Keeping Safe This Summer 2023

Such a title may bring to mind warnings whilst on holiday of “not getting out of your depth in the sea”, “not jumping in due to dangers beneath the surface” and “wearing sensible clothing and using sun cream to protect ourselves from the harmful effects of sunburn”. It is easy to enumerate the physical dangers of the summer and holiday time but what of the digital dangers when we have time on our hands?

The digital world we live in has brought many benefits in the way we can communicate and interact with, through digital connectivity and social media, like-minded friends and relatives who may be living at a distance. Yet we live in a fallen world and things that bring benefits can easily become idols, time-wasters, and addictions that impact on our behaviour, sleep patterns and well-being. Sadly, there are also individuals who would use digital technology to defraud people of their money and possessions, enticing people to share information about themselves and/or persuade them to commit wrong and unlawful acts.

How we need to heed the warnings in the Bible to walk circumspectly – being aware of everything that is going on around us, redeeming the time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16) and being sober and vigilant. 

This post draws on sources we have seen recently highlighting the digital dangers of the summertime and holidays.

A recent post “Three Tips for a Safer Digital Summer”, on the ‘Safer Schools’ website, highlights a warning by Barnardo’s that more children will be at risk this summer due to the cost of living crisis. The post states, “As summer approaches, now is the time we begin to make plans for family fun, amazing adventures and making memories. Of course, it will also be time to think up ways to combat “Mum, Dad – I’m bored!”. Given the current cost of living crisis, for many families, this summer will be about finding easy entertainment options that are budget-friendly … preferably free!  So, it’s no surprise that a Barnardo’s survey found 71% of 11-to-17-year-olds are expected to spend more time online during this year’s summer break, compared to term-time. But while digital devices and online activities are a cheap and cheerful solution to school break boredom, we’ve put together our top three tips to make sure it’s a safer digital summer for children and young people”.

The three ‘tips’ are –

Talk to the young person: perhaps this is easier said than done. There is a video embedded in the post to help with having discussions that highlights the use of open questions and that  it is not what we say but how we say it that will bring about a reaction that will either help or hinder the discussion.

Try out online platforms for yourself: whilst this may not be comfortable or practical in some cases, there is some need to be aware and familiar with the online platforms and devices that children and young people are using. This, in turn, may help to contribute to worthwhile discussion.

Take action to protect their online presence: expressed poignantly as “shrink your kids target size”, thereby limiting their exposure to possible abuse and/or exploitation.

Allied to this is also ensuring we are good role models in the way we manage our Internet and/or social media presence both in terms of security and behaviour online.

More detail can be found at: Three Tips for a Safer Digital Summer.

At the end of this post, there is a note “Planning to share photos of all this summers family fun online? Make sure to read our Safer Sharenting Guide first”. This guide is concerned about how parents photograph/images of their children and the risks and consequences this may bring. The messages within the guide are also applicable to sharing images online. More detail can be found at Safer Sharenting Guide.

‘YoungMinds’ is a UK charity with the purpose of “children and young people’s mental health”. They have published the downloadable PDF document “Online Safety”, although not specifically focusing on the summer holidays there is a useful listing of 14 questions about the practicalities of managing a digital family. More detail can be found at Online Safety.

Often schools and colleges have, on their websites, e-safety information available to parents which cover a range of topics. In our ‘googling’, we came across a clickable image on the website of the primary school in Yorkshire. The image is a pictorial representation (produced by “National Online Safety”) of how to stay safe online this summer which is very useful in highlighting the digital concerns that need to be considered – gone are the days when the only means of communication on holiday may have been a telephone box and/or a postcard!

A copy of the clickable image/poster can be found at Stay Safe Online This Summer (there are other useful supporting material on the school webpage).

[The content below is drawn from a previous CViE post on this topic that is still relevant.]

The first is from the ‘Protect Young Eyes’ website where the author highlights three reasons why the summer brings increased Internet risk. The first reason given is “new places” such as holiday accommodation, children spending time at friends’ houses and other attractions that may have Internet access. The author makes the point that the same rigour that is used in the family home to protect against Internet risk should be used away from the home. He makes the point “Then, guard those doorways in the same way you filter and monitor at home” whether through guarding the location, the wireless router or the device.

The second reason is “new patterns”, the author highlights that during the school year, weekday bedtimes are regular and predictable however in the summer these can become looser. The author then draws on the experience of ‘Protect Young Eyes’ that Internet temptations are magnified at night and describes the concept the “Toxic Trio” where bedrooms + boredom + darkness (along with Internet access) = increased digital risk. Looking at the ‘equation’ the ‘ingredient to remove’ would seem to be blocking Internet and social media access at night however this may, in turn, bring challenges.

The third reason is “new people”, the author points out that children may spend more time with friends and poses the question “do I know enough about the Internet rules that exist in each home where my kid is spending time this summer?”. The author admits that this is a difficult one to deal with!

More detail can be found at: “3 Reasons Summer Internet Risk Goes Up, Up, Up!”.

‘Enough Is Enough’ is an organisation based in the USA that focuses on making the Internet safer for children and families through raising awareness and providing resources. They are particularly focused on highlighting the extreme dangers of the Internet in the exploitation of victimisation of children. ‘Enough Is Enough’ also has a website “Internet Safety 101” that is a digitally-based Internet safety resource to help parents and other adults to protect children from Internet dangers.

Enough Is Enough recently published a post on cyber safety and summer sleepovers. The post raises a number of questions, for consideration by parents, to ensure a cybersafe sleepover. Although, the questions may seem overprotective/reactive nonetheless how far can it be assumed that children and young people are safe from digital dangers wherever they are?  The post also deals with the safety challenges of hours spent in the online gaming world and can be found at: Keeping Your Child CyberSafe for a Summer Sleepover.

Ultimately, in any relationship there needs to be an element of trust between children and their parents however trust will only be built and developed where there is a clear identification of the responsibilities of those involved and the keeping to them. Hence the need to have ‘ground rules’ which are communicated and the reason for the rules explained. This applies to many areas of life including the way we use digital technology and build a framework for children and young people.

We would be pleased to hear from those who are interested in the work of CViE as to their thoughts on how real are digital dangers? What strategies have parents and others (such as teachers) used to raise awareness of digital dangers to children and young people and how effective have these being?  What other digital technology topics need to be tackled? What resources have people found useful in helping to understand and communicate the challenges of digital technology with children and young people?   Please feel free to contact us at  enquiries@cvie.org.uk

[NOTE:  Although we make every effort to ensure these links mentioned are accurate, up-to-date and relevant, CViE cannot take responsibility for content and pages maintained by external providers, nor do we endorse all information, religious views, products mentioned, or opinions posted on these third-party websites.]