Better Internet for Kids

Child Focus has developed a practical and engaging lesson package designed to introduce young people to CyberSquad, an online platform where they can find help and support for online challenges. This workshop empowers students to explore CyberSquad while fostering empathy, solidarity, and problem-solving skills.

This report describes the media education provided to young people by The Mannerheim League For Child Welfare in 2023, youth participation and their activities in digital environments. The main channels of MLL media education for young people are YouthNet (Nuortennetti.fi) and the social media sites of YouthNet, lessons given in schools, workshops and media surveys. We met 7 113 children and young people in our media education lessons. We discussed topics such as online bullying, balanced media use, gaming, digital friendship skills and respectful encounters.

CyberSquad forum is a peer-to-peer online platform, for teenagers (13-16 yo) to exchange tips, experience, doubts and give each other support in case of a problem or need. When in trouble, young people prefer to seek help from their peers rather than turning to an adult figure, and only at a later stage they would contact a support organization. As a response to teenagers’ needs, Child Focus and young people co-developed a safe online space where to exchange with peers, share experiences and seek help.

CyberSquad forum is a peer-to-peer online platform, for teenagers (13-16 yo) to exchange tips, experience, doubts and give each other support in case of a problem or need. When in trouble, young people prefer to seek help from their peers rather than turning to an adult figure, and only at a later stage they would contact a support organization. As a response to teenagers’ needs, Child Focus and young people co-developed a safe online space where to exchange with peers, share experiences and seek help.

Today children in the digital world are exposed to various risks and dangers, despite various preventive programs. Our "Fairy Tales in the Digital World" address these dangers but in a way that is suitable for children, encouraging learning and the development of a critical attitude towards online content, all through metaphors woven into fairy tales.

A Swedish translation of the brochure ”In our own words – children's rights in the digital world”, originally made by the British organisation 5Rights Foundation.

We created a place in which children can communicate to discover both new things about internet, as well as ways to resolve online conflicts. By the atmosphere created here
we help to create feelings of peace and trust, to provide time and space for children to learn how to manage or self-regulate their emotions or behavior in response to o
unpleasant situation in the online environment.

The Dutch EOKM conducted an online poll on www.scholieren.com amongst teenagers aged 12-14 to find out how they respond to classmates forwarding them nude images. The results were as follows:

- 19% I speak up and let them know this is not OK
- 23% I forward the image
- 30% I don't act at all
- 28% I click away