Safer Internet Day
Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people, and to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively.
Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, Safer Internet Day is celebrated in over a hundred countries coordinated by the joint Insafe/INHOPE network, with the support of the European Commission, and Safer Internet Centres across Europe
Each year in the UK, Safer Internet Day explores a new issue or theme which is impacting the lives of young people in the UK.
The platforms young people use are spaces for connection, community and collaboration, which is why the Day challenges them to foster supportive relationships and respectful communities, whilst equipping them with the skills they need to keep themselves and others safe in these spaces.
Speaking with young people is key to exploring their experiences on platforms where they can play games, interact with their peers and others, and take part in ‘live’ experiences such as video streaming. These platforms play such an important and positive role, providing young people with the means to interact with friends and as a great pastime, particularly during lockdowns.
However, there are some emerging safety issues in these spaces as well as issues young people have been navigating for some time; particularly the lack of respect individuals display towards each other, groups ‘ganging up’ against other groups, and the sense that it is easy to ‘get away’ with negative behaviour such as meanness, bullying and swearing. They speak about hate directed at particular groups, particularly LGBT+ users, and misogyny on gaming platforms. They tell us the apparent lack of consequences for negative behaviour has an impact on their safety and wellbeing.
Research conducted this year about the time that young people spend online and found that:
77% of young people have spent more time playing online games and apps during the pandemic than ever before
56% of young people have chatted with people they don’t know, within an online game, over the past year
41% of young people have blocked or reported another user because of their behaviour.
In addition to the information below their website has lots more resources you might find useful. Here is a link direct to the resources section:
Safer Internet Day- film for parents and carers
'Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online'.
3-7 Year Old Resources
Younger children may be interacting more with technology right now, than they have done ever before. There are lots of creative and educational ways to help them learn how to do this in a safe and balanced way. Use our activities below to help them manage their online lives whilst staying at home.
We’ve selected a couple of activities from across our resources to help this group manage their time online and stay safe too.
1. Family tech rules
Download our Family Agreement; an easy-to-use guide to having a family discussion on how you all agree to use the internet. After you've answered the questions and come to an agreement, ask your child to draw pictures to illustrate your new family rules about using the internet. By giving your child a role, they will feel more empowered and invested in following the boundaries you agree together.
Download the Family Agreement here
2. Get SMART with Sammi
Watch our SMART with a Heart video lessons together with your child. There are 6 short videos full of fun activities, games and discussion points to learn the facts about using the internet safely. Sammi the Parrot is there to help you along the way! Be sure to let us know how you and your child get on with the 3 challenges we set at the end of each video lesson at education@childnet.com. These are best suited for children aged 6-9 years.
If you're looking for more SMART rules activities, you could also show your child our animated cartoons about each rule with our SMART Crew. Once they've watched the films, there is guidance, and further activities that you can do as a family to discuss what you've watched.
Watch the SMART video lessons here and the SMART Crew cartoons here
3. Learn with Digiduck®
The Digiduck story collection has been created to help parents, carers and teachers educate children aged 3-7 about online safety. The collection includes ebooks, PDFs, a poster and an interactive app.
Follow Digiduck® and his pals in these stories about friendship, responsibility and critical thinking online.
Digiduck’s Famous Friend
In the latest of our Digiduck online safety stories for young children, Digiduck and his classmates are set the task of finding out who their special guest will be at school today. Through chatting online and asking questions they try to decide who the mystery guest is. This story revolves around the themes of critical thinking and reliability online.
Read Digiduck's Famous Friend here
Digiduck's Big Decision
Help arrives just in time for Digiduck when faced with a difficult decision! This story revolves around the themes of friendship and responsibility online.
Read Digiduck's Big Decision here
4. Have an adventure with Smartie the Penguin
Smartie the Penguin is an online safety story for use with 3-7 year olds.
Join in with Mummy Penguin’s song and follow the adventures of Smartie the Penguin as he learns how to be safe on the internet.
Download the story and follow on resources here
5. This is me!
Read the poem created for Safer Internet Day 2020 and use as a conversation to start talking with your child about what they like to do online and what they already know about staying safe. After you read it through, encourage your child to write their own poem using the things they like to do and what they know about going online safely.
Download the 'This is Me' poem here. This is part of an Education Pack for Safer Internet Day 2020 that can be found here.
7-11 Year Old Resources
This age group may find the opportunity to spend lots of extra time online, and on their devices, hard to manage. With lots of their entertainment and social time coming from the internet, it can be hard to know when to switch off. Use our activities below to help them manage their online lives whilst spending more time at home.
We’ve selected a couple of activities from across our resources to help this group manage their time online, support each other and stay safe too.
1. Family tech check
Ask your child to take notes on what tech you have in your home, which devices have controls or filters on, and monitor how much time your family is spending on each one for a couple of days. Ask them to bring this information with them to a family discussion involving how you all use the internet, and what your guidelines should be. Our Family Agreement is an easy-to-use guide to having these conversations. By giving your child a key role, they will feel more empowered and invested in following the boundaries you agree together.
Download the Family Agreement here.
2. Get SMART with Sammi
Watch our SMART with a Heart video lessons together with your child. There are 6 short videos full of fun activities, games and discussion points to learn the facts about using the internet safely. Sammi the Parrot is there to help you along the way! Be sure to let us know how you and your child get on with the 3 challenges we set at the end of each video lesson at education@childnet.com. These are best suited for children aged 6-9 years.
If you're looking for more SMART rules activities, you could also show your child our animated cartoons about each rule with our SMART Crew. Once they've watched the films, there is guidance and further activities that you can do as a family, to discuss what you've watched.
Watch the SMART video lessons here and the SMART Crew cartoons here.
3. Be a quiz master
Ask your child to brush up on their online safety skills by working their way through our interactive quiz for primary pupils. After they have completed all the sections, they could run the quiz with other members of your family, and compare scores. Are there any areas that your family need more knowledge on? Set your child the challenge of running a mini-tutorial to get everyone up to speed.
Take the primary online safety quiz here.
4. Screen time - spot the signs
When it comes to children and technology, parents and carers often have the same question: How much screen time should children have? Now more than ever, children will be turning to the internet for their entertainment and social connections. It can be easy to lose track of time online.
Use our bank of quick activities, together with your child, to help them recognise the signs they may experience when they've been online too long and the importance of balancing online and offline activities.
Download the Screen Time and Healthy Balance Quick Activities here.
5. Poem time
Show your child the following video, ‘Jessica’s Wish’ https://vimeo.com/152415364 .
Discuss the following questions together:
- What would it be like if we were all the same?
- What’s good about being different online?
- How many ways are we all different online?
- Do we always have to agree with/have the same views as other people?
Your child could create a storyboard to accompany the poem, and could even turn this into a short film or animation, using the original video as inspiration.
Can your child create their own poem about what they like to use the internet for?
Download the full text for the Jessica's Wish poem here. This is part of an Education Pack for Safer Internet Day 2020 that can be found here.
6. Online identity detective
The Safer Internet Day 2020 quiz explores whether children feel free to be themselves online. Get your child to test their knowledge about what identity means online, and how it shapes what we think of ourselves and others.
Once they have completed the quiz, can they write their own to run with other members of your family?