Online Risks For Teens & How To Protect Them

Sharing personal information

Whatever platform your child is using, they should know never to share personal information about themselves publicly. That includes their whole name, address, phone number, email address, bank account details and what school they go to.

Any accounts they have on post-sharing sites/apps (Instagram, X, TikTok) should be set to private, so that no one they don’t know can see what they share.

The only private accounts they follow should be those of friends and family (they’ll probably follow celebrities too), and they shouldn’t let themselves be followed by anyone they don’t know.

Even then, private accounts and personal messages can still sometimes be seen by the wrong people. A good rule of thumb is to never share anything online that they wouldn’t be happy to publish on the front page of a newspaper.

Socialising online – staying safe and avoiding cyberbullying

When it comes to communicating with people online, the first rule should be to have the same standards that they have for speaking to people face-to-face. That includes both what they say to others, and how they let themselves be treated too.

Remind them that any strangers they do communicate with online could easily not be who they say they are. You probably don’t want to scare them, but if you feel they’re not taking on what you’re saying, then the news is full of horror stories where things have gone wrong that should warn them of the risks out there.

They should never meet up in person with anyone they’ve met online.

Have an ongoing conversation about mental health, and how certain things they see or experience on the internet makes them feel. This can help you guide them to recognise when something is inappropriate, and to protect themselves as a result.

Harmful content

The internet is full of stuff that teens and children shouldn’t see. From fake news, to images that promote a negative body image, to pornography to negative ideologies, it’s no wonder that parents worry. While you can control what they can see at home to an extent with the settings in your wifi account, it’s still easy for them to come across harmful content at some point. The most effective way to help them here is to educate them in tackling the dangers themselves.

Encourage them to take a critical approach to any information they see or read online. Where is it published? What is the expertise of the author? What is the motive of the author?

Show them how to report content and comments they find offensive, and how to block and report inappropriate or abusive users.

Remind them that they should come and talk to you if anything does upset them, or if they’re not sure how to respond to something, so you can work out what to do together.

What are influencers and why do teens follow them?

It’s a word that’s become a job title in the past few years. In a recent survey, more children in the UK said they wanted to be influencers than doctors. An influencer is someone with an account on an online platform (like the ones mentioned above) who has thousands or even millions of followers. They tend to recommend products to buy (often with sponsorship from the company) and promote their lifestyle.

Ask your child what influencers they pay attention to, and about the sort of content they share. Talking to your child about how they’re using the web like this is a great chance to help them understand what’s healthy and what might be having a negative impact.

Teen body image & mental health online

A big problem for teens online is content that encourages negative body image. Most famously for girls but for boys too, influencers who post pictures of what they eat, detailed posts about dieting and photos of their bodies to accompany them can all feed into teens feeling self-conscious, with a warped idea of what’s normal and healthy.

Ask your teen about the sorts of images they’re seeing online, and how they make them feel. Even if they’re not totally frank about their feelings, it’s important to tell them how people are not always honest about what they say their lifestyle is (i.e. someone who posts a picture of a huge ice cream sundae along with a photo of them looking super skinny might not have eaten the whole thing, and they might not be eating healthily either).

If your teen can limit how much attention they give to lifestyle and diet-related content, their mental health is likely to benefit. Reinforcing positive messages and habits at home can also help to override any negative content they’ve been seeing on the internet.

South Charnwood High School