Online Safety

Information and tips on healthy social media use, spotting scams, distressing news and cyberbullying

Top tips for healthy social media use

Think before you post
Lots of people post on social media without thinking of the potential consequences. If you are angered or wound up by something and feel like getting back, stop for a second and think about whether you would post the same thing tomorrow. Remember, if it’s online, it’s on there forever and anyone could share it anywhere. A good rule is try to not post anything you wouldn’t want your parents, teachers or classmates coworkers to see!

Keep personal details safe
Leaving a trail of personal details out on social media could leave you at risk of someone trying to use them for their gain. Avoid sharing things like contact details, addresses and banking information. Be careful not to get things like your street name or house number, bank cards or ID documents in the background of photos.

Don’t believe everything you see
There is a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of people on social media will only tell you their side of the story or tell you what they want you to believe, especially when it comes to subjects like politics and climate change, so take everything with a pinch of salt and if you aren’t sure, look up what more trustworthy information sources are saying.

Privacy settings
Privacy settings are a good and quick way to make your social media environment safer. Setting your account to private will stop anyone who you don’t want looking at it from going on there. It is also recommended to set your messages so only people you know or who follow you can message you, so you don’t get any unwanted messages from strangers or spam accounts.

Be careful who you’re talking to
Social media and online communities can be really good for connecting to people with the same interests as you, or people who are going through similar things. However, be aware of people using these things to try and take advantage of others. If anyone you’re talking to is doing anything like:
– Sending you explicit messages e.g. anything sexual or violent
– Persuading you to send them any amount of money, pictures of yourself or personal details, or is sending you these things
– Trying to arrange a private meet up with you
– Messaging you constantly or any time you’re online
You should report and block them and avoid interacting with them further.

Don’t feed the trolls
As tempting as it is, replying to hate comments isn’t a good idea. They do things like that because they want a reaction and they feed off it, so the best thing you can do is ignore or block the account.

Take time out
It’s easy to end up spending hours and hours on social media, but reducing your social media use can improve your wellbeing as you reduce the time spent being exposed to negative content and free up more time for other things. Try limiting your social media use to just an hour or two a day, not using it before going to sleep, or even having social media free days.

Doing things like removing apps from your home screen and muting notifications might help with this – out of sight, out of mind!

Have a social media feed cleanse
Every now and then, it might be helpful to cleanse your social media feed, unfollowing or blocking accounts that post negative content or stuff that you aren’t interested in anymore.

It might also help to reduce your social media use with less to scroll through.

Spotting Scams

Scams are becoming more frequent and harder to spot, so here are some things you can look out for to make sure you don’t fall victim to one.

Websites and adverts

Bad wording and images
Websites and adverts that have spelling and grammar errors, or have images that are pixelated, AI or stock images, shouldn’t be trusted. Real companies will have designers and copywriters who will make sure everything looks legitimate before it goes out.

Lack of information
Real sites and adverts will have a mix of standard descriptions and information about products. Scams might not include all the same information as they are just a front. If you aren’t sure, check the product on a couple of other genuine websites to see what information and images they have.

Web addresses
Real websites will have web addresses with common endings, such as ‘.co.uk’, ‘.com’, ‘.net’ and ‘.org.uk’, whereas scam websites will use cheaper, less common endings like ‘.biz’, ‘.me’ and ‘.xyz’. Scams may also add in or take out letters so the address looks almost identical.

HTTPS
Seeing ‘https’ and the padlock symbol at the start of the URL means that the website is secure and safe to use, as your data is encrypted so it can’t be read by someone at the other end of the site.

Some sites have ‘http’ at the start. This doesn’t mean they’re unsafe, but you shouldn’t enter any personal or banking information into them. Only share information on an ‘https’ site.

Website checker
If you aren’t sure about a website, you can use a website checker, like Sitechecker: sitechecker.pro/website-safety

Emails

Email addresses
Check the address that the email came from to see if it is from someone you know or a real company. Like web addresses, scammers will try and make an address look legitimate by using similar characters or adding in or removing letters.

Spelling and grammar mistakes
This is another obvious sign that something isn’t right. While people may occasionally make an error, if an email is littered in mistakes, then it probably isn’t safe.

Links
Always check links in emails if you aren’t sure. The best way to do this is by hovering over the link to show you where it goes. You can do this on a phone by holding down the link to open a preview.

Does it sound like them?
If you get a dodgy-looking email that has come from someone you know, think whether it is written how they would write it. If you’re not sure, it’s best to check with them through another communication method.

Requests
Be wary of emails requesting that you reply or click a link to send personal information like your phone number or bank details. Scammers will often try and sound urgent in these emails to get you to send over any information quickly.

Remember to trust your gut feeling – if something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t.

Looking after yourself around distressing news

It might seem that in the past few years, the negative and worrying news has been never-ending and if we are online and on social media, we’re more likely to see it more often. Distressing news can really stick in our minds and make us feel scared and down, so we need to be good at looking after ourselves in response to it. Here’s some things you can try to help yourself:

Acknowledge the clickbait and fact check
There are news outlets and social media accounts out there that will spin and catastrophise events to get clicks and reads, or push a certain agenda. This means we can be exposed to some pretty extreme news and views that are far from the facts.

Understanding that things might be written a certain way for the company’s or account’s own gain might help put your mind at ease a little. It’s also worth looking at the same news from a few different sources to get a better picture of what’s actually going on.

Further down, we’ve got some reliable news sources and a couple of fact-checking websites, which work to tell you the truth, disprove fake news and make you aware of false information being spread.

Control your social media
Whenever something bad happens, it’s all over our social feeds instantly. This doesn’t help us when we are trying to escape from negativity and can make things feel overwhelming.

You might want to try unfollowing or muting news accounts so you only see the news when you want to see it. Taking breaks, or cutting down the time you spend on there might also help you to clear your mind and take away thoughts about the news.

Read a positive story to finish
When checking the news, one thing you can do to leave you feeling more optimistic is finish by reading a couple of more positive stories to remind you that no matter what, there are still good things happening and good people out there.

Talk to someone about how you’re feeling
If distressing news is affecting the way you’re feeling, it’s always good to talk to someone about it. Family or friends might be feeling the same way or might be able to reassure you. You can also talk to No Limits’ youth workers about how you’re feeling.

Reliable news sources

BBC
Website: bbc.co.uk/news
Socials: @bbcnews
TV: Channel 1

Channel 4
Website: channel4.com/news
Socials: @channel4news
TV: Channel 4

The Guardian
Website: theguardian.com
Socials: @guardian (Instagram) / @theguardian (Facebook)

Reuters
Website: reuters.com/world/uk
Socials: @reutersuk (Facebook)

Fact-checking tools

Full Fact
Website: fullfact.org
Socials: @fullfactorg (Instagram) / @fullfact.org (Facebook)

BBC Verify
Website: bbc.co.uk/news/bbcverify

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is bullying carried out in tech and online settings, for example, on social media, video games or messaging. People turn to cyberbullying because it is less confrontational and it is easy to hide your identity.

Just like in-person bullying, it can have a significant negative impact on the target’s wellbeing and it is never okay.

What can you do?

• Don’t retaliate or reply – that’s what they want you to do
• Change the settings on your account to be more private
• Block or mute accounts that are targeting you
• Report accounts sending unkind posts and messages. This page on Childline has information about reporting cyberbullying on different social media platforms: Bullying on social media | Childline
• Save comments, posts and messages as evidence
• Tell someone who can help, like a parent, teacher or coworker

Want to find out more?

Childline – Online Safety: Click here

Childline – Bullying on Social Media: Click here

Mind – Coping with Distressing Events in the News: Click here

YoungMinds – Social Media and Mental Health: Click here