nspcc guide about Pokemon go

[FloraDora]

Thought this might be interesting to some of you and to sign post to parents :

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/pokemon-go-parents-guide/

[Smiley]

Thanks for the link

[FussyElmo]

Thought this might be interesting to some of you and to sign post to parents :

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/pokemon-go-parents-guide/

Me and my children love this game however I'm surprised how little parents are security conscious over it.

My ds 9 went his friends yesterday who is lowed to go the park across the road with his phone without adult supervision the furtherest mine can go is the back garden. His friends dad was surprised when I said I didn't allowed my ds to go hunting without me.

My 17yo has been warned about not going to secluded Pokestops with a lure on unless she's with a group of people.

However I think patents are blasé about Internet safety especially xbox live so no amount of talking to them will change the mindset.

Now that's my negatively done as I happen to think this game is really good actively encouraging people to be out and about and to talk to real people. Though I may lose heart if we don't catch a pikachu soon :-D

[mumofone]

Can someone explain this whole Pokemon go thing to me (idiots guide!) I know nothing about what it is yet keep seeing stories about it, what are you hunting for or liking for exactly?!

[mumofone]

Can someone explain this whole Pokemon go thing to me (idiots guide!) I know nothing about what it is yet keep seeing stories about it, what are you hunting for or liking for exactly?!

Looking not liking!

[kellib]

I won't let me son go out playing this game on his own either, he's 11 and not happy with me but tough! Plus the game is on my phone (can't play it on his phone) and he certainly isn't walking around with my phone.

Apart from the issues of them meeting undesirables my concern is children getting mugged for their phones.

[FussyElmo]

Can someone explain this whole Pokemon go thing to me (idiots guide!) I know nothing about what it is yet keep seeing stories about it, what are you hunting for or liking for exactly?!

You go hunting for pokemon. They appear where ever you are.

You download the app and the a/r mode on most smart phones will allow you to find pokemon in different places.

There are also Pokestops about where you can collect poke balls etc these are usually local spots so our local park has a bandstand and a boathouse both are Pokestops. I like this bit because you get to find place you didn't knew where there. For example I didn't know one of our local parks had a plaque for a fallen soldier.

Other local places are pokemon gym where you can either train or fight your pokemon.

The object is to catch them all.

Oh you can also collect eggs which you have to walk either 2km 5km or 10km to hatch them.

[FussyElmo]

You go hunting for pokemon. They appear where ever you are.

You download the app and the a/r mode on most smart phones will allow you to find pokemon in different places.

There are also Pokestops about where you can collect poke balls etc these are usually local spots so our local park has a bandstand and a boathouse both are Pokestops. I like this bit because you get to find place you didn't knew where there. For example I didn't know one of our local parks had a plaque for a fallen soldier.

Other local places are pokemon gym where you can either train or fight your pokemon.

The object is to catch them all.

Oh you can also collect eggs which you have to walk either 2km 5km or 10km to hatch them.

This is a Pokestop

[bunyip]

Me and my children love this game however I'm surprised how little parents are security conscious over it.

My ds 9 went his friends yesterday who is lowed to go the park across the road with his phone without adult supervision the furtherest mine can go is the back garden. His friends dad was surprised when I said I didn't allowed my ds to go hunting without me.

My 17yo has been warned about not going to secluded Pokestops with a lure on unless she's with a group of people.

However I think patents are blasé about Internet safety especially xbox live so no amount of talking to them will change the mindset.

Now that's my negatively done as I happen to think this game is really good actively encouraging people to be out and about and to talk to real people. Though I may lose heart if we don't catch a pikachu soon :-D

When I tell parents of today how we used to play in the streets they are absolutely horrified and amazed that we didn' all get abducted and murdered by roaming 'perverts'.

But now the very same parents send their little darlings out carrying a few hundred quids'-worth of cellphone/tablet/e-thing (well worth mugging them for) and an "app" which might've been designed to ensure they walk in front of a bus instead of looking where they're going.

Just for the record, we only ever encountered a few "perverts" and they were easily persuaded to back off since we went armed with a cricket bat and the typical 1970's child's attitude to casual (yet crudely effective) violence. :rolleyes:

[watford wizz]

I think it's very worrying how parents think with a mobile phone their children are safe out and about without teaching them the "old fashioned" out and about survival skills we learnt as children.

[loocyloo]

DS was initially grumpy that he couldn't get it on his phone, but now says he doesn't want it because everyone has it. A few of his friends who had it, are not doing it any more because it's 'not cool'.

[FussyElmo]

When I tell parents of today how we used to play in the streets they are absolutely horrified and amazed that we didn' all get abducted and murdered by roaming 'perverts'.

But now the very same parents send their little darlings out carrying a few hundred quids'-worth of cellphone/tablet/e-thing (well worth mugging them for) and an "app" which might've been designed to ensure they walk in front of a bus instead of looking where they're going.

Just for the record, we only ever encountered a few "perverts" and they were easily persuaded to back off since we went armed with a cricket bat and the typical 1970's child's attitude to casual (yet crudely effective) violence. :rolleyes:

LOL I told ds who is nine that he couldn't walk around the park with my phone because of phone thieves. He then armed himself with a big stick ready to bash the brains in of anyone who tried to take my phone.
I had visions of trying to explain to the police why he had rended someone unconscious

[bunyip]

I think it's very worrying how parents think with a mobile phone their children are safe out and about without teaching them the "old fashioned" out and about survival skills we learnt as children.

Exactly. When I was on the railways, we had a talk from our British Transport Police community liaison team, to raise awareness because a lot of people have their 'phones stolen near stations. They get off, go outside and immediately check for messages, so thieves lurk near stations as they'll get a concentration of victims displaying their 'phones and totally distracted.

The BTP told us how most children talk their parents into buying their first 'phone on the grounds they'll be safer in an emergency. Parents fall for this and usually start them off with with £10 PAYG credit (which is used up on day one with DS/DD immediately calling all their friends to say how they now have a mobile 'phone.) The officer explained how they believed children were more likely to become a victim once they have a mobile 'phone and this outweighs the benefit of having a 'phone in an emergency. That's even before they go into the risks of 'sexting', cyberbullying, etc.

Pretty scary. My grandchildren can't believe I lived a 'deprived' childhood where we didn't have a 'phone in the house until I was sixteen (and that was a party-line.) :p