Better Internet for Kids

After the emergency situation that the school system had to go through, the teachers were called upon to be even closer to the students, as they continued to utilise digital technologies during this period but also increased their use of social media. Families have a duty to be close to the younger generations to face the criticalities related to the internet, walk them through the correct use of these instruments, and teach them how to handle the issues that can occur. In Italy, during the lockdown, each person spent an average of 40 minutes per day on social networks (an increase of 53 per cent since the previous year) and 28 minutes per day on messaging apps (an increase of 77 per cent compared to March 2019).

The "#BackToSchool2020, #SuperErroriReloaded" communication plan has the objective of being right next to the students, the families and the teachers, dealing with the main problems related to the use of the internet and publishing contents with an educational purpose so that families and teachers can be close to the students in the appropriate use of the network. The communication plan began on Monday, 14 September 2020, the date on which most of the classes resumed for Italian students, and will terminate on Friday, 23 October 2020.

The inaugural event of the 2020/2021 scholastic year is set to take place in Vò, in Veneto region, one of the communities most hardly hit by the pandemic. The event "Tutti a scuola" is organised to celebrate returning to class after months of remote teaching lessons. Generazioni Connesse will be present to share the voice of the students who are returning to school, using Instagram stories as the main instrument to build the storytelling. The online communication campaign will be launched on the same day, and a post will be posted on every Generazioni Connesse social media profile.

Every week, while maintaining the campaign layout, the Generazioni Connesse social profiles will change their aspect according to the "error" in question, building-specific storytelling for the argument, the targets, and the instrument utilised. In particular, as far as Facebook and Twitter are concerned, the cover photo will be changed, meanwhile, Instagram will publish contents that represent the treated subject. A cartoon with a "supererrore" as the main character will be launched every Monday.

Along with an explanation of the target arguments, students are called to interact directly with the SIC through the instruments provided by the platforms. On Instagram, it will consist of polls, questions and quizzes published on the stories, while on Facebook, polls will also be published in the stories feature, and the "swipe up" will take the user to an article on the Generazioni Connesse website where he will find further explanation. On Twitter, users will interact with the SIC via polls, each poll including a link to an article on the Generazioni Connesse website where they will find the explanation of the argument. Moreover, short videos are scheduled for every Thursday, to recap the main guidelines shared during the week.

Find out more information about the work of the Italian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) generally, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services, or find similar information for Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.