Internet/Online Safety

Twitch is a livestreaming service which tends to focus on gaming. Users can publicly broadcast their gameplay and commentary online for other users to watch. It’s a community-driven platform where viewers can support their favourite streamers’ channels through PayPal donations, “Bits” and more. Each streamer or group creates their own community for fans to interact with each other. Twitch has more than 15 million daily active users and includes non-gaming topics such as music, cooking and art. Anyone can create a channel to livestream or watch videos.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as inappropriate content, private chat rooms and strangers.

Wink is a messaging app which allows children to connect and communicate with other users. In a similar style to Tinder, Wink uses the swipe method for browsing profiles and accepting or declining them. Once two users have accepted each other by swiping on each other’s profile, they can then communicate and play games online together. The fact that Wink allows children to share photos, personal information and their location with other users has caused significant concern.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as grooming, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.

This is part of our Social Media, Online Relationships and Online Bullying categories.

Even before lockdowns inflamed the situation, one in every five 10- to 15-year-olds was experiencing bullying online: abusive messages, having rumours spread about them or being excluded from group chats, for example. Through smartphones and tablets, we’re used to being able to communicate from anywhere, at any time – but digital devices became commonplace so quickly that it caused a problem: as a society, we haven’t properly adjusted to how different they’ve made life. Our top tips can help you to build positive relationships online and avoid some of the potential issues.

In the guide, you’ll find a number of tips such as how to stop internet addiction, being aware of the dark side, and pressing ‘pause’.

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YouTube is a video-sharing social media platform that allows billions of people around the world to watch, share and upload their own videos with a vast range of content – including sport, entertainment, education and lots more. It’s a superb space for people to consume content that they’re interested in. As a result, this astronomically popular platform has had a huge social impact: influencing online culture on a global scale and creating new celebrities.

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You don’t need to be a football fan to have heard of the FIFA series of games (named after the Federation Internationale de Football Association: the worldwide governing body for the sport). Part of the franchise’s massive appeal is that offi­cial licensing gives users the opportunity to play games as their favourite teams, controlling their favourite footballers. They either compete online against other players or work through a solo-player career mode. With updated editions launched annually, FIFA is playable on a range of consoles, with mobile versions available for smartphones and tablets.

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