Do you know a young person who loves chatting online? For young people today, the internet has opened up a world of opportunities to chat and game with people from all over the world, to ‘friend’ someone through a click of a button, and share intimate details about themselves with someone they have never met before.
However, swept away by the experience of talking to someone new and exciting, young people can forget that that they may not actually know who they’re talking to online. Moreover, the internet is so integrated into their daily lives and relationships, that it may feel like trust can be built really quickly.
The Thinkuknow team have written an article titled ‘The Imitation Game – Do you really know who you’re talking to online?’ which you can find in the 'News' section of the 14+ Thinkuknow website.
It explores issues related to people using the anonymity and invisibility of the internet to pretend to be someone they’re not. The article reports on a man who was jailed earlier this year for posing as a number of famous people online, as well as pretending to be a modelling agent, to start conversations with and gain the trust of the young people he was speaking to.
The man subsequently asked girls to perform sex acts for him via their webcams, while making them believe they were speaking to their favourite celebrity, or being offered the opportunity to become a model.
When talking to the young people you work with about the ‘friendships’ and conversations they have online you could consider using this article to open up discussions about who they are chatting to online and what they are sharing with these online contacts.
You can find more useful resources for this age group across the 14+ website. This includes advice for this age group on how to use a webcam safely, and online dating.
You can also download our Thinkuknow toolkit for ages 11-16 years in the resources area of this site. The toolkit includes 15 learning activities for young people to help them to identify negative behaviour they may encounter online and respond safely and with resilience, as well as help them to develop confident, healthy approaches to sex, relationships and the internet.