Tellonym

Sitting down with your child and exploring their favourite app or game is a great way for you to learn more about what they like to do online.

You can ask them why they like to use an app or play certain games, as well as who they’re talking to and what sorts of things they’re sharing.

You can also read our Net Aware reviews for tips on how to keep kids safe on popular apps, sites and games.

Help your child think about what they share online and who sees it. Compare it to what they would be happy to share offline.

Use examples that are easy for them to understand: “You shouldn't give your number to somebody you don't know on the street. Is somebody online you don't know any different?”

Listen to their answers. And be positive and encouraging.

Remind them that they shouldn’t share private things, such as:

• personal information, like names, emails, phone numbers, location and school names
• other people's personal information
• links to join private group chats
• photos of themselves
• photos of their body, such as sexual photos or videos.

Explain that you understand the internet is a great place to play, create, learn and connect. But remind them they can talk to you if anything upsets or worries them.

Reassure them that you won’t overreact – you’re just looking out for them.

It’s important to remind your child that they can talk you, another adult they trust, like a teacher, or Childline about anything they see online.

Because Tellonym encourages people to ask and answer questions anonymously, there's a high potential for cyberbullying and online abuse.

In settings, there's a tool called Wordfilter that lets you add up to 10 words so messages containing them won't be sent to you. You can also set language filters from very low to very high. Take the time to explore these filters with your child and decide what's right for you.

If your child comes across something upsetting - about themselves or someone else - they might want to block the user that posted it. Tellonym has instructions on how to block other people.
 
Explore these safety features together and remember to let your child know that they can always talk to you about worrying things they see online. 

It's important to check the privacy settings on your child's Tellonym account. Most settings are set to public by default, so we recommend changing these to private. This way your child shouldn't be contacted by people they don't know and their location will be kept private.

You can visit Tellonym for specific information on privacy options.

Talk to your child about the different options and decided together which ones you should use.