Better Internet for Kids

What does cyberbullying look like and how does its victim feel? This is what the educational game DigiStories: Nela deals with. It is mainly intended for the second grade of primary schools.

In this second issue of the Greek Youth Panel's magazine, the youth express their opinions on issues like social media exposure, excessive use of the Internet, artificial intelligence, disinformation and others. Through their articles, the members of the youth panel analyze many different kinds of online risks, as well as tips on how a user can stay safe.

Latvian SIC has developed educational games to strengthen media literacy and digital literacy among children and young people. The kit consists of six games and each of them focuses on a different aspect of media literacy and digital literacy offering 30 cards with images,30 cards with texts, game descriptions, questions, exercises etc. The titles and topics are the following:

1.    Observe, analyse and act!
2.    Play and think critically!
3.    Read, understand and comment!

Informative leaflet provides information for parents about ChatGPT and its usage among children and youngsters, not only for accessing information but also for doing school homework.

The information in leaflet gives parents an insight about the BeReal photo sharing app which is popular among teens and allows users to share one photo per day capturing moments of their lives without editing and filter option. BeReal is popular among teenagers as an alternative to the processed and filtered content seen on other social media platforms. However, parents should be aware of situations when adolescent can be at risk and approachable by strangers via app if they don't pay enough attention to their privacy and safety:

To encourage children and young people to be aware of online risks Latvian SIC’s developed a poster which serves as a visual guide to help recognize and understand the potential threats while using the internet. Promoting responsible digital behaviour can help children and teens surf the internet with confidence and protect themselves from potential risks and dangers.
The poster provides the following key messages for children and teenagers:

•    Think before you post - reminding to consider the consequences of sharing personal information online.

Workbook is for children aged 10 to 15 and aims at strengthening media literacy and enhancing digital competence and also children’s ability to effectively use digital technologies and communication tools to find, evaluate, use, and create information.

Lesson package includes tasks and exercises for pupils of Grade 5-12 to strengthen their knowledge of safe and meaningful use of the internet. Six lesson plans covered in package with engaging tasks are developed in a youth-friendly and fun way accompanied by the recommendations for teachers how to involve youngsters and ensure that they share and learn from each other's experiences by actively participating in lesson about internet safety.

Poster of online safety risks is for primary school children to remind them about the online risks during the summer holidays.

Latvian SIC developed 14 screen images (wallpapers) for smartphones with internet safety quotes designed for children to remind them about safe internet usage particularly when using social media platforms and communicating with peers on the internet.

Children and teenagers spend a lot of time looking at screens on the daily basis especially during summer holidays therefore these images will help them think about changing their digital habits and online behaviours as well as pay more attention to cybersecurity in order to minimize potential risks and vulnerabilities.