Better Internet for Kids

This material is intended for teachers, regardless of specialization or prior knowledge on the use of the Internet and digital devices. The information it contains will be useful for supporting instructive-educational activities about children's online rights and teenagers, part of the topic of using the internet in a safe, useful and creative way.

Today's children live in a world completely different from previous generations. Relationships between them are mediated by chats, social applications and virtual channels that parents almost never enter. The purpose of the webinar is to discover the role of parents and teachers in the lives of digital natives, who apparently need adult less, than previous generations. The topics discussed were:
a. The needs of digital natives, as well as their rights and obligations, at school and in the family
b. The role of parents and different ways of managing situations in the family

This video targets children and teenagers, with the propose of presenting online risks such as cyberbullying or excessive use, gives concrete examples of how these risks affect children on the internet and advices on how they can react when they encounter a harmful situation online. The video then promotes the ctrl_AJUTOR counseling line, encouraging children to access it whenever they find themselves in an unpleasant situation, or further promote it among their peers.

It is important for adults to find time to understand how to recognize cyberbullying and how to react appropriately to the situation and age of the child involved. The issues addressed were
a. Who are the children most likely to become victims of cyberbullying and how can this be prevented or reduced?
b. What new forms of cyberbullying have emerged in recent years and which ones are illegal?
c. What are the consequences of cyberbullying on a child's psychological development and how do we encourage them to seek the help of trusted adults?

Nearly a third of children believe that fake news cannot be presented on TV or on news sites. Half of the children rarely or never check the truth of the information found online.

This is a two and a half minute video, describing the concept of FOMO (fear of missing out). It goes around a group of teenagers who constantly check their notifications in different social networks and explains how the fear of missing our manifests: an incontrollable desire to be constantly connected online, to see and react to what friends are posting. The video also promotes JOMO (the joy of missing out) and a set of rules in which one can stay disconnected or spend less time online.

The webinar aims to help parents become better at guiding children and teens to develop healthier habits of creating and sharing content on social media.
Although harmless on the surface (lots of pictures of animals, funny memes, fun songs), these networks were designed for an emotionally mature audience. It also often becomes difficult for adults to manage a large number of interpersonal relationships at the same time, which can lead to deep emotional turmoil; especially for children and adolescents.

The video aims to help parents become more aware and confident when dealing preventively with more sensitive topics with their children using technology. We focus on unavoidable issues such as accidentally finding traumatic content, or interacting with people who are extremely adept at enticing minors for illegal purposes.
The topics addressed:

1. False profiles and online child safety. Contrary to the real-life friends we see and with whom we can communicate, on the internet, behind a profile, there may be people with negative intentions.

The video presents the case of a teen girls whose boyfriend sent their friends nude pictures of her and because of that she had to close all her accounts in social media, or the case of another girl who was cyberbullied and had to create new accounts on all social platforms to escape the situation she was in, but also other topics related to technical difficulties or different forms of online abuse. They can all be sorted out if teens seek help and guidance from specialists.

A web series by the Italian Safer Internet Centre. Each episode focuses on a different element of online safety, from strategies for handling cyberbullying to recognising and reporting unsafe/inappropriate interactions and content (e.g zoombombing, body shaming, sexting, and so on).