

· A new generation of social media apps has opened up a Pandora’s box of potential danger.

· Sexting and hard core pornography are now the norm for many teenagers with focus groups describing it as so common it’s ‘mundane’.

· Some young people are being targeted and blackmailed or coerced into sending indecent images to strangers or peers.

· Cyber bullying is a growing and insidious problem where young people can’t escape from the intimidation and humiliation of it.

Claire Lilley, safer technology lead at the NSPCC, said: “The internet and mobile phones are now part and parcel of young people’s everyday lives. They are the first generation who have never known a world without them. The benefits are huge, both socially and educationally, but so too are the dangers.

“Young people tell us they are experiencing all sorts of new forms of abuse on a scale never before seen. It’s now clear that we are facing an e-safety threat with this being one of the biggest child protection issues of our time.

“We cannot put the genie back in the bottle but we can talk to our children about this issue. Parents, schools, technology companies, and young people themselves can all play their part. The theme of this year’s Safer Internet Day is online ‘rights and responsibilities’; we need to help young people find the balance between the two.”