SafeOnlineKit.com
Supplementary Resource
Glossary of Terms
A–M

Slang and terms your kid might use, plus jargon from the course. Chapter refs show where we explain each one in detail.

A – B
Algorithm
A system that picks what to show you based on what you've liked before. Built to keep you scrolling, not to help you feel good.
See Ch15, Ch17
AirDrop
Apple's wireless sharing. If set to "Everyone," random people nearby can send pics to their phone.
See Ch13
Battle Pass
A paid subscription with rewards for daily play. Built to make them come back every day.
See Ch10
Burner account
A secret second account to hide stuff from parents or post things they don't want linked to their main profile.
See Ch7
C – D
CEOP
UK police team for online child abuse. Report to them at ceop.police.uk.
See Emergency Card, Ch12
CSAM
Child sexual abuse images. Illegal to have, share, or watch. Report it to the Internet Watch Foundation (iwf.org.uk).
See Emergency Card
Deepfake
Fake video or photo made with AI showing someone doing or saying something they didn't do. Used for scams and harassment.
See Ch16
DNS filtering
Blocks bad websites at the network level. You change DNS settings on your router to make it work.
See Ch4, Ch6
Doxing
Posting someone's private info online - their address, school, phone number - usually to get people to harass them.
See Ch11
DM / Direct Message
Private message between two people, hidden from everyone else. Most grooming and bullying starts here.
See Ch7, Ch12
E – F
End-to-end encryption
Security setting so only sender and receiver can read messages. WhatsApp, iMessage, and Signal use it. The app itself can't see what's inside.
See Ch5
Finsta
Slang for "fake Instagram" - a second account for posts they don't want their friends or parents seeing on their main profile.
See Ch7
FOMO
Fear of missing out. Apps engineer FOMO deliberately - it's the hook that keeps your kid (and you) scrolling.
See Ch10, Ch15
Fraping
Logging into someone else's account and posting as them, often as a "joke" but it's actually fraud and bullying.
See Ch11
G – I
Geotagging
Photos automatically tagged with GPS location. Can show exactly where home or school is.
See Ch5
Grooming
When an adult builds trust with a kid online to manipulate them for sex or exploitation.
See Ch12
Incognito / Private mode
Browser setting that doesn't save history on the device. But your router and ISP still see everything.
See Ch4
IoT
Any physical device connected to the internet: smart speakers, TVs, cameras, smart toys, watches, thermostats.
See Ch6
L – M
Live streaming
Live video to an online crowd. Can't be edited once it's up, and viewers can screen-record everything.
See Ch8
Loot box
A paid mystery box with random stuff inside. Researchers say it works like gambling on the brain.
See Ch10
Malware
Bad software designed to damage, break, or hack a device. Includes viruses, spyware, ransomware, trojans.
See Ch4
Misinformation
False info spread by accident. Not the same as disinformation, which is false info spread on purpose.
See Ch17
How to Raise Digitally Smart & Safe Kids
Supplementary Resource
Glossary of Terms
N–Z
N – P
NSFW
Internet slang for sexual, violent, or other inappropriate content you shouldn't look at at work.
Seen in Ch7, Ch13
Parental Controls
Software and settings parents use to limit, watch, and control what kids see, which apps they use, and how long they're on screens.
See Ch2
Pay-to-win
Game design where paying real money makes you better at the game than kids who don't pay.
See Ch10
Phishing
A scam that tricks you into giving up passwords or credit card numbers by pretending to be a trusted company.
See Ch4
Profile scraping
Collecting public info from social profiles to map out where someone lives, what they do, and who they know.
See Ch5
Prompt injection
A trick to get AI chatbots to make harmful stuff by hiding instructions in what you ask them.
See Ch16
R – S
Robux
Roblox's fake money. You buy it with real cash to get in-game stuff, avatar gear, and game passes.
See Ch10
SafeSearch
Filter that blocks explicit images and stuff from search results. Available on Google, Bing, YouTube.
See Ch4
Screen time
Total time spent looking at screens. But not all screen time is equal - what they're doing matters more than the hours.
See Ch3
Sexting
Sending naked or sexual messages and photos. Under UK law, making or sharing sexual images of anyone under 18 is illegal, even if they're peers.
See Ch13
SIFT
A tool for checking if info online is real: Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims. Helps you spot lies.
See Ch17
Snap Map
Snapchat feature showing your real-time location to friends. You can turn it off with Ghost Mode.
See Ch5
T – V
Trolling
Posting mean or rude stuff on purpose to upset people or wreck conversations. It's cyberbullying when aimed at someone.
See Ch11
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
Security setting that needs a password plus a code (usually texted or from an app) to log in.
See Ch2
V-Bucks
Fortnite's fake money. Buy it with real cash and spend it on skins, battle passes, and stuff.
See Ch10
VPN
Software that hides what you're doing online and where you're connecting from. Kids sometimes use it to get around parental controls.
See Ch4, Ch6
W – Y
Voice cloning
AI that copies a person's voice from a short clip and makes them say new stuff. Used in scams pretending to be family.
See Ch16
Yubo
A social app for teens with live streaming. Adults can fake their age to join, which makes it risky for grooming.
See Ch14
Zero-day exploit
A security hole the developer doesn't know about yet. Updates help protect against it, but nothing is 100% safe.
See Ch4
Digital footprint
Everything they've ever done online: posts, searches, buys, locations, messages. Basically impossible to erase completely.
See Ch1