Is Your Child Being Trolled Online?

Worrying studies suggest that 43% of kids have experienced online bullying. We find out how you can keep them safe

- Kara O'neill

It seems like everyone has a smartphone or tablet these days – and that includes our kids. It’s estimated that 47% of 10-year-olds in the UK have access to a smartphone, a number which rises to 93% by the time they reach 15. But is the fact that our children have the internet at their fingertips really such a good thing? Worrying statistics suggest that up to 43% of children have experienced online bullying, and children’s charity ChildLine reports a massive 87% increase in calls concerning cyberbullying in the last three years. So how do we keep our children safe? Woman’s Own investigates...

Corrinia Bennett, 34, lives in Lincolnshire with her husband, John, 44, and their three daughters.

As my phone flashed on the coffee table in front of me, I put down my cup of tea. It was July 2018 and I’d settled down on the sofa for the evening with my husband John, then 42.

‘Have you seen this?’ the message read. It was from the mother of a girl who was in the same class as my daughter, Mia-Lili, then 10. Looking down at the screenshot on my phone, I felt sick.

It was a picture taken from Instagram of Mia-Lili, with a poll plastered over it. ‘Who thinks she's ugly?’ it said. And to my horror, 53% of people had voted ‘hell yeah’.