EXCLUSIVEI won't give my son a 動きやすい phone in light of the sextortion スキャンダル

• e-mail

A mother has 警告するd against giving children smartphones, 説?she would 恐れる for her son's safety online if he had a phone in light of the sextortion スキャンダル.

?Ex-最初の／主要な school teacher Kam Chauhan, 43, from Milton Keynes, said she has given her son, 10,? a watch to 跡をつける his どの辺に and is teaching him about 同意 and taking photos in public.

Speaking 排他的に to FEMAIL, the 関心d parent 追加するd that the 'sextortion スキャンダル' is something everyone should be worried about.

動きやすい phones have already been banned in some schools in a 企て，努力，提案 to minimise disruption and 改善する behaviour in classrooms, while this week teachers were given an 前例のない 警報 about pupils 存在 的d in 'sextortion' scams.?

The 国家の 罪，犯罪 機関 警告するd all 570,000 最初の／主要な and 第２位 teachers across Britain that children as young as five are at 危険 from ruthless 犯罪の ギャング（団）s from West Africa and South East Asia who are 誘惑するing children online to send intimate photos of themselves, and then using them to ゆすり，恐喝 them.?????

Ex-最初の／主要な school teacher Kam Chauhan (pictured), 43, from Milton Keynes will not 許す her 10-year-old son to have a smartphone, にもかかわらず him asking for one

'I have got my son a watch which 許すs me to 跡をつける where he is and for us to message and call each other.?

'The watch doesn't 許す calls or messages from anyone else unless I have 追加するd them on the app,' Mrs Chauhan explained.

'Sextortion スキャンダル is a reality that we all need to be aware of. It's 進歩d from taking physical photos and in 10 years time I'm sure it will be much worse.

'My son is 10 years old and 現在／一般に it's not an 問題／発行する however we do speak a lot about 同意 and taking photos.?

'He has asked for photos to be 削除するd that he's not happy with and will ask for 同意 from friends and family before taking a photo of them,' she 追加するd.

'The difficulty is that as parents we all have the best 意向 of setting 境界s and 監視するing what our chi ldren do but in reality that often fades in time.?

'I don't have all the answers but my husband and I are 絶えず 評価するing what my son is 許すd to do.?

'現在／一般に only 50 per cent of his friends have phones so it's not too difficult to 避ける, however he will be starting 第２位 school in September and that's likely to change.

'By giving children a way to communicate with their parents 許すs them the freedom to 会合，会う with friends without parental 監督 but at the same time we need to find a way to keep them 安全な.?

'If you decide to give your child 接近 to the internet (whether that be gaming or 動きやすい phones) then they need to be educated and understand the dangers,' she 追加するd.

Ms?Chauhan said she would support a 一面に覆う／毛布 禁止（する） of 動きやすい phones in schools

More than 100 children a day are 落ちるing 犠牲者 to sickening sextortion scammers who ゆすり，恐喝 them over nude photos, accordi ng to a 最近の 調査.?

The horrific findings come just days after an 検死 heard that 'gifted' and 'gentle' sixth former Dinal De Alwis, 16, had killed himself after someone, thought to be in Nigeria, 脅すd to 株 two photos of him over Snapchat.?

The Cambridge-bound rugby player had been told that the images of him would be sent to 'all his online 信奉者s' unless he paid £100. Instead Dinal decided to leave his family home and 記録，記録的な／記録するd a ビデオ 説 he planned to kill himself.

A?Mirror 調査 明らかにする／漏らすd that the number of sextortion 事例／患者s 報告（する）／憶測d to the police had jumped by 390 per cent in just two years, with other young 的s also 存在 driven to 自殺.

出来事/事件s of financially 動機づけるd 性の ゆすり，強要 have been rising across all social マスコミ apps, 含むing Facebook and TikTok. But t he apps most 一般的に used for the deranged 罪，犯罪 are said to be Instagram and Snapchat.??

Ofcom data 明らかにする／漏らすd that 60 per cent of kids 老年の 10 now have a phone,?まっただ中に growing 恐れるs about children's safety online and the 緩和する with which they can 接近 不適切な 構成要素.?

Source: Ofcom data 解放（する）d in March 2023?

Ofcom also 設立する that 63 per cent of children 老年の eight to 11 are now on social マスコミ, with most using their phones to 接近 apps.? ??

Ms Chauhan told MailOnline: 'Children behave very 異なって when they're behind a 審査する and yes he knows the difference between 権利 and wrong but it's a 事例／患者 of if he sees something that is 不適切な or not 権利, will he speak up??Because often it's their friends doing wrong and they don't want to 原因（となる） trouble for their friends.

'And then it's the other part of online safety. Things pop up so easily, you can try and 封鎖する them but it's worrying.

'Whatever you do now, if you put something out there, it's there forever and something you can do now can 影響する／感情 the 残り／休憩（する） of your life.

'He will get a phone at some point because he's got to learn how to use it responsibly. But at 10 years old, I think it's very young to fully understand the 責任／義務s of 存在 安全な online.'?

Ms?Chauhan said that her son did have a smartphone in lockdown 単独で for 接触するing and ビデオ calling family members. However, once schools 再開するd, she took the smartphone away from him.?

She 追加するd: 'In lockdown, he did have a smartphone but there were only three numbers on it, both 始める，決めるs of grandparents and one of his cousins. He used that to communicate and ビデオ call but that was the only thing he was 許すd to do.

'But as soon as the schools opened again, the phone got taken away. Now he's in year six, we are going through the whole "I would like a smartphone, my friends have got one."

'But I used to teach and I used to see first-手渡す what would happen.'

She said that there have been 状況／情勢s where children have taken photographs of staff members and other pupils inside school without their 同意.?

'You could have children within that class that are under a child 保護 order and that's gone out there. You've got a member of staff that hasn't 同意d to having their photo taken. There's 極度の慎重さを要する data that can be taken within that photograph and it's been uploaded.

'I've seen instances were a child doesn't understand the 概念 of someone else's privacy. They've gone online and searched for members of staff and other children.

'I did see something recently about schools, they were talking about having a 一面に覆う／毛布 禁止（する） of phones in sc hools and for me, 本人自身で, I think that's a brilliant idea.'?

Ms Chauhan said that when she 許すs her son to start using a smartphone, she will be putting 支配するs in place to 確実にする she can 監視する his usage.?

'I'm conscious that children these days are on them a lot and not getting enough sleep. So there will be a 削減（する） off time and the phone will be 利用できる for us to 選ぶ up and 監視する as we please.

'One of my biggest 関心s is that children are a lot more tech savvy that we are. So it's all 井戸／弁護士席 and good 説 let me check your phone and do 位置／汚点／見つけ出す checks as they find ways very quickly to be able to 削除する things or hide things.'

Georgina Sturmer, a BACP 登録（する）d counsellor who?owns her own practice and also 作品 for a parenting charity, told MailOnline that children's social 開発 may be 妨げるd because of the use of phones at a young age.?

'I do believe that it's possible that we'll look 支援する in 未来 世代s and almost be shocked that we 肉親，親類d of didn't police this 肉親，親類d of 科学（工学）技術 when our children were younger.'

Ms?Sturmer said that the challenge with children 老年の nine having phones is that they have grown up surrounded by 審査するs.?

'Their formative years of brain 開発 were during COVID, so if we think about kids who are nine now, they would have been nursery and 歓迎会 age when the world went into lockdown and when everything went on to 審査するs,' she continued.

'These are children who for a lot of their 重要な developmental years have been spent with 審査するs 活発に encouraged.?

'And I think that there are there are just lots of different 面s of things that are a bit worrying for children at this age having so much 接近 to 科学（工学）技術.'

Ofcom?設立する that almost all children 老年の between three and 17 went online in 2022 either at home or どこかよそで.??

'There's something very tunnel 見通し about a smartphone 審査する, where it's really just you and your 審査する interacting. It feels いっそう少なく social. Therefore you're いっそう少なく able to develop those social 技術s,' Ms?Sturmer said.?

Whilst she 強調する／ストレスs that she is not anti-科学（工学）技術, the counsellor said that the 概念 of a child hiding away, 星／主役にするing at a 審査する and not engaging with people around them is 'worrying'.?

Ms?Sturmer, who is a mother herself, said that parents may often feel 'peer 圧力d' to get their children online over the 恐れる of them 行方不明の out in social settings.?

'If one or two parents in your child's peer group suddenly decide that they're going to give their kids a smartphone and then your child Just coming home from school 説 "Oh, I'm 行方不明の out, they're all playing the game" or "they're all messaging each other", as a parent you just want to do your best for your child.

'Even if you are a bit anti-smartphones, you can see why it's tempting to just want to give them 接近 to that, so that they're not 行方不明の out socially.'

Recently the Daily Mail 報告（する）／憶測d that?60 per cent of pupils 老年の between 11 and 18 had received unwelcome messages on social マスコミ and messaging apps, によれば Ofcom.

Ofcom also 設立する that 63 per cent of children 老年の eight to 11 used social マスコミ (在庫／株 image)

Georgina Sturmer, a BACP 登録（する）d counsellor said that parents may often feel 'peer 圧力d' to get their children online over the 恐れる of them 行方不明の out in social settings

Nearly one in three said they had received an unwanted friend request and around a fifth were asked where they lived or how old they were.

A その上の 13 per cent 認める they had been sent pictures or ビデオs of naked or half-dressed people, while ten per cent had been asked to 株 such content.

十代の少年少女s 報告（する）／憶測d this happened the most on Snapchat, a social マスコミ app in which the photos or ビデオs sent automatically disappear seconds after they have been watched.

But social マスコミ 専門家 Rhea Freeman, who is a Meta lead trainer and Ted （衆議院の）議長, said that 壇・綱領・公約s are here to stay and thinks it is important for children to understand how they work.

She said: '[Parents] burying their 長，率いる in the sand or 妨げるing any 接近 when their children are the 権利 age is a worrying 戦略.

Psychotherapist and 苦悩 専門家 Kamalyn Kaur said social マスコミ was a '産む／飼育するing ground' for comparison

'Social マスコミ is here to stay and whilst I do understand it can be scary, just pretending it doesn’t 存在する isn’t the 解答.?

'As a parent, you might not like social マスコミ, and that’s 罰金, but it’s still important, in my opinion, to understand how it 作品 so you can have open discussions with your children about it and help support them.?

'妨げるing any 接近 worries me too, because then social マスコミ becomes some secret thing that your children can’t かもしれない discuss with you, which means if they have seen something that has worried or upset them, they have nowhere to go.'

Ms Freeman also thinks that it would be helpful for schools to teach their pupils about the dangers of social マスコミ 壇・綱領・公約s and smartphones but also how to use them, so that they are 井戸／弁護士席 知らせるd.???

MailOnline also spoke to?Kamalyn Kaur, an 信じる／認定／派遣するd psychotherapist and 苦悩 専門家 about the 衝撃 that 動きやすい phone usage can have on children's mental health.?

She said: 'Social マスコミ is the 産む／飼育するing ground for a “compare and despair” mindset.?

'Seeing others living their life in a 確かな way, looking a 確かな way, wearing 確かな cl othes, playing with 確かな toys and having 確かな parties can lead to feelings of inadequacy or insecurity which can lead to 苦悩.'

She also said that 減ずるd 直面する-to-直面する interactions could mean that children connect more with their friends online and through apps rather than in-person.?

'This can lead to social 孤立／分離 and loneliness which can 与える／捧げる to 苦悩,' she 追加するd.?

The Online Safety 法案 received 王室の Assent last month and has become 法律, meaning that 合法的な 責任／義務?will be put on tech companies to 妨げる and 除去する 違法な content such as テロ行為 and 復讐 pornography.

Companies will also have to stop children from seeing harmful 構成要素 such as いじめ（る）ing, pornography and content that 促進するs self-害（を与える） and eating disorders.?

If they fail to follow the 支配するs, they could 直面する hefty 罰金s and even 刑務所，拘置所 宣告，判決s.

When the 法案 became 法律 on 26 October,?科学（工学）技術 長官 Michelle Donelan said: 'Today will go 負かす／撃墜する as an historic moment that 確実にするs the online safety of British society not only now, but for １０年間s to come.

'I am immensely proud of the work that has gone into the Online Safety 行為／法令／行動する from its very inception to it becoming 法律 today. The 法案 保護するs 解放する／自由な speech, 権力を与えるs adults and will 確実にする that 壇・綱領・公約s 除去する 違法な content.

'At the heart of this 法案, however, is the 保護 of children. I would like to thank the 選挙運動者s, 議会人s, 生存者s of 乱用 and charities that have worked tirelessly, not only to get this 行為／法令／行動する over the finishing line, but to 確実にする that it will make the UK the safest place to be online in the world.'

?