Eyes Wide Open
For children growing up today, online and offline life aren't separate. It's just life.
'Snack?'
'Please.'
Almost every child spends time online every day. It's where they learn, play, and connect.
'You okay?'
'Yes.'
But it's also where real risks live.
What starts as harmless scrolling can quickly lead to content they were never meant to see. Violence, hate, extremism, bullying, pornography, exploitation. Children may not search for it, but it can find them.
'Ethan?'
'Mia?'
'Ethan!'
'Mia! Are you okay?'
Most parents do everything they can to keep their children physically safe.
'Are you all right? What have you got there?'
But it's easy to miss what happens online. We can't shield children from everything online, but we can be aware of the dangers that lurk and the protections that exist.
Awareness starts with talking, with looking, with keeping our eyes wide open.
The Eyes Wide Open campaign, a one-minute video, played by actors, aims to raise awareness of the harm that young children can be exposed to while online and encourages parents to have conversations with their children, while setting appropriate online and device restrictions to help protect them.
Between June 2024 to May 2026, a total of 3091 online crimes were reported to Northamptonshire Police where the victim was under 18.
A total of 1,148 offences relating to indecent images of children were recorded in the same period.
Teenage children were identified as being most at risk of harm, with those aged 13-15 accounting for almost 40 per cent of all online child offences.
A greater percentage of children will know their offender as an acquaintance, family member or partner than those recorded as a stranger.
Today, adolescence is lived both offline and online. Young people are constantly connected — through phones, tablets, gaming platforms and messaging apps.
While being online can have benefits for young people, harm exists in places and ways that we wouldn’t always recognise.
According to OFCOM research, algorithms drive content exposure. About 35 per cent of children report seeing potentially harmful or inappropriate content simply by scrolling through their feeds.
Over half of children (56 per cent) use AI tools, with some using them for companionship. However, many struggle to distinguish between different AI tools or question their accuracy.
About two-thirds of children watch livestreamed videos.
Nearly three-quarters of older children (ages 11–17) report seeing harmful content online.
A third of children say they have accepted a friend request from someone they do not know. The UK’s most senior doctors have made a stark comparison: Social media use is now considered as significant a risk to young people’s health as smoking.
This campaign aims to help raise awareness of where parents and young people can go to find information on online safety and actions they can take.
It also allows partner agencies and schools to be able to use the materials to open up conversations with young people about online safety.
For support with understanding the online world, speaking to your child about online safety, setting parental controls and keeping young people safe online, visit the NSCPCC website.
Child safety is really important to us and we want to make sure that this campaign is used as widely as possible and benefits the people who need it most.
To access the materials, please fill out the quick form linked below to request access and we will send the resources across directly to you.