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Emerging Issues

Staying on top of trending online risks can be a challenge for parents/caregivers. New apps and sites are always emerging, known sites regularly change their protection features and those looking to harm youth are finding new ways to connect and manipulate children and youth. Below you will find information about online dangers and what you and your child can do about them.

Tweens 11-12 years of age

Sextortion

Simply put, sextortion is blackmail. It’s when someone online threatens to send a sexual image or video you to other people if you don’t pay them or provide more sexual content. Sextorters often target boys for money, while girls are targeted for more sexual images and videos. For more information, visit Cybertip.ca/sextortion.

  • Have conversations with your teen about the risks associated with using technology to experiment sexually and the potential risk of sextortion.
  • Reassure your teen if they ever end up in this situation, you’re there to help and support them.
  • If your teen is being sextorted online:
    • Go to NeedHelpNow.ca for support and help on what to do next.
    • Do not comply with the threat and do not respond.
    • Save the messages.
    • Report to Cybertip.ca. All concerns about sextortion are also forwarded to police.
    • Delete and block the person.

Online luring

Online luring is when a person (typically an adult but not always) communicates with youth through technology, like texting, direct messaging, or chatting in an app, game, website, to make it easier to commit a specific sexual offence against them.

Adults looking to exploit tweens use several online grooming tactics, such as sending sexually explicit material, misrepresenting who they are (e.g., saying they're also a child), or attempting to establish a romantic relationship. This coercion is used in hopes the youth will either meet the offender in person or send sexually explicit material, which may be used to blackmail or extort tweens.

  • Explain to your child that older teens and adults should not try to become friends with them or give them sexual attention to tweens. If this occurs, they should tell you or a safe adult.
  • Discuss how confiding and sharing personal issues or situations online with the wrong person could leave someone open to manipulation and mistreatment.
  • Teach your tween how to get out of conversations when they feel uncomfortable.
  • Remind your youth they can always talk to you if they need your help, at any point in a difficult situation, without worrying about getting into trouble.

Exposure to sexually explicit material

Youth can be exposed to sexually explicit material, such as adult pornography, simply by typing an incorrect web address into a web browser or clicking on an inappropriate search result and unexpectedly finding themselves on a site they did not intend to.

At this age, they start to become more curious and interested in sexuality. In seeking out information on the internet, they can be exposed to graphic and potentially harmful material that can influence their development of attitudes and beliefs about sexual relationships.

To help reduce the chance of your tween accessing pornography:

  • Be involved in what they’re doing online.
  • Set up parental controls, use filtering software and set limits on your tween’s use of devices.
  • Reinforce the expectation you’ll monitor their online activities.
  • Talk about healthy relationships and provide them with age-appropriate resources to help them learn about questions they have.
  • Provide a standard of measure for healthy relationships and healthy sexuality your youth can compare to when trying to make sense of mass media messages.
  • Talk openly with your tween about the hidden negative messages in media (e.g., gender stereotypes and the glorification of violence, sexual harm, power, and control).

If you notice your tween is in distress and you suspect it’s from viewing sexually explicit material:

  • Check search histories on the devices your youth uses and talk to them about it.
  • Let your tween know pornography online is graphic and involves actors. It isn’t a real picture of sexual and intimate relationships.
  • Let them know they have seemed out of sorts and this can happen to kids their age when they are looking at sexually explicit material online. Explain it’s not healthy for them to look at.
  • Increase supervision and monitoring of website access.
  • Be emotionally available and willing to listen to your youth. When children go through a stressful experience, it is helpful for them to just have someone who cares about them to talk to without fear of judgment.
  • If your child does not want to talk, let them know you are available if they need you.
  • If changes in behaviour persist or they continue seeking out harmful content online after attempts to modify their behaviour, consult with your family doctor.