Social media resources

If your child was bullied, harassed or abused on a social media platform, follow these steps:

• Screenshot the abusive messages, videos or photos and save them in a secure folder.
• On the platform, report the user who sent the abusive content.
• On the platform, block the user who sent the abusive content.
• If the abuse comes from another pupil at your child’s school, report the incident to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or Head Teacher.
• If the abuse or harassment has happened multiple times, report it to police. Call 101 or visit police.uk. Select from ‘Antisocial behaviour’, ‘Stalking or harassment’ or ‘Hate crime’ and follow the on-screen instructions.

Helpful reporting services

• Get a sexual image of a child removed: Report Remove or Take It Down.
• Report child sexual abuse and grooming online: CEOP

If you feel that your child is spending an excessive amount of time on social media, you’re not alone. Take these steps to help them learn balance.

• Talk with them about their social media use. What do they enjoy about it? What don’t they like about it? Is there anything they struggle with?
• Share your concerns and let them know that you are going to add limits to their screen time.
• Let them know that it’s okay if they’re upset, but it’s your job to keep them safe and limits will help them in the long run.
• Together, review how much time they spend on any social media app.
• Use that as a basis for the limit you set. For example, if they spend 3 hours per day on TikTok, your first limit might be 2.5 hours.
• Give your child at least two weeks to get used to the new limit before lowering it.
• Gradually set shorter limits until your teen is at their target screen time.
• It’s okay to spend a little longer on a limit if the change is particularly difficult.

If you are concerned that your child has a genuine addiction, contact their GP to discuss their symptoms.

Step-by-step settings guides

Explore these guides to see how you can set up screen time limits.

• TikTok Family Pairing
• Instagram Supervision
• Apple Family Sharing (for iOS devices)
• Google Family Link (for Android devices)

If you notice mental health or wellbeing in your changes, it’s important that you support your child. Remember that taking a device away is not always the most effective solution.

Follow these steps to help support your child’s mental health.

• Consider the cause beyond social media – are they feeling anxious because they’re on social media or are they on social media because they’re anxious? Excessive social media use might only be a symptom of a wider issue.
• Share your concerns – what you’ve noticed has changed in them. Ask them how they feel and whether they think social media is the culprit.
• Work together to curate their social media feed, make use of privacy settings and block unwanted content or contact.
• Set limits on their social media use through in-built tools or device tools. Work together to agree on what these limits look like.
• Check-in on their use regularly through open, non-judgemental conversations.
• If their mental health struggles extend beyond social media, contact your GP for further support.