Moving up to secondary School
As you move up to secondary school you or your friends may start using a smartphone more and more. Your social interactions may begin to cross over between home and school because the social media you might have access to on your phone can act like a bridge between the real world, the online world as well as your school and home life.

A World changing Invention
The invention of the smartphone has truly been world shaking. In the days before people could carry these devices easily, if you wanted to go online to check in with your friends, update your status or look up information you would need to use a computer. Typically this would have been a PC (Personal Computer) in your home. Sometimes people would log in to computers and buy a drink at a “cyber-cafe”. To do the things that we can do now without hesitation used to take a considerable amount of effort.

The Good (and the Bad)
Smartphones have truly changed the world for the better in so many ways. Unfortunately, as is the case with every technology, what can be used for good can also be used in ways that are less than positive.
Many schools have very strict rules about the use of mobile phones on their premises. Some may insist they are turned off and put away at all times, others have banned them altogether. Make sure you know what rules your own school has in place and do not fall foul of them!
More than half of all children in secondary school say they have experienced ridicule or online threats from their peers (other children). Source: University of Suffolk Online peer-to-peer abuse report – June 2018
The messages and content (pictures, videos etc.) that you post online can remain online forever, even if you think it has been deleted. This is called your digital footprint. Famous people have very obvious digital footprints but even the most reserved of people have them as well and they can be quite easy to find.
Many young people have posted messages or images in what they believed was a private way only to find that that somehow that content has been shared with others who it was not intended for.
Sometimes this might happen by accident and sometimes, sadly it happens intentionally.

Whenever you post anything, regardless of whether it is public or in a private message, always consider how that will reflect on you if someone was to see it or how it might make others feel.
Abuse
There has always been those who seek to cause harm to others, this harm can take many forms and is not always physical. Sometimes it can be emotional as well. Whenever a person or a group begins to do this it is termed as bullying.
Bullying happens in the physical world but it also takes place online via messaging and social media (this is sometimes referred to as cyber-bullying). Mobile phones can make it seem as though there is no escape from this abuse.
If you or someone you know is on the receiving end of this kind of behaviour it’s important to know that you are not alone and things can be done.
- Talk – tell a trusted adult what is happening, they can help you work through all the steps you should take if you are receiving abuse.
- Save the evidence – for example save screenshots or take a picture of the abusive content.
- Report – social media platforms have very strict terms of use and bullying and abusive behaviour is not tolerated. Look for and use the reporting function!
- If the abuse involves a person or people who are from your school then you should also inform a teacher, this could be a form tutor, head of year or a safeguarding officer but any teacher should be able to help you.
- If you feel that none of the above can help, there are organisations that you can turn to, for example:
Abusers will often make threats that if they are reported then things will become much worse for the victim. They make this threat because it is one of the things that can stop them, they might be physically stronger, they might be more popular but none of these advantages matter much once they have been reported.
Abusers will do and say everything they can to stop this from happening because once it does it becomes very difficult for them to avoid the consequences of their actions and continue the abuse.
Predators
Sometimes people can pretend to be people that they are not. For example. if you are messaging someone, perhaps as part of an online game, how sure can you be that the person you are talking to is who they say they are?
Perhaps you arranged to log in with your friends and play together. That’s a safe sort of situation but what if you are messaging a person you have never met in real life? That person might be genuine. All too frequently however, this is not the case.
Other kinds of people who are dangerous make use of social media and messaging to find people that they can influence in some way. These people may try to make you engage in illegal behaviour and sometimes they will try to meet up with the aim of doing something even worse.
Communicating with people that you do not know in real life via digital devices is very easy but also very risky. There are some signs to watch out for that can help you spot if this person is not quite who they say they are:
- They are too perfect – everything you love, they love too and everything you hate they hate as well. Everyone is different and if they seem to good to be true, they probably are.
- They look for privacy – they might try to get you to carry on a conversation with them on a none public channel or move to a different messaging service. This is a real sign of danger.
- They avoid real communication – they might be happy to send you what they say are genuine pictures of themselves but they avoid talking in their real voice or avoid facetime type discussions. It’s easy to get images of anyone and pretend that it’s theirs but it is much more difficult (but not impossible) to fake a face to face conversation.
Be careful if you spot this or anything else that makes you suspicious. If you do, record evidence, tell a trusted adult and block them.
Sometimes we all make mistakes and sometimes an abuser can turn out to be someone that you know.
If you ever find yourself in a situation with someone that is similar to any of these listed below then this should be reported.
- They may have tricked you into sending something you shouldn’t have – and now they are threatening that they will show this to other people (such as your family or friends) unless you agree to their demands.
- They ask you for things that make you uncomfortable:
- They might ask you to send them pictures of yourself / your body or live-stream and do things that you feel is not right.
- They might try to talk about subjects you are not happy about (for example this might be hateful in nature or sexual).
- They keep trying to talk to you privately.
Remember, an abuser will say anything to avoid being reported. In spite of how powerful they seem to be or what they say they will do to you or others. Even if they make threats that they will show your family or friends certain images or videos of you if you ever tell, there is a specialist division of the police that can help you without alerting your abuser until they are ready to stop them once and for all.
To begin this process you can make a report to CEOP.