Ready Kids › Online Ready › Badge 3 › Lesson 3.2

Grades 6–8 · Online Ready · Badge 3

The first sixty seconds after

Know the four things to do in the first minute after a picture has gone and the threats start: stop replying, screenshot, do not block yet, tell tonight.

This lesson, start to finishWatchTeachTeachTeachTry itQuestionLookFind themSay itDo it

Step 1 of 10

1Watch

It moves fast on purpose

Film

Sixty seconds

A phone on a desk. A picture has been sent; you do not see it. Messages arrive fast: 'send more or I post this', 'you have 10 minutes', 'I have your friends list', 'don't even think about telling anyone'. A timer counts down in the corner. The kid's thumb hovers over the keyboard. It ends there.

26 seconds

The speed is not an accident. It is there so you do not think. So think now, while there is nothing to think about.

2The idea

If it has already gone, here is what happens next

This is written for after. If a picture has gone and the threats have started, four things, in order:
Stop replying.
Screenshot everything.
Do not block them yet.
Tell somebody tonight.

That is the whole plan, and it takes about four minutes. Everything after that is done by people whose job it is. You are not solving this. You are handing it over in a way that lets other people solve it.

3The idea

Why each one, in one breath

Stop replying, because every reply is fuel. They read a reply as the start of a negotiation, and there is nothing to negotiate. Screenshot, because the messages, their username and the time are what the app and the police use, and they can vanish. Three screenshots is plenty: the threats, the profile, the clock.

Do not block yet, because a blocked account is harder for the app to find and take down. Block after the report, not before. Tell tonight, because the threat only works while you are alone with it. A parent, or any adult on your list. Tonight means tonight, not when it calms down.

4The idea

Watch it work once

Leo, 11:40 at night. The message arrives: send more or this goes to everyone, ten minutes. His chest goes tight. He does not reply. He screenshots the thread, the profile, and the screen with the time on it. He puts the phone face down. He walks to his mum’s room and says: something’s happened online, I need help tonight.

Four minutes from the threat to the door. The ten minutes were a number the sender made up. His mum is shocked for about thirty seconds and then she is on it. The sender is still typing into a chat nobody is reading. That is what stop replying does.

5Your turn

The clock runs

Interactive

Under pressure

The threats arrive one by one against a real countdown. At each message, choose: reply, pay, delete, block, screenshot, tell. The card lets you feel the rush, then shows the four right moves against what you did.

You are allowed to get this wrong here. That is what here is for.

6Decide

They say: 'you have ten minutes'. What is the first thing you actually do?

Right. Ten minutes is a number they made up. The screenshot turns their threat into evidence, and putting the phone down stops the clock they are trying to run on you.

The first move is the boring one. Replying keeps the conversation alive, which is what they want. Deleting throws away the proof that would get them caught. Screenshot, then hands off the phone.

Pick one to carry on.

7Look

What a screenshot needs

Still image

The three screenshots

A phone showing three screenshots side by side: the threat messages, the sender's profile page with their username, and the date and time visible on each.

Username, messages, time. Three screenshots is plenty. You are not building a case; you are keeping what a grown-up will need.

8Find them

In the first minute, which of these are the right moves?

Tap the ones that count.

Find all 4.

9Say it

The sentence that starts the telling

Say it plainly, at a door, at night if you have to

“Something's happened online and I need help tonight.”

That is the whole opening. You do not have to explain what before you say it. The adult takes it from there.

10Do it

Before you leave this page

Decide, right now, which adult you would tell. Say their name out loud. If the first name feels hard, pick a second one too. You need one; two is better.

Tick it when you have done it.

Lesson done.

Stop replying. Screenshot. Do not block yet. Tell tonight.

Next lesson: You are not in trouble and it is not your fault

Badge 3 · When Someone Asks For A Picture

3.1The ask, however it's dressed up 3.2The first sixty seconds after 3.3You are not in trouble and it is not your fault 3.4Paying makes it worse ★Badge Challenge

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