Is your child's profile on Sayat?
Have you heard of Sayat? Neither had we. But the chances are, if you have teenagers at home, they probably have – and they might even have a profile on it.
Sayat.me is a website that allows people to leave anonymous feedback about one another – good and bad. With 30 million users currently, people can write whatever they like without anybody knowing who said what. Although the site is aimed at business users, a recent report from The Times showed that more and more teenagers are signing-up. It takes just 20 seconds to set-up a profile and there's no way of checking if users under 18 have the required permissions.
The Times' article interviews some teenagers about their experiences of Sayat and it's fair to say there are some disturbing stories. 13-year-olds are being told they are 'ugly', 'annoying' and, more menacingly, that they should 'kill themselves'.
The report also highlighted a lack of parental knowledge when their child has signed-up to the site. Teenagers aren’t necessarily keeping it a secret though; many just don’t realise that it could result in a very negative experience and by the time parents find out, often some damage has already been done.
How to talk to your child about Sayat and online safety:
Is your child on Sayat? If so, what have been their experiences? Join in the conversation over on Facebook.
Sayat.me is a website that allows people to leave anonymous feedback about one another – good and bad. With 30 million users currently, people can write whatever they like without anybody knowing who said what. Although the site is aimed at business users, a recent report from The Times showed that more and more teenagers are signing-up. It takes just 20 seconds to set-up a profile and there's no way of checking if users under 18 have the required permissions.
The Times' article interviews some teenagers about their experiences of Sayat and it's fair to say there are some disturbing stories. 13-year-olds are being told they are 'ugly', 'annoying' and, more menacingly, that they should 'kill themselves'.
The report also highlighted a lack of parental knowledge when their child has signed-up to the site. Teenagers aren’t necessarily keeping it a secret though; many just don’t realise that it could result in a very negative experience and by the time parents find out, often some damage has already been done.
How to talk to your child about Sayat and online safety:
- Keep the conversation open, not judgemental. If you tell them off, or demand they remove their profile, they are less likely to tell you things in the future.
- Arm them with the right tools. Our online safety book Virtually Me is aimed at 10-14 year olds and encourages them to better understand both the good and bad sides of social media platforms. An activity book for young people to work through, Virtually Me eventually leads them to creating their own personal guide to getting the best out of the internet – and doing so safely.
- 'Stick and stones…' is a useful adage to teach your kids. With an anonymous platform such as Sayat, there's no way of knowing who has written comments, so negative comments could be an internet troll doing what they (sadly) do best. It's important to teach children not to trust what they read and learn to ignore any haters.
Is your child on Sayat? If so, what have been their experiences? Join in the conversation over on Facebook.