You're Not Failing. This Is Just Genuinely Hard.
When was the last time you saw a headline about a child being harmed online, felt that knot tighten in your stomach, and then just... scrolled past it?
Not because you didn’t care. You cared. You probably care more than most.
But because you didn’t know what to do with that feeling. Nobody told you what the first step was. Nobody broke it down into something you could actually act on. And by the time you thought about looking into it, the next headline had already replaced it.
I hear this from parents every single week. Sometimes word-for-word:
“I know I should be doing more, but I don’t even know where to start.”
If that sounds like you, I want you to know something before you read any further.
You are not failing.
Why This Feels So Hard
Online safety is not one topic. It is dozens of topics, changing constantly, across platforms that deliberately make themselves difficult to understand.
The apps update their features without warning. The privacy settings move. New platforms appear that your child has been using for months before you even hear the name. And the language they use online, the slang, the abbreviations, the culture, can feel like an entirely different dialect.
On top of all of that, every headline about online harm seems engineered to terrify you without actually telling you what to do about it. Fear gets clicks. Practical guidance doesn’t.
So the result is millions of parents who are worried, who care deeply, and who feel completely stuck.
That is not a personal failure. That is a systemic one.
The platforms spend billions designing products that keep children engaged. They do not spend anywhere near enough helping parents understand what those products actually do. And the gap between what your child knows about their digital world and what you know about it grows wider every single year.
I spent over eight years working in digital forensics and incident response. I have seen, first-hand, what can happen when things go wrong online. Not in a headline. In case files. In evidence logs. In rooms where the outcome was the worst possible one.
And from that experience, I can tell you something that might surprise you.
You Don’t Need to Know Everything
You do not need to understand every app your child uses. You do not need to be a tech expert. You do not need to have all the answers before you sit down and have a conversation with your child about their online life.
You just need to know where to start.
And that is why I created Cyber Safety Guy. A free newsletter for parents and teachers who want to protect children online but feel overwhelmed by how fast everything moves. No jargon. No scaremongering. Just honest, practical advice written in plain English by someone who has worked in this world and wants to help you navigate it.
If you are new here, or if you have been meaning to read more but haven’t known where to begin, here is the reading path I would recommend.
⚡Please don’t forget to react & restack if you appreciate my work. More engagement means more people might see it. ⚡
Where to Start: Your Reading Path
I have written a lot over the past year. Some posts go deep into specific platforms. Others look at the bigger picture, the laws, the companies, the systems that are supposed to protect children but often don’t.
Rather than dropping you into the archive and hoping for the best, here are the posts I would point you to first, depending on what matters most to you right now.
Cyber Safety Guy Start Here — Traditional start here post to welcome you to my blog.
If you’re worried about social media and your child’s mental health:
From TikTok to Crisis — what the algorithm is actually doing to your child’s mental health.
If you’re worried about gaming platforms and online predators:
Roblox: Is Your Child’s Favourite Game a Hunting Ground? — how predators operate on gaming platforms and the deepfake weapon being used alongside grooming.
The Simple Question the Roblox CEO Refused to Answer — why the people running these platforms are not always acting in your child’s best interest.
If you’re worried about AI, deepfakes, and new technology:
Grok AI and the Rise of Non-Consensual Deepfakes — how AI tools are creating new risks for children and young people.
If you want to understand the law and who is supposed to be protecting your child:
If you want to know what parental controls actually work:
Cyber Safety Guy Review: Salfeld Child Control — an honest, tested review of a tool that actually does what it promises.
One More Thing
I don’t write any of this for financial gain. Every single penny from paid subscriptions to Cyber Safety Guy goes directly to Childline. Not to me. Not to running costs. To Childline, so that when a child is scared and doesn’t know where to turn, there is someone there to pick up the phone.
I do this because I’ve sat in rooms where the outcome was the worst possible one, and I know that most of what I witnessed during my career didn’t have to happen. Most of it was preventable. Through education. Through conversation. Through parents and teachers being informed enough to have the right conversation at the right time.
That is what this newsletter is for. And if you are reading this, you are already doing more than you think.
The fact that you care enough to be here proves it.
As always, thank you for your support. Please share this across your social media, and if you do have any comments, questions, or concerns, then feel free to reach out to me, as I am always happy to spend some time helping to protect children online.
Remember that becoming a paid subscriber means supporting a charity that is very close to my heart and doing amazing things for people. Childline, I will donate all subscriptions collected every six months, as I don’t do any of this for financial gain.
If you or a child you know needs support:
Childline: 116 000 | childline.org.uk
Available 24/7, 365 days a year. Free, confidential, and here for every child.