Vodafone study shows children are accepting follow requests from people they don't know online

• Nearly half of children surveyed admitted they have followers on social media that they aren’t friends with offline
• And just 16% believe that rejecting a follow request from someone they don’t know is an important rule to follow
• A new writing competition has been launched to support children to remember key safety advice

Most children aged seven to 14 feel confident they know how to stay safe online – but there’s a gap between understanding and action, new research shows.

Nearly half of the children surveyed by Vodafone admitted they have followers on social media that they aren’t friends with offline. Only 21% consider keeping their social media accounts private to be a priority.

And just 16% believe that rejecting a follow request from someone they don’t know is an important rule to follow.

Vodafone’s study, which polled 1,000 children and 1,000 parents, found that families are having important conversations about online safety. On average, nearly half of the rules that parents have taught their children relate to staying safe online.

These conversations start at home when children are 7 or 8 years old, with two-thirds of children (66%) believing online safety rules are some of the most important ones they follow. However, despite both parents and kids prioritising online safety guidance, the research shows there is still scope to make online safety advice more memorable and help children put these important rules into practice.

Vodafone has partnered with children’s newspaper First News to launch a creative writing competition, aimed at supporting children to remember key safety advice.

The competition invites children aged 7-15 to create new fables for the digital age, showcasing their healthy digital habit sand how they can stay safe online.

Clinical Psychologist Dr Elly Hanson said: “The research suggests that, while many parents and children are having the right conversations and agree that online safety is important, putting this advice into action can be less straightforward.

“By reading or listening to a story, children and young people can mentally step into the shoes of other characters, helping them to work through a situation as if they were experiencing it themselves. And, in turn, this can make it easier for them to put these learnings into practice in the real world.

“Fables and stories have been passed down through generations, for thousands of years – and for good reason.

“They work well for children because they communicate knowledge and wisdom in a way that is both engaging and relatable. Giving children the chance to share their thoughts about online safety in this creative way will not only help the adults in their life understand the realities they face today, but will also help ensure that key safety messages truly take root.”

How to enter the competition

Six winning fables, across three age categories (7-9, 10-11 and 12-15), will be packaged into a book and published by Andersen Press. Each story will then be brought to life by renowned children’s illustrators, Sue Cheung, Fiona Lumbers and Paddy Donnelly.

The book will be available online, acting as a free resource that families and schools can use to help facilitate online safety conversations.

To make it even easier for children and schools to get involved, Vodafone and First News have created a suite of KS2 and KS3 teaching resources, including model texts, teacher notes with curriculum links, grammar topics that can be taught alongside, worksheets, margin planners and display materials.

To find out more about the children’s online safety competition, or to access the teaching resources, visit the First News website.