Better Internet for Kids

On Wednesday, 11 November 2020, representatives from the Insafe network of European Safer Internet Centres (SICs) held a workshop entitled “The Revolution won't be Televised, but Social Mediatised?” at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2020.

The Insafe network of helplines collects data about the types of calls that they receive, and this is analysed every three months to look at trends and new and emerging issues.

On Tuesday, 24 November 2020, the first side event of Safer Internet Forum (SIF) took place online, with a focus on Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth. During this session, two lines of youth participation work within the remit of BIK were discussed, including the Youth Pledge for a Better Internet, a youth-led initiative in partnership with industry on age-appropriate design launched on Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020.

Just like with most events this year, Safer Internet Forum (SIF) 2020 took place online, but this did not stop the Austrian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) from inviting young people to become part of the safer internet community. The difference was that instead of 20 young people from all over Europe being usually invited to Brussels, this time almost 50 young people could participate in several events.

Like many helplines from the Insafe network established throughout Europe, the Czech helpline the Safety Line has seen its activities considerably altered during the pandemic and as a consequence of the restrictive measures taken in the Czech Republic. In the interview transcript below, the helpline reflects on its operations since March and the trends noticed during the crisis.

Using and communicating with smart devices is an integral part of the daily lives of adults, children and young people alike. Popular social media platforms offer a variety of opportunities to communicate with others and share information. Since the internet is a public space where everything you say or post is saved, in order to protect your privacy and that of your children and avoid potentially unpleasant situations, you need to think about how, to whom and to what extent you share your data and information on social media platforms.

In the final webinar in the inaugural round of the SIC+ pilot programme, global participants explored two topics: trends in child online protection and awareness raising for hotlines. The Insafe and INHOPE networks launched the SIC+ initiative with the aim of extending and replicating the successful Safer Internet Centre (SIC) model beyond Europe.

Between 2015 and 2019, Belgian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) Child Focus opened 144 files on (potential) victims of teenage procurers in Belgium, an increasingly pressing issue which has been facilitated by digital communications. Following the study on victims of teenage procurers in Flanders (2015), Child Focus was commissioned by equal.brussels to conduct a similar exploratory study in Brussels in 2019.

Social media is a great place to connect with others, share parts of our lives, see into other people’s worlds, and it is a fantastic platform to raise awareness about important issues. However, it can add pressure by portraying an idealised version of normal life. Our newsfeeds often contain images of people looking great, wearing nice clothes, and doing exciting things – living their best lives.

“When it comes to children’s digital competence, Estonian school teachers can be divided into two groups: one claiming that children are much more competent than adults when it comes to ICT; and the other – mostly composed of computing teachers – doubting the actual, self-taught ICT skills of students, namely rapid clicking skills, which only seem to be a sign of ICT competence."