When you are are teenager you think you know it all... you believe you are invincible.
Growing up in a rural Welsh village, Mared Parry wasn't any different from other 14 year olds.
So when older boys started getting in contact with her online with requests to met up and send them pictures, she was excited that they were taking an interest in her.
It was only years later that she realised how wrong it was.
Now in her early 20s, she is speaking out to share her experience in a bid to help others falling into the same trap.
And it is working. Mared has teamed up with the children's charity NSPCC to raise awareness of internet dangers and she has even been to Westminster to talk to politicians at the top about what laws are needed to make the internet a safer place for children.
"When I first wrote about my experiences I thought no-one would read it," explains Mared. "So I can't believe that I was sitting around a table with politicians who were listening to my suggestions for what should be included in the government's online harms white paper."
Mared, from Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, was only 14 when she started getting messages from older boys.
At first, she was excited by the exchanges because they were from what she saw as more mature, good looking boys who were taking an interest in her.
"I am so, so lucky that I never actually went and met up with any of the guys who talked to me," she says.
"I was messaged on Facebook by a couple of guys a bit older than me, in their 20s, saying that they had seen me around town, that they thought I looked pretty.
"The conversation spiralled and gradually got a bit more sexual and got a bit more into relationship territory, or so I thought at the time. From that, it developed into them wanting to meet me.
"I remember them being so persistent, telling me to catch trains and buses to meet them and how they’d pick me up and we could go for a drive and they’d teach me 'how to kiss'.
"I am so grateful that I grew up in the countryside, not within walking distance of a train or a bus stop. I’d need a lift to get there off my parents, and thankfully my parents didn’t just let me go wherever I wanted.
"If they weren’t strict, I probably would’ve gone. I remember being pressured into sending pictures of myself in my underwear, some even topless. And I did. I was 14 years old.
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"The saddest thing is, I can’t even remember how many men there were, there were so many attempts by different people to contact me when I first started using the internet."
She didn't speak out because at the time she thought it was normal.
Mared wrote in an article for student website The Tab: "Put yourself in my shoes. If a relatively good looking twenty-something started messaging you calling you beautiful, you’d be a bit wary at first wouldn’t you?
"But then he convinces you that the reason you’ve never had a boyfriend or ever been looked at that way is because 14-year-old boys don’t appreciate someone of your maturity, and someone like him, a guy in his twenties with experience, can.
"And to be mature and have a mature relationship like a mature adult does, you have to talk about sex and pretty much nothing else.
"It’s also 'normal' in their books for you to send pictures in your underwear. If you can’t do all that, they won’t speak to you again.
"It made me feel special and I didn't want that to end."
She said it was easy for them to manipulate her and as far as she was concerned at that age her mum was the "enemy", not them.
"It never crossed my mind that maybe they were the ones who would be getting in trouble for grooming an underage child," she says.
Mared says that when she was in school, she always had this perception that groomers were "old guys", sitting behind a computer.
"We were always told 'don't talk to people you don't know', but the reality of it was that I did know these people," says the Cardiff University graduate.
"So, it is not your stereotypical idea of a groomer, so that's what's scary. A lot of my friends at school were doing the same thing and were talking to guys of the same age.
"So for us it wasn't traumatising, it wasn't scary, it was simply normal and we were excited at the prospect of having an older boyfriend and that's what really terrifies me. A lot more needs to be done especially from the social media side of things. They don't really do anything and they make it so easy for men to get away with targeting young girls like this.
"They have gotten away with it, with me, my friends, God knows who else. It shouldn't have to be the 14-year-old's who are making the noise and saying 'help me' they should be caught before it comes to it.
"Back then, it never crossed my mind that in a couple of years, normal guys would fancy me for normal reasons. I was vulnerable and taken advantage of. What makes me worry the most is that I didn’t report these guys.
"They’re probably still walking free. It makes me wonder if they’re still doing the same now, to another girl as vulnerable as I was."
She has welcomed the news this week that there are plans for an independent watchdog and code of conduct for social media and internet sites.
The Online Harms White Paper published by the UK government suggests that sites could be fined or blocked if they fail to tackle issues such as terrorist propaganda and child abuse.
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Mared believes that if some of the companies made little changes, it would make a big difference.
"Things like people being verified on Facebook, it should be easy to do and it would make it a lot safer," she says. "I was one of the lucky ones, but if speaking out just helps one young girl or stops someone inappropriately messaging a young girl then it is worth speaking up."
Des Mannion, head of NSPCC Cymru/Wales, said: "The UK Governments plans are a hugely significant moment in finally making the internet a safer environment for children to use without the risk of being groomed, sexually abused and exposed to upsetting content.
“The tech firms’ approach of taking action only after children have been harmed has been shown to be completely unacceptable and we hope the measures outlined in the White Paper are implemented as soon as possible. Any delay could see many more children hurt in the meantime.
“For too long social networks have failed to prioritise children’s safety and we are pleased that the Government has listened to the NSPCC and others who have campaigned to protect children from the appalling harm far too many have faced online.”
