THE DANGERS OF KIDS’ APPS

Sex offenders are increasingly using live-streaming apps, like Periscope and Snapchat, to target children. Emma urges parents to be aware of what their children are doing online

Both my sons have B had smartphones since they started at secondary school and they, like most kids, need to have them surgically removed each evening. I have an unpopular – but accepted – rule that I can spot-check their technology. I know I’m invading their privacy, which I would have hated at their age, but I pay their bills and it’s my job to protect them from online predators.

INTERVENE

A couple of years ago, I was horrified to discover that a man was grooming my eldest son. My boy was oblivious and happily believed all the wild promises this creep was making him. The requests being made were testing my son’s boundaries, and while I believe he would have told me the instant anything sexual was suggested, I intervened before this was possible.

Worryingly, predators are now using live-streaming apps like Periscope, Omegle, Liveme and Lively, as well as Facebook, Snapchat and Youtube, to contact children. When they find a child who is vulnerable enough to agree to pose for them, or do something sexual, they then blackmail them into more extreme situations.

Recently, almost 200 suspected paedophiles were arrested in just a week for this. That is why you need to have some measures in place to ensure your child doesn’t fall prey to such horrifying abuse.

BE OPEN

Communication is key. I used my son’s experience to explore with both my boys how manipulative adults can be. I showed them examples on the NSPCC website, which described cases of children who had fallen victim to such predators, and I answered all their questions.

I also explained how the Internet keeps images and videos forever, and asked them to think about how it would feel if strangers were able to see explicit or compromising images of their bodies for the rest of their lives.

LIMIT PHONE FEATURES

Making the situation real and relatable to children means they can fully understand the pitfalls that can occur in the cyber world. If you’re worried about your kids’ online behaviour, you can limit their phone features. Follow my example and have a checking system, or employ a parental control technology that follows your child’s behaviour, such as Kidlogger. I understand you may feel this is an extreme measure, but with one in six kids under 16 falling victim to sexual abuse, I believe that it is essential to be safe rather than sorry.