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Original poster

To think government is not doing enough to protect children online

44 replies

Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 12:12

I know we are responsible as parents: talking to our kids, putting restrictions, boundaries, spending time with them, etc; however there is so much there it seems impossible to keep on top of it; we can’t control everything they are exposed to.

But why the government allowing all these sites and information that is targeting weak and young uninformed people.

OP posts:
Snorlaxo · 04/07/2025 16:34

I know it’s really hard to control everything and there are obviously loopholes, but I think it will stop a lot of bullying if teenagers type certain words it blocks their account or stops them from sending

On TikTok people use alternative words for words that would trigger a ban. For example porn is often called corn and people might say schmex instead of sex.

Original poster
Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 16:35

Snorlaxo · 04/07/2025 16:34

I know it’s really hard to control everything and there are obviously loopholes, but I think it will stop a lot of bullying if teenagers type certain words it blocks their account or stops them from sending

On TikTok people use alternative words for words that would trigger a ban. For example porn is often called corn and people might say schmex instead of sex.

Didn’t know that.

OP posts:
Snorlaxo · 04/07/2025 16:37

Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 16:35

Didn’t know that.

Show quote history

I sometimes see true crime videos or chat about crime in tv shows that sir code words like that to avoid bans. Grape for rape etc

Snorlaxo · 04/07/2025 16:42

The government can’t really do anything because it’s easy to use a VPN to change your device location and see anything. The average secondary school kid will have heard of a VPN and know it’s for getting round restrictions.

Original poster
Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 16:44

KrisAkabusi · 04/07/2025 13:50

Most harmful sites are outside the UK. The government can make them illegal, but they still exist as we don't have control over other countries laws.

How old are your kids? Start by putting Family Link, or whatever the Apple version is so you can at least start putting limits on them.

Yes, we have parental controls through apple and I have now put more restrictions after noticing my teen was accessing some harmful music and isolating, they were feeling down and this wasn’t helping.

As soon as I started putting more control, limiting the mobile phone to two hours per day, keeping an eye more, talking again about harmful content their attitude changed,

Thankfully I am off work and have mental space, but this is not always the case for many parents.

There should be a campaign on the impact smart mobiles phone and social media is having on our young people.

I have to say the experience made me quite nervous and just thinking how vulnerable are kids. I have discussed with them online safety in the past, but it looks like it wasn’t enough.

OP posts:
givemushypeasachance · 04/07/2025 16:50

What would you have the government do versus parents - for something like whatsapp say. Is whatsapp an inherently dangerous app that should be banned? No, it's just a messaging tool that millions of people use. It does a lot of good, it's very useful. But some children are horrendously bullied on it. Okay then, ban it for children? It is - the age limit for using whatsapp in the UK is 13 years old. My friend's 8yo uses whatsapp to contact family members, it's registered to his dad who is an adult. And any 10yo can just tick the box saying they're over 13. Maybe a child should have to prove their age somehow, but again, adults can just register it for their children if they choose to - in the same way as adults buy dangerous escooters for their young children, or hire out the ones you have to be 18 with a driving licence to hire and hand them over to their 15yo son.

So instead you talk to your child about what is safe use of whatsapp. Do some research into things like whatsapp "channels" - are they appropriate? Do you just let them have family members and close class friends they know in person on there? Do you understand how anyone can add random people to the "class group chat" and that one of them may be a 47 year old man someone "met" online while gaming. Check their devices. Don't trust them because they will want to bend the rules and think they know best and you're fussing over nothing. Explain what to do if someone is being bullied in group chats, if naked photos or inappropriate content is being shared around, if they are freaked out by a message someone sends them. Reassure that you won't jump to banning apps and taking their phone away but that your priority is keeping them safe.

faq.whatsapp.com/323781503786199

GasPanic · 04/07/2025 16:56

There should be better parental controls available on phones and routers that are easier to use.

For example it should be possible to whitelist sites on a phone and prevent access to any others. And it should be easy to do this. It should also be possible to restrict the installation of new apps.

There should also be parent marked routers that do stuff like send email lists of what sites are visited by various devices based on MAC address. Or again only whitelist certain sites for various devices.

I think the feature set for many of the standard broadband routers that are provided with broadband contracts are pretty woeful. The government should make these sorts of controls mandatory with parental choice whether to implement them or not.

I'm sure it's possible to do all of this stuff already. But it is not currently easy enough for parents to do with current systems and apps.

Bisadino · 04/07/2025 17:00

If you know you're nominally responsible (as in ought to have the responsibility for your children) as a parent, actually be responsible for them.

Blinkingbother · 04/07/2025 17:03

I think short of limiting access North Korea style there’s not much you can do….. (though to be fair I wouldn’t be averse to this….though I’m prob the only one!!).

Snorlaxo · 04/07/2025 18:13

It’s hard balancing things OP- teenagers think that they are immune to everything bad in the world and that there is no way that they’d end up tricked, conned or groomed.

With apps like disappearing messaging on Snapchat, many parents would only know if something was wrong if their child or the police told them and the stricter the parenting, the less likely the child is to talk about something worrying and they don’t want a huge reaction from the parent like confiscating their phone. 😞

Original poster
Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 18:29

Blinkingbother · 04/07/2025 17:03

I think short of limiting access North Korea style there’s not much you can do….. (though to be fair I wouldn’t be averse to this….though I’m prob the only one!!).

I thought of this myself. Not entirely a bad idea.

OP posts:
Original poster
Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 18:31

Snorlaxo · 04/07/2025 18:13

It’s hard balancing things OP- teenagers think that they are immune to everything bad in the world and that there is no way that they’d end up tricked, conned or groomed.

With apps like disappearing messaging on Snapchat, many parents would only know if something was wrong if their child or the police told them and the stricter the parenting, the less likely the child is to talk about something worrying and they don’t want a huge reaction from the parent like confiscating their phone. 😞

It is worrying and for more that we talk to them, put restrictions on, keep eye, etc you can’t never be entirely sure they are safe online.

OP posts:
Original poster
Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 18:33

Itsallsostressful · 04/07/2025 16:56

Internet Matters is a great resource
https://www.internetmatters.org/

Hope link works !

Thank you. Will have at look

OP posts:
Original poster
Monkeybargarden · 04/07/2025 18:35

GasPanic · 04/07/2025 16:56

There should be better parental controls available on phones and routers that are easier to use.

For example it should be possible to whitelist sites on a phone and prevent access to any others. And it should be easy to do this. It should also be possible to restrict the installation of new apps.

There should also be parent marked routers that do stuff like send email lists of what sites are visited by various devices based on MAC address. Or again only whitelist certain sites for various devices.

I think the feature set for many of the standard broadband routers that are provided with broadband contracts are pretty woeful. The government should make these sorts of controls mandatory with parental choice whether to implement them or not.

I'm sure it's possible to do all of this stuff already. But it is not currently easy enough for parents to do with current systems and apps.

Agree.

Putting all the parental controls at the moment is not straightforward and requires time.

OP posts:
givingitupok · 04/07/2025 19:42

Laughing at someone thinking the dark web is a scary illegal place. It's actually legal and rather boring!

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OP posts:
Ohmybiscuits · 04/07/2025 22:43

I heard about this app/filter as I follow screenstrong and it was recommended by the founder. Apparently it blocks inappropriate images and sexts etc. Not sure why we can't just have this option on our computers/phones as standard in order to protect our children

canopy.us/

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