Welcome to Your Digital Safety Corner, your place to learn how online harassment and digital abuse work, so you can recognize them, understand them, and protect yourself.
Why awareness matters
Digital abuse often hides in everyday things: a message that feels threatening, an app you didn’t install, a login you don’t recognize, someone who always seems to know where you are, or someone who uses their technical knowledge to manipulate, control, monitor, or track you. When you don’t know what to look for, it’s easy to miss the signs or to blame yourself. When you do know, you gain clarity, confidence, and control.
What you’ll learn here
This corner is here to educate and empower you. Every guide is written in plain language to help you understand exactly what online harassment and digital abuse are, how they work, and how you can protect yourself.
You’ll learn about:
- What digital abuse is: how technology can be misused to harass, monitor, control, or intimidate you, and why it’s just as real and serious as abuse offline
- Cyberstalking: when someone repeatedly follows, watches, calls, texts, or contacts you online, even after you’ve made it clear you no longer want any contact or relationship with them. This unwanted contact can make you feel your digital privacy and personal space are being invaded without your permission, and it can quickly turn into digital abuse.
- Account and device monitoring: when someone secretly reads your messages, tracks your location, or installs hidden apps on your phone
- Impersonation and fake accounts: when someone pretends to be you or creates profiles to damage your reputation
- Online threats and harassment: messages, comments, or posts meant to frighten, insult, or pressure you
- Digital coercive control: when someone uses technology, passwords, or their technical knowledge to manipulate, monitor, track, isolate, or control you, or to harm your well-being in any area of your life, whether emotionally, mentally, financially, or socially
- Online scams targeting seniors: when someone uses fake messages, calls, profiles, or websites to trick, pressure, or steal from older adults because scammers often assume seniors are less familiar with technology
- Online predators targeting young people: when adults use games, apps, social media, or messaging to build false trust with young people, isolate them from family and friends, or pressure them to keep secrets, and how you can recognize the warning signs and help keep young people safe
- When control and digital abuse are disguised as love: when someone who says they love or care about you uses technology to control you, by checking your phone, demanding your passwords, tracking your location, deciding who you can talk to, sending links to secretly access your device, gaining unauthorized access to your personal and digital life, or repeatedly contacting you without your consent, even after you’ve ended the relationship. Real love never needs to monitor or control you.
For each topic, you’ll learn how to recognize the warning signs, understand how it works, and take practical steps to protect your privacy and safety.
Who this is for
This corner is for you, whether you’re worried about your own situation, want to help someone you care about, or simply want to understand the risks before they affect you.
What to expect
Everything you find here is for awareness and education only. It isn’t counselling, legal advice, or a support service, but it is knowledge you can start using today, with no technical background needed.
Your privacy comes first
You never need an account to read anything here, and comments are turned off to protect you. You can learn more on the Privacy Notice page.
Awareness is your first step to safety, and the more you understand digital abuse, the less power it has over you.
