As the old saying goes: the only constant in life in change. That especially applies to technology, with new apps, new social networks, and social media challenges emerging every few months.
Violence Prevention Avalon East wants to ensure that parents in Newfoundland and Labrador know about the most pressing issues surrounding your children and online safety in 2020.
Therefore, Violence Prevention Avalon East created a toolkit that looks at issues such as:
- Cyberbullying
- Exchanging Intimate Images
- Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material
- Luring
- Self/Peer Exploitation
- Sextortion
We are grateful to have pulled these resources from CyberSafeBC.ca, CyberTip.ca, The Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Stats Canada, and Smart Social.Com
Cyberbullying
According to The Canadian Centre for Child Protection, cyberbullying is a form of extreme bullying among youth via technology. It is abusive, targeted, deliberate and repeated behaviour that is intended to damage and harm another young person.
Our toolkit explains:
- What is cyberbullying?
- What you can do if your child is being cyberbullied
- What advice you can give your child if they mention their friend is being cyberbullied.
Exchanging Intimate Images
It is illegal to distribute intimate images of another person without their consent in Canada, and if the image involves someone under 18, it may be illegal to distribute the image, even if consent was provided.
Our toolkit explains:
- What are the laws around exchanging intimate images?
- Regaining control of the situation, should it happen to your child
- The Canadian Justice System’s “Prevention Order”
Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material
Most sexually explicit material online is indeed legal, but it can be detrimental if your child comes across it.
Our toolkit explains:
- How young child can come across sexually explicit material online
- How exposure to sexually explicit material at a young age affects a child
- How pre-teens and teenagers come across sexually explicit material
- How exposure to sexually explicit material affects a pre-teen/teenager
- How to reduce your child’s exposure to sexually explicit material?
- Things you can do to shape your child’s beliefs and values around health relationships and sexuality.
Online Luring
According to ProtectKidsOnline.Ca, online luring happens when a person (usually an adult) communicates with a young person online, to commit a specific sexual offence against that young person.
An example of online luring would be if a person asks, hints, or tries to convince a young person to send naked or semi-naked sexual pictures or videos.
Our toolkit explains:
- Why are children and teens vulnerable to online luring?
- How can you talk to your children about online luring?
Protecting Children Online: Self/Peer Exploitation
According to ProtectKidsOnline.CA, self/peer exploitation is defined as youth creating, sending, or sharing sexual images and/or videos with peers online or through electronic devices.
Our toolkit explains:
- What is self/peer exploitation?
- What if this happens to your child?
Sextortion
Sextortion is when a person coerces someone into sending sexual images or engaging in sexual acts over camera, then blackmailing them with the threat of distributing the sexual images/videos if they do not pay money or provide more sexual images/videos.
Our toolkit explains:
- What is sextortion?
- Teen vulnerability to online extortion
- Why it is important to talk to your teenager about the risk of online extortion
- What to do if your child is dealing with online extortion
We hope you’ve learned about the main issues your child may face regarding online safety in 2020, and hope you feel empowered to educate your children about spotting and avoiding these situations.
We highly recommend you sign up for CyberTip.CA’s email notifications; they will send updates and resources to your inbox about emerging issues in online safety.
For more information about online safety, check out our online safety resources.
Are you an educator, or looking for a way to talk about bullying and online safety with your children? Check out our K-12 toolkits!