Last year during the Big Give Women and Girls matched funding campaign, Welsh Women’s Aid raised over £8,000, all thanks to you. Together, we campaigned and raised the issue of the online misogyny and violence that children and young people face in Wales. Now, we are excited to launch our campaign to create provisions to support children and young people in online spaces. But we need your help to shape it.
The online world is more important than ever and shapes all of our lives. While the internet and social media offer incredible opportunities to learn, connect and grow, it also exposes all of us to abuse, harassment and harmful content. While conversations across the UK turn to banning those who are under the age of 16 from social media, we still need to ensure that online spaces remain safe.
We are inviting both children and young people, and adults to take part in our online safety surveys. Your experiences and insights will help us better understand the challenges children and young people face online and identify the support, pitfalls and services that could make a real difference. We will be looking to find out how comfortable conversations between children and their parents and carers are when tackling topics such as online safety, privacy tools and potential risks of harm.
Your feedback will help us create practical resources that encourage safer online practices and meaningful conversations about digital activities.
Why we are asking…
We’ll be looking to create some tools to support children and young people and their parents and carers to facilitate safer spaces and conversations about online use. But first, we want to listen.
We know that the online world is not simply something that can be turned off. It is a part of every area of life. We want to listen to children and young people and their parents and carers across Wales who have experiences online, whether through gaming, social media or simply just browsing. Everyone’s response will help us build a clearer picture of the experiences online and what tools are needed to address harm.
Who we are asking…
We’re looking for:
- Children and young people between the ages of 8-18
- Parents and carers of children and young people
What to expect…
This survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. It is a completely anonymous survey which is looking at your experiences, there is no right or wrong answer. This survey does cover some topics that may be difficult for some. The survey for children and young people does ask what topics they are comfortable speaking to a parent and carer about and gives examples (but not details) such as cyberbullying, pornography and AI generated ‘deepfakes’. The survey intended for parents and carers asks about issues affecting health, relationships and sexual activity, cyberbullying, pornography, AI generated ‘deepfakes’, non-consensual image-based abuse (known as “revenge porn”) and other topics that you may find triggering. Neither survey includes any depictions or descriptions and does not ask for personal experiences of harm, but please take care when responding to the survey.
Take the Survey
Together, we can build a wealth of knowledge that Welsh Women’s Aid can utilise to build tools in order to support children and young people and their parents and carers.
Complete the online safety survey for children and young people here.
Complete the online safety survey for parents and carers here.
The surveys close on Friday 7th August.