Better Internet for Kids

The Directorate-General for Education, through the SeguraNet awareness centre, with the support of Geração Cordão and the Institute for Child Support, has launched the campaign "Holidays: a tech-healthy place!". This initiative aims to raise awareness among children and young people about the healthy use of technology during school holidays.

For the Media Ukkie Days 2024, the theme is "Relaxing with media." The new study focuses on the mental health of children, examining the role of media use and other activities in relation to relaxation for children and their parents. This in-depth research asked parents about how much time their children spend on (digital) activities, who they engage in these activities with, and at what times. Parents were also asked about ways they use digital media to help their child relax. This builds upon insights from previous editions of the Iene Miene Media survey.

The awareness-raising resource "Mãe, posso usar o teu telemóvel?" (Mom, can I use your phone?) aims at helping parents and educators of children between the ages of 3 and 6 deal with the challenges of the digital world. This book offers clear guidelines for the healthy management of screen exposure, suggesting creative alternatives to promote children's balanced development.

The dark side of social media

In the podcast series 'Sextortion', journalist Max Boogaard explores the dark side of social media through four episodes. Experts and victims are explaining about sextortion and Max is discussing true crime cases to understand the criminal pattern. 

This flyer creates awareness among parents and caretakers of children between 8 and 14 years old. 

On the side of social media, tips are shared on the consequences of social media, AI, fake news and sharing of an unrealistic image.
On the side of gaming, tips are shared on the behavior during gaming, knowing who the children are gaming with, online purchases and how to look for help. 

This flyer has been distributed online and offline in local police offices. 

ScamCheck browser extension

Is a website trustworthy, or are you dealing with a phishing site? Sometimes it's hard to tell. That's why there is now the ScamCheck extension. This extension warns you if a website is likely unsafe. You can easily download the extension. After that, you will receive a notification on your screen if you land on a fake website.

You can download the extension from the Chrome Web Store:

The main objectives of this report are to map the presence of cybersecurity initiatives, programs and curricular content in secondary education in Portugal, to compare these practices with other other European Union (EU) countries in order to identify good practices and recommend ways to improve the integration of cybersecurity into school curricula. 

ZIGZAGA na NET - Navegar a Cores is a colouring book that aims to raise awareness among children aged 5 to 8 about good practices when exploring digital environments. The book is available in both digital and physical versions. Here we share the digital version to print and explore with children at home, at school, in vacations, etc.

ZIGZAGA na NET - Navegar a Cores challenges the children to ask new questions and find answers and presenting safety rules to consider when using technology. 
 

Sextoooh is a pedagogical tool focusing on the issue of sexting and gender stereotypes. These stereotypes are  about how girls and boys (and everyone else) are differently judged when they are involved in sexting situations and how they deal with it.

Sextoooh encourages young people to become aware of the dynamics they are involved in during sexting situations, but also of the influence of their choices on them. However, there is more to it than that! Sextoooh encourages and promotes debate, raises awareness of each other's opinions, and highlights gender stereotypes.

Offensive and degrading comments. What to do? Dovilė’s number one piece of advice is to try to create an environment that is comfortable, pleasant, friendly, and empathetic towards you.
The second thing is to take control of yourself and say aloud to yourself – that those comments, which hurt or offend in one way or another, are simply bullying. Those people who insult others, completely undeserving people, are pouring out their inner pain in this way.

Dovilė is interviewed by members of the Children’s Line Advisory Team, Rusnė and Goda.