Reasons for ‘Safer Internet Day’

The aim of ‘Safer Internet Day’ is to create both a safer and a better internet community, where everyone is allowed to use technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively. It aims to encourage everyone to play their part in creating a better community online.

• Children and young people can help to create a better internet by being kind and respectful to others online, by protecting their online reputations (and those of others), and by seeking out positive opportunities to create, engage and share online.

• Parents and caregivers play a crucial role in empowering and supporting children to use technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively, whether it is by ensuring an open dialogue with their children, educating them to use technology safely and positively, or by acting as digital role models.

• Teachers, educators and social workers can help to create a better internet by equipping their pupils and students with digital literacy skills and by developing their critical thinking skills, which will allow them to better navigate the online world. Empower them to create their own content and make considered choices online.

• Industry can help to create a better internet by creating and promoting positive content and safe services online, and by empowering users to respond to any issues by providing clear safety advice, a range of easyto-use safety tools, and quick access to support if things do go wrong.

• Decision makers and politicians need to provide a culture in which all of the above can function and thrive – for example, by ensuring that there are opportunities in the curriculum for children and young people to learn about online safety, ensuring that parents and care givers have access to appropriate information and sources of support, and that industry is encouraged to self-regulate its content and services.

• Everyone has a responsibility to make a positive difference online. Let us all respond to the negative by reporting inappropriate or illegal content and behaviour online.