Childline app helps teenagers say ‘no’ to sexting

An anti-sexting app from Childline is using humour to help teenagers deal with unwanted requests for sexual images of themselves.

The Zipit app has been updated as new figures from Childline reveal the NSPCC service held 2,634 counselling sessions about sexting and self-generated explicit images in 2016/17. Sexting was also the most viewed topic on the Childline website last year with 221,840 page views.

Volunteer counsellors at Welsh Childline bases also dealt with more than 200 counselling session about sexting over the last year, with 154 at the Prestatyn base and 49 at the Cardiff base.

The free app offers young people a gallery of images and animations called GIFs they can send in response to requests for sexual pictures and to deal with difficult sexting situations.

Counsellors heard how some teenagers felt pressured by peers into sending nude selfies. Some young people were worried that images they had sent would be shared with others or uploaded on to the internet.

One 14-year-old girl told us: “I sent some naked pictures of myself to a boy that I was talking to online. I really regret it now because he took screenshots and says that he’ll show them to all my friends. I don’t know how to report him, I really don’t want my family to find out.”

Des Mannion, head of NSPCC Wales, said: “Many young people tell Childline that they feel pressured into sending sexual images of themselves and don’t always have the confidence to say no. Once a teenager sends an image of themselves they have no control over where it is shared or who sees it, and sometimes images can end up online.

“This can leave a child feeling humiliated and even lead to them being bullied or blackmailed. By using humour Zipit helps young people take control of online chatting that becomes awkward or pressurised and support them if something goes wrong.”

Childline founder and President Dame Esther Rantzen said: “The online world is full of opportunities for young people but also presents dangers like sexting which they need help to withstand. Senior police tell me that sexting has become normalised for far too many young people, so many teenagers feel pressurised into sending explicit pictures of themselves.

“There is a real danger that they feel desperately humiliated, and it can sometimes result in them being abused or bullied into handing over money to prevent these images being shown to school friends or family members.

“Zipit gives them the weapon of humour so that they can resist this pressure in a way that feels appropriate and cool.  Many parents have told me they feel helpless when they try to protect their children against these dangerous pressures, so I’d encourage families and professionals to take a look at Zipit and share it with the teenagers they know.”

Zipit, originally launched in 2013 in partnership with creative network Livity, and has now adapted to technology popular with teenagers and introduced GIFs co-created with 11-17-year-olds to help empower young people to defuse difficult and potentially damaging conversations.

The app also includes advice on safe online chatting and what young people should do if they feel threatened or if an image becomes public. If a young person is worried about an image they have shared, they can visit childline.org.uk/remove and follow the steps to have the image taken down from the internet.

Zipit launches today with a Facebook Live event called ‘GIF Me A Response’, featuring a live GIF studio presented by Julie Adenuga with You Tubers Phil Green and Niki n Sammy creating real time responses to the audience’s unwanted sexting situations.

Zipit is free and available to download for Android and Apple smartphones.