Oh my goodness, this is exactly what keeps me up at night! What if my child, my innocent little one, stumbles upon something, or worse, is pressured into doing something they don’t understand?
From what I’ve heard, the biggest risks are things like accidental sharing of private photos – what if they send something to the wrong person? Or what if someone they trust, or think they can trust, tries to get them to send inappropriate images? I’ve heard about predators online, and it just makes my stomach churn to think that they could be lurking on an app my child uses. And what if those images get shared around without their consent? The thought of the emotional damage… I can barely breathe just thinking about it.
As for safeguarding, I’ve been told we need to talk to them, really talk to them, about what’s okay and what’s not okay to share. But what if they don’t listen? What if they’re too embarrassed to tell me if something happens? We need to teach them about privacy settings – but what if those settings aren’t enough? What if someone finds a way around them? And what about blocking and reporting? Do they even know how to do that, and would they even think to do it in the moment? I’ve also heard about monitoring apps, but then I think, what if that invades their trust too much? It’s such a tightrope walk! We have to make sure they know they can come to us, no matter what, without fear of getting into trouble. But what if they’re scared? What if they think we’ll be mad? It’s all so terrifying, isn’t it?