Informed or Overwhelmed: Children and the News – Information for Parents
At Christ Church, we aim to ensure that your child is equipped with the skills and knowledge to work and play as a safe digital citizen.
The Internet is an exciting, useful but sometimes dangerous place, especially for the young. In school we try to educate the children in the proper, discerning use of internet resources.
PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR CHILD HAS TO BE 13 YEARS OLD TO LEGALLY HAVE A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT! KEEP THEM SAFE!
If you would like some more guidance about issues related to e-safety, please investigate some of the links below and surf through these essential websites.
www.childnet.com/young-people/primary
Safe Surfing!
@Christ Church
Helping Children Navigate Online News
Today’s children are surrounded by online news — from TikTok and YouTube to social media feeds. While this helps them stay informed, it can also expose them to upsetting or misleading stories.
A new Internet Matters report, “Informed or Overwhelmed?”, found that most young people get their news from social media, often without choosing to. Many feel worried or confused by what they see, especially when false or AI-generated stories appear in their feeds. This can impact their mental well-being, and we see in school that children can struggle with this, particularly in light of events such as the incident on the LNER train this weekend.
We teach children how to recognise misinformation and disinformation as part of our online safety curriculum, but parents make a big difference too. Talking regularly about what your child sees online helps them think critically and feel more confident.
Tips for parents:
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Ask your child what news they’ve seen and how it made them feel.
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Show them how to check if a story is true — look for verified sources.
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Remind them not to believe or share everything they see online.
By staying curious and connected, we can help our children grow up informed, not overwhelmed.
If you would like to see the full report, click on the link : News-And-Wellbeing-digital
Find more practical advice at www.internetmatters.org