by our social media expert Becky Day
Safer Internet Day 2019 on February 5 is a worldwide campaign launched by Safer Internet Centre UK @UK_SIC to encourage discussion and build awareness around online safety.
Safer Internet Centre UK’s website offers a ton of fantastic resources and advice – the education packs are particularly useful and include lesson plans, posters, presentations and activities. Its #SaferInternetDay2019 social media campaign tools also allows schools to join others in showcasing all of the great things they are doing to promote online safety.
But why limit raising awareness to this day alone? Safer Internet Day should act as a catalyst for what schools do throughout the year around e-safety … use the day to develop a ‘Digital Safety’ manifesto, have discussions with parents, launch an e-safety working group, run a CPD session.
With increasing numbers of younger children (8-12) now using social media and 5-15 year-olds spending at least 15 hours a week online, it seems only natural that online safety is on our minds all year round.
Recently, I attended an online safety conference. It was fantastic to see so many schools engaged and to also hear from young people themselves, who kindly imparted their digital knowledge on the audience.
But the key message that stood out was: “have open and honest conversations with your children” … just because you’re not a social media whizz or an online safety expert doesn’t mean you should be afraid to generate discussion.
Use the opportunity to learn from these young people – take interest in their experiences, ask questions. And know what to do if a child discloses any information.
Whether you’re a teacher, support staff, parent, relative or friend … we need to make online safety all of our responsibility. After all, the internet is here to stay – the only way we can tackle the issues it throws at us is to be prepared. And we can only be prepared by instigating those conversations on Safer Internet Day, and beyond.
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