Young people may talk to their friends online and get to know mutual friends through group chats, shared posts, and online activities.
Sometimes these online friendships can be a source of worry, but open and regular communication about who a young person is talking to can help keep things transparent.
It’s not always a bad thing to meet age appropriate friends online. However, having clear guidelines and boundaries for online friendships can help keep young people safe online.
Young people should know that an online friend should never:
- Ask them to do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.
- Ask personal information, like their address, school, or date of birth.
- Send them inappropriate images/messages or videos.
- Share their contact details with others.
- Threaten or bribe them.
Meeting online friends in real life
The thought of young people in our care meeting people they know online in real life can make us worry. Stopping a young person from meeting any online friend can encourage secretive behaviour. It can help to talk regularly about online friends and encourage young people to be honest with you about meeting people.
Steps you can take to verify online friends are:
- Talking to an online friend’s parent/carer.
- Arranging a meet up with the online friend and their parent/carer.
- Encouraging a young person to share their location when out with new friends.