R - Recognising your right to online safety

Recognising your right to online safety

Everyone has the right to be safe - and if something happens that makes your child concerned or unsafe, they have the right to get help. This activity explores the rights you and your child have when using a phone and looks at how people might react to different situations.

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Talking about safe phone use

R

Recognising rights to safety online

U

Using online safety and wellbeing tools

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Support when facing challenges online

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Talking about online safety going forward

Exploring how to react in different situations

This activity involves four different scenarios. For each one, think about these four points:

Decide how you think you would react if you were the person in this situation, then share your reactions and compare.

Think about how other children might respond when faced with this situation. What might they do differently?

Talk about what would be helpful and what could be risky about these ways of responding.

Talk together about what rights and responsibilities the people in these situations have.

For parents 

During this activity encourage your child to consider their behaviour when using their phone but also reassure them that you’ll always be there to help them regardless of what has happened. Think about how you might approach and respond to the scenarios yourself and how to react to your child’s suggested approaches. Sharing your thoughts about this with your child lets them know that unsafe things can happen to adults too - it’s okay to talk to adults about these things.  

For more information and support about some of the topics covered in this activity, see the following pages on the NSPCC’s online safety hub:

Let’s go through each scenario

Scenario 1

Asay gets a message from someone she plays an online game with. Asay doesn’t know them in person but can see that they share mutual friends, including her best friend Sam. When they are chatting, this person asks Asay to send a photo of herself with Sam to prove that she is the person they think she is.

It’s really important to remember we all have a right to say no when something might not be safe or makes us feel uncomfortable.
Asay does not have to ‘prove’ who she is, and she does not have to send a photo to this person.
Sharing images or videos of ourselves online with others can come with risks. It's a good idea not to share images of ourselves which show where we live or reveal parts of our body.

Why not have a talk together about the types of images which wouldn't be safe to share. Visit the NPSCC or Childline website for more advice

Scenario 2

Max is 13 and is in a group chat with some of their friends. One of the friends suggests that they all set up a group together on an app that is for over 18s. Lots of Max’s friends in the group chat seem up for it, although one or two haven’t said anything. The friend who has suggested it insists that no one can mention this to their parents/carers, otherwise they will all get into trouble.

It can be tricky when a situation involves your friends, but you always have a right to tell a safe adult if something is worrying you. Max has a right to tell their parent, regardless of what the friends have said so that they can help deal with this situation. Max can also say no to joining the app and doesn’t have to tell the friends why they don’t want to join.

It is important to remember that Max does have a responsibility not to pressure others in the group to join the app. In chat apps it can be very easy to follow along with what others are saying but doing this wouldn’t be respecting other people's rights.

Scenario 3

Zain is scrolling on his phone and sees a video that someone has posted of animal cruelty. Lots of people have reshared the video, including his friends saying how awful it is and that it should be taken down. It has made Zain feel really uncomfortable and upset.

Nobody should have to see harmful content and you always have a right to get support if something you experience online worries you.Zain should not have to see things that upset him, and he has the right to speak to an adult if he wants to and to report the video.

Zain has a responsibility to not re-share the video with others. It can sometimes be tempting to do this to express strong feelings about something, but it’s important we don't as it just means more people could be harmed by it.

Remember, even if you have seen something you think you shouldn’t, you can always tell a safe adult.

Scenario 4

Amelia follows someone from her youth club on social media and sees that they have posted a picture of themselves online. She can see that lots of people have made hurtful comments on the picture and a few people are encouraging others to post more nasty things.

Remember that this kind of abuse online is never acceptable, and nobody should have to experience it. Amelia has the right to report the comments as well as the accounts posting them, either on the social media site, or by telling a safe adult. She can also mute or block the accounts. Amelia does not have to report the comments, but this can help the person to get support and stop it from happening again. She does have a responsibility to not join in with the comments though. Remember, what is happening here is not ok and even if lots of people are doing something, that doesn’t make it right.

Let’s see what this family think about sharing personal information and images

When you get your first phone you might be excited to share your new number with your friends or get involved in online groups. Talk as a family about who you can or cannot trust to have your phone number - only share it with those who will be kind and respectful.

Have a chat together about the kind of pictures that are ok to share and those that are not - it’s important to remember that any images you share could be sent to other people without your knowledge, and it’s not possible to get these back.

Now you’ve completed R together, it’s time to move on to U - Using online safety and wellbeing tools.

Using online safety and wellbeing tools Back to hub page

Frequently asked questions

Online safety is important for helping to protect children from potential online harm and abuse. Using online safety tools and approaches like the ones the NSPCC advise can help prevent children experiencing inappropriate content and contact. When children have safe online interactions it helps them feel empowered to navigate the internet responsibly and have more positive online experiences.

Parental controls can help put limits on what your child sees and does when using devices. These include managing screen time and filtering out harmful content. Each family will use parental controls differently based on the ages of their children, visit Vodafone’s Digital Parenting Pro resource to find out what parental controls are available across the most popular applications, games and devices.

For parent or carers: 

NPSCC Advice for having difficult conversations
Vodafone’s advice for your child’s first phone
Advice and support for online issues from the UK Safer Internet Centre

For children:

R - Recognising your right to online safety

Recognising your right to online safety

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R

U

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Exploring how to react in different situations

NSPCC top tips for completing this activity

Let’s go through each scenario

Scenario 1

Scenario 1 top tip

Scenario 2

Scenario 2 top tip

Scenario 3

Scenario 3 top tip

Scenario 4

Scenario 4 top tip

Let’s see what this family think about sharing personal information and images

Frequently asked questions

Why is online safety important?

What are parental controls and should I use them on my child’s phone?

What should I do if I feel unsafe online?

Buying online

Latest phones

Help and support

Vodafone UK