Efforts made in Lincolnshire to help children with online dangers

Efforts are being made to help children across Lincolnshire stay safe online following concerns about the dangers of fake news, misinformation and being scammed.

It comes as research indicates almost half of young people have been scammed online.

Pupils at more than thirty primary schools in the county have taken up a challenge of producing a short film about fake news.

We want children just to question a little bit more

Dan Hawbrook delivers internet safety workshops throughout Lincolnshire.

We spoke to him about online dangers and what's been done to help children deal with the dangers.

He says: "What we want children and young people to do to keep themselves safe from things like scams. misinformation and fake news is just to question a little bit more."

"Just to take those few seconds to process what they're seeing and actually say - is this something that is realistic - is it too good to be true?"

"What we find is that when kids are in this world - just like when they're out riding a bike we need to give them some really basic skills in order to ensure that not only now but also in the future they're able to keep themselves safe."

They're learning a lot about the world through Google

"Everything if life comes with some sort of risk and with the internet the risk is slightly different to the physical risk they experience in the world."

"With the internet it's accessible to them from a really really young age and they can access things that 20 years ago were the stuff of science fiction."

He spoke about the workshops in local schools.

"They've done an incredible job of not only identifying what it is but also giving us some top tips which can support themselves and adults."

"When we set the challenges we wanted messages that were accessible to everybody."

"Kids - though they shouldn't - they're still accessing social media."

"They're learning a lot about the world through Google."

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