For young people
Essential Safety Tips for Young People Navigating the Digital World
In today’s digital world, knowing how to use the internet and technology safely is essential. Here are important tips to help you stay safe online while enjoying a positive experience. If something goes wrong, it is never your fault, and you can always get help.
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In short
Five habits that keep you safe
Read on for the detail, or start with these.
Tip 1
Set your own rules
Creating your own guidelines for internet use empowers you to manage your online presence effectively.
- Time limits: Establish specific times for internet use, balancing it with responsibilities like schoolwork and hobbies. Consider using tools or apps that remind you when to take breaks to avoid excessive screen time, which can lead to burnout or negativity.
- Safe websites: Create a list of trusted websites that provide educational content or entertainment. This can include educational platforms, news outlets, or reputable forums. Regularly update your list to include new, safe sites as you discover them.
- Use common areas: When using the internet, stay in shared spaces at home. This not only allows for parental guidance but also encourages conversations about what you’re doing online. It’s easier to seek help if something feels off when you’re in a communal area.
- Sleep first: Charge your phone outside your bedroom at night. Late-night chats and games are when people are most tired and most likely to make a choice they regret.
- Check in with yourself: If going online makes you feel worse, anxious or left out more often than it makes you feel good, take a break, change who you follow, or talk to someone.
Tip 2
Understand privacy
Privacy is about deciding who can see you, find you and contact you. Once something is public, you cannot control who sees it or keeps a copy.
Set up your accounts
- Make accounts private where you can, and check who can message you, see your friends list and tag you.
- Use strong passwords: a long phrase you can remember, different for each account, and never shared with friends, even a best friend or boyfriend or girlfriend.
- Turn on two-step login so that a stolen password is not enough to get into your account.
- Turn off location sharing for photos, posts and apps that do not need it.
Be careful what you share
- Do not post your full name, school, address, phone number or daily routine where strangers can see it.
- Look behind you before you post a photo: a school badge, street sign or house number can show where you are.
- Be careful with links, prizes and “urgent” messages. If it sounds too good to be true, or pushes you to act fast, stop and ask a trusted adult. See our guide on staying safe by topic.
Know what stays online
Posts, comments and pictures can be copied, screenshotted or shared by others, even if you delete them or use apps where messages seem to vanish. Ask yourself: “Would I be okay if my family, teacher or future employer saw this?”
Tip 3
Communicate safely
- Chat with people you know. Accept friend requests only from people you know in real life, and check with them if a request looks like a copy of an old account.
- You can say no. You are allowed to say no, to leave a chat, to block and to report, at any time and for any reason.
- Trust your feeling. If a message makes your stomach turn, stop. You do not have to explain.
- Be kind. Do not join in bullying, and do not forward things that hurt someone. If you are bullied, save the messages, block, and tell an adult.
- Be careful with video calls and live streams. Anyone can record them.
Want to know more about how adults use chat to harm children? See our guides on grooming and sextortion.
Tip 3: communicate safely
Red flags in online chats
Some people online are not who they say they are. Be alert if someone…
Tip 4
Think before you share
Sharing is part of being online, and most of it is harmless. But some things can hurt you or other people.
- Nude or sexual pictures. Once you send a picture, you cannot control where it goes. Anyone can save it, forward it, or use it to pressure you. If someone asks for one, say no, even if you trust them, and especially if they push.
- Pictures of other people. Never share a nude or sexual picture of anyone under 18, even as a joke. It harms them, and it can be a crime. If one is sent to you, do not forward it. Tell an adult you trust.
- Fake pictures. Apps can edit or create fake sexual pictures from an ordinary photo. This is harmful and wrong, and you can report it. It is not your fault if it happens to you.
- Rumours and private information. Do not share other people’s secrets or screenshots of private chats.
If a picture of you has been sent or shared and you are afraid, you can get help. See what to do on the sextortion page, or read about child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
If something goes wrong
If something feels wrong
Mistakes happen to everyone. What matters is getting help early.
Do
- Stop replying, and take a breath.
- Tell an adult you trust: a parent, a teacher, a counsellor, or APLE.
- Save the chat details, usernames and links. Do not save or send any nude pictures.
- Block the account and report it on the app.
- Report to APLE. You can stay anonymous.
Do not
- Pay money or send more pictures to make it stop. It usually makes it worse.
- Delete everything and stay silent.
- Go to meet the person alone.
- Blame yourself. The person who pressures or threatens you is responsible.
- Think you will be punished for telling. APLE will help you, not blame you.
If you are in danger now, call the national police hotline on 1288. To talk to APLE at any time, call 092 311 511 or chat with Pisey.
Look out for each other
How to help a friend
Friends are often the first to know when something is wrong. If a friend tells you something is happening to them:
- Listen and believe them. Do not laugh or judge.
- Tell them it is not their fault.
- Do not look at or forward any pictures they may have been sent.
- Encourage them to tell a trusted adult, and offer to go with them. If they will not, tell an adult yourself. This is not betraying them. It is caring about them.
- Stay close. Check in on them, and be kind.
Talking to adults
How to start the conversation
It can be hard to tell an adult. Here are some ways to start.
- “Can I talk to you about something that happened online?”
- “Something is making me feel uncomfortable, and I need your help.”
- “I made a mistake online, and I don’t know what to do.”
Choose a time when they can listen. If the first adult does not help, try another one. Trusted adults can be a parent, relative, teacher, school counsellor, or someone at APLE.
Practise
What would you do?
Read each situation and decide what you would do. Then open it to compare.
Say out loud what you would do, then compare. The aim is to stop, say no, tell someone you trust, and get help.
This is a red flag. A safe friend does not ask you to keep secrets from your family. Stop replying, block them and tell a trusted adult.
Say no. Someone who respects you will not pressure you. You can stop talking to them. If they keep asking or threaten you, tell an adult you trust.
Do not forward it or comment on it. Tell your friend to stop, and tell a trusted adult. Sharing nude pictures of someone under 18 harms them.
Do not click. It is probably a scam. Delete it, and tell a trusted adult. Never give your details to a link you did not ask for.
Say no, leave, block them and tell a trusted adult. It is a form of exploitation. See our live-streaming page. You will not be in trouble.
Questions
Questions people ask
No. APLE will help you, not blame you. If a picture of you is involved, you are the one who needs protection, not punishment.
It is not too late to get help. It is not your fault, and you can tell an adult you trust or call APLE. Do not send more, and do not pay. See the sextortion page.
You can talk to APLE first, in confidence. We can help you work out how to talk to your family, or someone else you trust.
You often cannot. Photos and names can be fake. Be careful with what you share, and never meet anyone alone.
It can be. Keep your private details private, talk to them in public spaces, and tell a trusted adult about them.
Do not reply. Save the messages, block the person, report the content on the app, and tell an adult you trust.
Most apps have a Report button on the profile or the message. The steps are explained on the sextortion page. You can also report to APLE.
A trained team member reads it. You can stay anonymous. If you give contact details, they are kept confidential.
Yes. The APLE hotline is 092 311 511, open at any time. You can also chat with Pisey.
Gaming is fun, but chats in games can be used to contact children. Use the same rules: only chat with people you know, do not share personal details, and tell an adult if someone makes you uncomfortable.
A trick to get your money or details. Be careful with messages that pressure you to act quickly. See our guide on scams.
You are not alone
Where to get help
- Talk to APLE: call 092 311 511 at any time, or chat with Pisey. It is free and confidential.
- In danger now: call the national police hotline on 1288.
- Report something you saw or something that happened to you: use the reporting page. You can stay anonymous.
- Someone you trust: a parent, relative, teacher or school counsellor.
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