‘Think before you post,’ say young people at Safer Internet Day
73 countries marked Safer Internet Day on 8 February 2011 and we were very proud to be invited by Childnet to help facilitate the UK Safer Internet Centre’s main event - a Youth Symposium, which took place at Microsoft’s London office.
We joined 40 young people aged between 15-17 who had travelled from as far afield as Edinburgh, Worksop, Newport and Belfast to discuss what they do online and on their mobiles and to hear about the challenges and issues they face in the digital world. Cyberbullying, grooming and sexting are clearly among this age group’s concerns but, in terms of day-to-day impact on their lives, the participants’ main worry is privacy.
The focus of the day was a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style competition. Split into groups of five, the participants were asked to create an e-safety resource and pitch it to a panel of expert judges, including Professor Tanya Byron.
The group we worked with had a clear vision for their pitch from the moment we sat down together. Not knowing exactly who can see what they post online - be it messages, status updates, photos or videos - is their primary concern. To raise awareness of this issue, they developed storyboards for a TV advert, which they hoped would go viral online and which would be supported by a website, online advertising and posters.
They were adamant that their campaign had be hard-hitting. “We won’t take notice unless it’s quite shocking,” one group member told us.
Their cleverly branded campaign certainly impressed the judges, as they won the ‘Dragons’ Den’ challenge!
We thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with such intelligent, switched-on young people. The pitches to the “dragons” were interesting and well-presented and there were several absolutely brilliant ideas. The main emphasis was that young people want to feel empowered, excited and able to protect themselves in the digital world.
And, although, many of the pitches centred on TV, Web and poster campaigns, the participants clearly appreciate getting e-safety information at school as well...as long as it’s delivered in an interesting way.
Thank you to all the young people who took part in the event...we hope you continue to spread the word about e-safety. We also hope that the information and advice we publish on Teachtoday continues to help your teachers help you to embrace the digital world and stay in control of it.
You can find information about, and videos from, the Safer Internet Day Youth Symposium at www.saferinternet.org.uk