Better Internet for Kids

In a world where children’s playground has gone mostly virtual, parents and carers can no longer be uninformed about the online world. They need to be aware of the potential risks and harmful content children and young people might be exposed to online.

The Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Serbia commenced its Safer Internet Day 2022 celebrations by presenting its work and accomplishments to members of the Government. It was very important for the Centre to demonstrate that, as a non-government organisation, it is actively working on making the internet a safer space for children. Here, the Centre outlines its actions.

Teenagers are increasingly spending more time on the internet, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when social activities and gatherings are highly discouraged. Internet use and online communication can be healthy ways of keeping in contact with others; however, it can also lead to other issues such as peer pressure, sexting and body shaming. This article is based on interviews carried out by the Malta Personal and Social Development Association (MPSDA) with three experts on this matter and has the aim of shedding light on how children and adolescents are using the internet and what repercussions they could face.

Save the Children Finland’s annual seminar, 'information on child sexual abuse', took place in November 2021. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year's seminar was held online, which enabled both global presenters and participants to attend.

On the occasion of Safer Internet Day 2022, Webwise launched the #TalkListenLearn campaign for parents and carers, highlighting the importance of having regular and open conversations with children and teenagers to ensure that they have a safe and positive experience online.

The Danish Safer Internet Centre (SIC) launched a special activity on Safer Internet Day 2022 to encourage a conversation between parents and carers and young people about their digital habits.

Striving for popularity can sometimes take surprising but effective new forms. It is natural for young people to use social media to satisfy their essential psychosocial needs. These include the need for love, belonging, self-esteem, personal achievements, and so on.

Internet access opens up an endless world of interesting things for children and teenagers to discover and, at least in theory, helps them better understand how the world in which we live works. On the other hand, we see daily examples of sites, articles and videos that present social, political and economic events in a style that does not correspond to journalistic principles.

Cyberbullying is, unfortunately, part of young people’s lives, but equally they know where to get help if they find themselves in such a situation. This is one of the encouraging results of a new study on cyberbullying among Austrian youth.

For the past eleven years, since the inception of the BeSmartonline! project (the Maltese Safer Internet Centre (SIC)), a number of challenges have been overcome. However, one challenge which has persisted over these years has been reaching out to parents.