Sexting

Parents and students will be interested initiative that ChildLine and the Internet Watch Foundation are taking in relation to “sexting.”  This partnership follows a ChildLine survey of 13-18 year olds which found that young people are often taking significant risks by making and sending sexual images of themselves on the internet or through mobile phones. 

ChildLine has developed an app for young people, which is designed to help them diffuse pressures on them to send an explicit image.  The app, called Zipit, offers witty images to send instead of explicit ones and provides advice on how to engage in safe chat and what to do if you are threatened. 

The NSPCC is complementing the ChildLine initiative by providing advice to parents and carers on what they can do to advise and support their children in relation to “sexting.”  Many children and young people are more savvy about internet and mobile phone technology than their parents, so the advice, posted on the NSPCC website, informs parents about the key issues surrounding sexting and will enable them to have an informed and open discussion with their sons and daughters about the potential risks that sexting can bring.