‘Get to grips with social media for your kids’ sake’

ADULTS should get to grips with social media and help their children open up about online bullying, campaigners say.

Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos urged parents to learn how to navigate Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat and guide children “by the hand” until they can manage alone.

It comes as research by safety group Internet Matters found parents are more worried about cyber bullying than children being bullied face-to-face.

One in five parents (18%) said their child had received “cruel comments” online, the survey of 2,000 adults with children aged between nine and 16 found. Almost two thirds (65%) were concerned about their child being targeted on social media sites, while 46% were worried about face-to-face bullying.

Most parents (68%) said bullying over body image was their top concern, with 17.4% of boys and 15.7% of girls being teased about the way they look.

Dr Papadopoulos, an ambassador for the Internet Matters campaign, said parents must “understand the platforms” children are interacting on. She said: “If your kid is on it, get it. Understand it. Understand the way they might engage on it and... discuss with them what potential issues may be. Then as they become more competent, as they get older, you can put them down, hold them by the hand, and eventually let go.”

Dr Papadopoulos described online bullying as “different and perhaps more insidious”, citing behaviour such as humiliating hashtags and being cut out of photographs.

She said: “I think, partly because it’s on your phone, there’s no respite.”

She warned against restricting children’s access to the internet, saying it could put them off opening up about bullying. She said: “For children, their online identity is very core to their emotional health and their offline identity.” Natalie, 27, told how her son, 11, has had a “really horrible time” at the hands of bullies who targeted him at school before bombarding him with “explicit” written and voice messages on Xbox Live.

She said: “There’s been times when he said he’d sooner die than go to school.”

The Nottingham-based mother said she had spoken to her son about the risks before he joined the gaming platform, which helped him open up about the abuse he was receiving.

Internet Matters is asking parents to discuss the issue of cyber bullying with their children over the half-term as part of its £Pledge2Talk campaign.