INTERNETSAFETY:Workshop

Introduction• Young people have grown up on-line• Technology plays a very a significant role in yp’s lives• Technologies are constantly changing • Move from passive users to active creators of content

This results in risks as well as opportunities

Youth Work Settings – need to consider our role in managing these risks through educating and empowering young people and in our responsibilities to operate safe practice in our yw settings

Workshop Objectives

• To explore how young people engage on line

• To become aware of potential risks

• Discuss to address these risks

• To explore resources available

• Q&A

Webwise - About Us

Professional Development Service for Teachers – Technology in Education

•Agency of Department of Education and Skills

•Co-funded by the EU Safer Internet Programme

•Irish member of Insafe Network

•Safer Internet Ireland Consortium

Internet embedded in daily life,users are getting younger

53% use every day or almost daily, 89%

use at least weekly

61 minutes spent online in an average

day (see graph)

Age matters for daily use:

33% 9-10 yrs vs. 73% 15-16 yrs

Children first go online at 9 yrs old:

at 7 for 9-10 yrs, at 11 for 15-16 yrs

Minutes per day online

Mobile access growing

23% via handheld devices

52% via mobile and/or handheld device

Flexible access is growing

Age and SES matter

In the top league of European countries for mobile access

Uneven digital skills

5,85,4 5,3

5,1 5,0 5,0 5,0 4,9 4,8 4,7 4,7 4,5 4,5 4,44,2

3,4 3,3

2,6

4,2

3,43,73,8

4,04,64,7 4,7

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1

2

3

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Multiple opportunitiesWatching video clips and playing games are the most popular activities

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5 6 7 8 9

Average number of online activities

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Average for all children

More opportunities, more risks

Bullied in Last Year•Nearly one in four (23%) 9-16 year olds in Ireland say that someone has acted in a hurtful or nasty way towards them in the past 12 months. This is higher than the figure of one in five or 19% reported for Europe as a whole.

•Younger children, 9-10 year olds, claim to be bullied the most (28%), well above the European average of 17%.

Bullied Other•14% have also bullied others in the past twelve months.•Bullying others is more common among 15-16 year olds (24%) and among boys (19%).

Risks• Sharing – digital footprint, easily traced,

information can become public• Friending – easy to lie, request from

strangers, blocking• Chatting –not chatting to ‘strangers’,

revealing personal information• Playing – addiction, bullying, contact with

adults, commercial pressures

Risks

• Pornography – increasingly accessible • Sexting – sending an inappropriate text or

image to other people• Unhealthy networking – ie. websites

encouraging unhealthy behaviour

Child Abuse

The internet has not created child abuse but has facilitated;

• Networking• Exchange, distribution, collection, and

creation of indecent images• Direct contact with children and grooming• New forms of ‘non contact’ sexual abuse

Internet Safety Strategy• Technical Solutions

• Acceptable Use Policies

• Education and Awareness Raising

Technical Solutions

• Virus Control

• Spam

• Filtering Content

• Firewalls

AUP’s & Other Policies

What? - An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a document, signed by young people and their parents, guardians or carers, detailing the ways in which the Internet, mobile phones and related devices can and cannot be used in your youth service.

AUP’s & Other PoliciesWhy? - An agreed policy approach promotes good practice and safe, responsible use of the internet. While the web can be a great learning tool, it also contains some dangerous content and can be abused. That’s why it’s vital that youth services establish an AUP which addresses all rights, privileges, responsibilities and sanctions associated with computer use. It also provides a service with legal protection from liability.

AUP’s & Other Policies

How?

http://www.webwise.ie/WebwiseAUPGuidelines.pdf

Education and Awareness• Young People

• Youth Work Staff and Volunteers

• Parents

Tips for Young People• Nothing is private on the internet.• Don’t share personal or revealing information i.e.

passwords/phone number/address.• Don’t believe everyone is who they say they are.• Remember whatever goes on line can be viewed

forever.• Know your rights and responsibilities when using the

internet.• Do not open emails from people you don’t know.• Keep your anti-virus software up to date.

Tips for Young People

• Ignore requests for meeting someone on your own.• Don’t send someone a photo of yourself particularly if

they ask for a revealing or undressed photo of you. • Tell someone if you are concerned about anything. • If you feel something is not right then it probably isn’t. • Find out what the youth organisation’s AUP is so that

you know how to behave online

Tips for Staff & VolunteersSupervision

• Supervise yp’s online activity in accordance with your organisation’s policy.

• Know what level of monitoring you can utilise and inform the young people and their parents/guardians how you are monitoring their usage.

• It is not advisable to use personal social networking profiles to connect with the young people online or as a way of supervising their activity.

Tips for Staff & Volunteers

Empowering

– Involve young people in writing a code for the acceptable use of the internet.

– Educate young people on safe use of on line activities, safety and security settings, managing profiles.

– Inform and encourage young people on how to report any concerns

Tips for Staff & Volunteers

Personal Use

• Do not accept friend requests from young people

• Do not engage in on line communication in a personal capacity

• Consider what you post on line and who has access to it

Resources - SpunOut

Demonstration of on-line engagement with young people and resources available to young people and youth services

Resources

www.webwise.ie

www.spunout.ie

www.youthworkireland.ie

www.barnardos.ie

www.hotline.ie

www.childline.ie

NYCI - websafety.youth.ie (under construction)

Thank You

Olive Ring NYCI olive@nyci.ie

Simon Grehan Webwise sgrehan@pdst.ie

Ian Power SpunOut ian@spunout.ie