e-safety or online safety are the same thing. They refer to how we can learn about staying safe when we are online eg. using websites or playing games on the computer. e-safety is also about teaching us to use technology responsibly. 

There are lots of reasons why people might leave mean or hurtful comments on photos, some of the most common are:

• They might struggle to build friendships in real life.

• They forget that their comments are seen by real people and forget that they can cause upset. 

• To attract attention and make themselves feel more important.

Remember anything that you do online adds to your digital footprint - make sure that you are creating a positive one!

Cyberbullying happens for many of the same reasons as any other type of bullying, but it may be even more appealing because it can be done anonymously.

Popular children may bully because:

• They see it as a way to stay popular.

• Hurting others makes them feel powerful.

Children who have less friends or who struggle to make friends may bully because:

• It helps them cope with their own low self-esteem.

• They think it will help them fit in with their peers.

• They have trouble feeling sorry for those they hurt.

Here’s what you can do to support a friend who is being cyberbullied:

• Let them know that you care about them and you don't agree with what's happening

• Remind them they're brave and it's ok to talk about it

• Help them collect and save the evidence e.g. screenshots, photos, texts, emails

• Suggest that they block and report the cyberbully

• Help them check their privacy settings so their information is protected

• Check out the eSafety website for useful tips on dealing with cyberbullying

• Together, talk to an adult - family member, teacher, coach - about the cyberbullying so they are also aware of what's happening

• Remind your friend that it's ok to get professional help from people like a school counsellor, psychologist, or Kids Helpline

• Even if your friend makes you promise not to tell anyone, it's really important that an adult knows what's going on - especially if they're in danger of getting hurt

• Remember that it is not your responsibility to 'fix' the problem, but you can be there to support your friend

Cyberbullying is not something you or your friend should have to put up with. 

If you are being bullied online there are lots of important steps to take. The first thing is to make sure you don't delete any messages or comments. Keep a record of them so that you can show someone. The next thing to do is to tell a trusted adult, this could be someone at home or someone at school. They will be able to help you and make sure that it stops happening. All schools legally have to have a behaviour policy detailing the steps that will be taken if bullying of any form happens. Most sites will also give you the option to block other users.

Cyber-bullying can be reported to the police, especially if it involves someone breaking the law e.g. repeated harassment or intimidation, for example name calling, threats and abusive phone calls, emails or text messages. A trusted adult will help you should you ever need to do this. 

Cyberbullying involves bullying someone through a mobile phone, the internet or other online devices such as tablets. Some examples of cyberbullying may be sending nasty text messages, leaving mean comments on someone’s photos, setting up hate groups and uploading photos without the person’s permission which makes them feel upset or humiliated. 

TOP TIPS FOR DEALING WITH THE ISSUE...

1. Tell someone - As with any type of bullying it so important that you don’t suffer in silence and you tell someone about it straight away. It may seem hard do but make sure you tell a trusted adult, such as a parent or teacher, and they will help you to decide what to do.

2. Report the person/group - Cyberbullying is never acceptable and you should report the content (pictures, text, group etc.) to someone you trust and to the social media site. All social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, ASKfm etc have report abuse buttons, as do most mobile phone networks who have teams to deal with abuse. Games consoles also have advice on their websites. Reporting is usually anonymous so the person will not know that you have reported the content.

3. Block the person/group - Most social media sites will give you the option to block and report the person/group cyberbullying you. When you block someone it usually means that the person/group will no longer be able to contact you or see any of your content. Check out the links below to read about how you can block the person/group on different social media sites.

4. Save the evidence - It is really important that you save or copy any of the cyberbullying such as texts or conversations you receive so you have evidence of the cyberbullying and can show it to the relevant people.

5. Don’t reply or answer back - It may be very tempting to reply to the person or group but don’t become a cyberbully yourself. Deal with the bully by blocking and reporting the abuse. It is sometimes hard not to write back, but it is always best not to retaliate. Sometimes the people bullying you are looking to get a reaction out of you and answering back can just make it worse.

6. Stay positive - Although it may feel like you do not have control of the situation, you can. Make sure you do the steps above and talk to people inside and outside of school that you can trust. These people care for you and will work with you to stop the cyberbullying. Stay positive, you are not alone and things will get better : )

Fake news is often written and spread to make people believe that something is true. It is often done to get lots of people to visit a website or to share it, or it could be written to be unkind to someone else. It is done deliberately and the person writing it knows they are making it up. 

Sometimes news might be partly true. This often happens when the person writing it doesn't check all of the facts before writing a story, or they might deliberately exaggerate it. 

Government websites and educational websites (ones that end in .gov  .gg  .edu  .sch) are often ones that will give reliable information. Websites that end in .co.uk   and .com can be brought by anyone so anyone can add information to them. This doesn't always mean that the information isn't reliable though. 

If the website gives the author of the information this is another good sign that the website is reliable.

Check the date when the information was written if you can to make sure that it is current and up to date. 

If you still aren't sure, then check the information on three different websites to see if they are saying the same thing. If they all give the same information then you can be more sure that it is reliable. 

Most social media sites and apps require you to be 13 years old to use them but some do have higher age limits. 

Social media that requires you to be 13 or older are: Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube.

Social media that requires you to be 16 or older: Whatsapp

There are of course lots of other forms of social media and each one will have its own age restrictions but a general rule is 13 or above.

The reason most social media services use an age limit of 13 or over is in part because of a law. The COPPA law or Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act states that any organisations or people operating online services (including social media services) are not allowed to collect the personal information of anyone under the age of 13. 

Yes. In school, all devices that connect to the internet are very closely monitored. All internet searches are recorded and stored and are checked regularly by ICT technicians. Teachers in school are able to track individual Google accounts and suspend accounts that are used incorrectly.

This is more complicated as who can see your searches depends on lots of different factors include your network settings (some are much more secure than others and every household will have things set up slightly differently).  In school, we can see everything you search but other networks may be different however, ultimately, there will always be someone who can see your internet search history. If you have things that you want to find out about but you're not sure if you should be searching them on Google, it is always best to ask an adult that you trust or use the anonymous question box on here!