KEEPING KIDS SAFE ONLINE
Parents, guardians, caregivers, and teachers can take the following measures to help protect children from becoming victims of online child predators:
DISCUSS INTERNET SAFETY AND DEVELOP AN ONLINE SAFETY PLAN:
Discuss with your teenagers before they engage in online activity. Establish clear guidelines, teach children to spot red flags, and encourage them to have open communication with you.
SUPERVISE USE OF THE INTERNET:
This includes periodically checking their profiles, posts, and browser history. Keep electronic devices in open, common areas of the home and consider setting time limits for their use.
REVIEW GAMES, APPS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
Review before they are downloaded or used by your teenager. Pay particular attention to apps and sites that feature end-to-end encryption, direct messaging, video chats, file uploads, and user anonymity, which are frequently relied upon by online predators.
ADJUST PRIVACY SETTINGS AND USE PARENTAL CONTROLS…
For online games, apps, social medial sites, and electronic devices.
TALK WITH YOUR TEENAGER ABOUT BODY SAFETY AND BOUNDARIES:
This includes the importance of saying ‘no’ to inappropriate requests both in the physical world and the virtual world.
BE ALERT TO POTENTIAL SIGNS OF ABUSE:
This includes changes in your teenager’s use of electronic devices, attempts to conceal online activity, withdrawn behavior, angry outbursts, anxiety, and depression.
ENCOURAGE YOUR TEENAGERS TO CONSULT A PARENT, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR, OR OTHER TRUSTED ADULT:
If anyone asks them to engage in sexual activity or other inappropriate behavior.
WATCHING OUT FOR ONLINE ENTICEMENT
OVERVIEW
Online Enticement involves an individual communicating with someone believed to be a minor via the internet with the intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction. This is a broad category of online exploitation and includes:
Sextortion, in which a minor is being groomed to take sexually explicit images and/or ultimately meet face-to-face with someone for sexual purposes
Or for Instance to engage in a sexual chat online or, in some instances, to sell/trade the minor’s sexual images. This type of victimization takes place across every platform; social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, etc.
RED FLAGS!
📵 Engaging in sexual conversation/role-playing as a grooming method, rather than a goal.
📵 Asking the teenager for sexually explicit images of themselves or mutually sharing images.
📵 Developing a rapport through compliments, discussing shared interests or “liking” their online post, also known as grooming.
📵 Sending or offering sexually explicit images of themselves pretending to be younger.
📵 Offering an incentive such as a gift card, alcohol, drugs, lodging, transportation or food.
SOCIAL MEDIA APPS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
SNAPCHAT
One of the most popular apps in recent years.While it promises users can take photo/video and it will disappear, new features including stories allow users to view content for up to 24 hours. Snapchat also allows users to see your location on their Snap Map.
MEET ME
A dating social media app that allows users to connect with people based on geographic proximity. As the name suggests, users are encouraged to meet each other in person.
WHISPER
An anonymous social network that promotes sharing secrets with strangers. It also reveals a user’s location so people can meet up.
LIVE ME
An anonymous social network that promotes sharing secrets with strangers. It also reveals a user’s location so people can meet up.
DISCORD
An app that allows users to talk to friends and strangers in real-time via voice, text, or video chat while playing video games.