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Understanding children's digital anxieties

52% of children don’t tell their parents about what's worrying them online. Here's how to better understand their worries and concerns.

Last week saw children in the UK return to school after the summer holidays. It can be a difficult time for both parents and children, especially if kids are making a jump to secondary school for the first time.

Those usual 'back to school' worries can be amplified in modern life, thanks to children spending a lot of time online and using social media regularly. 

A new study by Internet Matters has found that half (yes, half!) of all schoolchildren wouldn't tell their parents if they'd been upset by something online. So if your child gives monosyllabic answers to your questions about their day when they get home from school, it doesn't mean that there's nothing wrong. 
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The study surveyed over 10,000 schoolchildren in the UK and found that 52% wouldn't speak to their parents if they'd been upset by something they'd seen or read online. In comparison, 91% would tell them if something upset them face-to-face. Internet Matters has made four videos to help parents to 'decode' the signals given by children. Watch the cyberbullying video now: 
Each of these videos show how children's one-word answers can often hide their online struggles. 

At Identity Withheld, we've written Virtually Me - Your Manifesto for Online Life, an activity book for 10-14 year olds, that aims to encourage children to confront both the good and bad of the internet and to write their own personal guide to getting the best out of it safely.

We don't patronise its readers; rather than give answers, Virtually Me encourages them to reach their own conclusions about how they should be safely using the internet. 

So if your child won't open up to you about their online activities, give them a copy of Virtually Me - it could open them up to communicating with you in the future. 
Buy Virtually Me
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Header image via Pexels

Article by: Katy Ratican
Date published: 11th September 2017
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