Whenever my kids are surfing Internet or playing games, me as a parent can’t help but be curious and at the same time worry! I mean exactly what are they surfing, which sites they are visiting, are they communicating with “online strangers” and so on. Another issue is – I can’t say that I 100% know how to safeguard my kids online and to ensure they get all the “goodness” of Internet sans any ill-effects.
Lot is happening to provide Safer, Better Internet to kids and to all of us. We all must know about these initiatives and contribute to it too. Yesterday i.e. 6th February 2018 was marked and celebrated as “Safer internet Day“. The day was a call to action for every stakeholder to play their part in creating a better internet for everyone, in particular the youngest users out there. The Safer Internet Day (SID) is a public awareness initiative started in 2004 by the Insafe Network, a network of Awareness Centres funded under the Safer Internet Programme of the European Commission. The SID takes place on the second Tuesday of February every year and seeks to promote safe and positive use of digital technology, especially amongst children and young people. Safer Internet Day 2018’s theme is, “Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you“.
In Singapore too, efforts are stepped up to make sure we all get Better, Safer Internet with the launch of Better Internet Campaign (BIC). This year’s Better Internet Campaign (BIC) launched a 20-page parents guidebook which is jointly produced by international think tank Digital Quotient (DQ) Institute and the Media Literacy Council (MLC). The resource will be translated into the official languages of Singapore with Twitter’s support.
This sounds very reassuring for me and am sure all parents too will hail this initiative. Read on to find more about this campaign and how it will help parents and kids. By the way, Media Literacy Council has spearheaded this campaign since Singapore’s participation in the global initiative in 2013 just in case many of us didn’t know.
The campaign aims at educating parents by doling out some very useful tips and tricks to facilitate safer Internet for young users. Take a look at the infographics below:
Another stark reality is the Cyber Bullying. We often read examples of how cyber bullying can affect vulnerable young minds adversely and irreversibly. Now a days, we can’t even totally keep kids gadget-free since gadgets if used wisely have numerous benefits.
Educating our kids if they suffer Cyber Bullying when online or from fellow students?
Next Steps and More info:
You all must visit www.betterinternet.sg where there are resources to find information about the campaign, register for free workshops (next one is 1 March – DQ Workshop), find out which community project they can participate in, get tips and obtain free soft copies of the Parents Guidebook (available from 1 March 2018).
Please visit for more info and updates:
MLC’s Facebook page
MLC’s Twitter page
or Instagram page
#BetterInternetSG
Love our blog which is among TOP 100 Singapore blogs…Check our portfolio here. Drop a line on [email protected] to collaborate with us for your products and services or Click here to get in touch with us.
Better Internet safer Internet is such a good topic for children and parents nowadays
While my kids are still small, introducing them to the internet and keeping them safe as well as monitoring their activities has always been on my mind. Thanks for sharing these amazing tips
True we should all make our kids and as well as ourselves aware of such situations ,do read a post on https://blogsikka.com for gadget free life
i have the exact same thoughts when my son is on the internet these days. it worries me a lot. you have shared some very practical tips that as parents we can take care of. very informative
This is an essential knowledge for today’s Parents..Parenting is not the same now. Thanks for sharing #AlexaTheIncredible and #womenbloggerwb
As a parent it is an important read I learned a lot thanks for sharing.
Oh my, I think we mostly focus on the good parts of the internet. So this one is a good reminder of the negative aspects that come with it. A very good guide for kids & internet!
This is a very useful post for parents. Especially since kids are exposed to the internet at such a young age, with ipads, phones, etc.
Amongst the larger user groups of mobile or internet technologies are the young generations of today. Therefore, it is imperative that we develop a proper strategy to empower and protect these kids while encapsulating their needs.
From: Calleigh K
Its sad to see how accessible things are because of the internet and how it has become so harmful in many ways.
Such a great collection of tips! I think it’s important to keep in mind that the internet is also a sort of community, and its members can cause just as much mental suffering to others through virtual space as in real life scenarios. Protecting the kids from becoming victims of online criminals should be taken seriously. Thanks for raising awareness on this issue!
These are great tips for keeping kids safe on the internet. I am glad there is more awareness about this nowadays, better to take care and precautions.
This is a very important campaign for both children and adults. We all need to know about the internet safety practices 🙂
Thanks for this – great reminders for when I have children one day. Online safety is paramount!
Great information, I have two sisters who both have children and they can both benefit from this!
I am definitely keeping these infographics for future reference. I have two daughters (10 and 13) and try to balance their internet use and teach them how to use it properly in a beneficial way.
I am glad this day exists and that there are so many parents such as yourself who are well aware of the dangers online for little ones. More awareness needs to be raised and less parents need to just pass their children ipads without knowing what exactly they get up to. I think these pictures add a whole bunch of good advice – like simply asking about their favourite sites without alarming the children gives the parent a better understanding ?
I am all for a better and safer internet. Its sad to see how accessible things are because of the internet. It should be used for good and not for bad. Awesome post.
With the internet being to readily available, I really think it’s important for parents to know how to keep their little ones safe. I love all these tips, especially your last tip about how to react.
great tips for helping kids stay safe online. it’s getting harder and harder to protect them. parents struggle, at least here in canada, to tell kids that they aren’t allowed to go online until a certain age because their schools are putting them on computers and asking them to do computer research at very young ages but aren’t really educating them about the dangers of being online and the things they shouldn’t see.
This was such a great informative post, I learned a lot about internet safety, and it is something I will pass on to parents I know with young children just starting out with the web!
This is such awesome post and very useful for parents. Nowadays, Young kids are more frequent using internet and gadgets than reading books and making their home works. That’s why we need to give them a limit to use internet and watch them on what they are doing. Will share this awareness.
Thank you for bringing to the awareness of internet surfing for children and teen. The steps illustrated all the points that we needed to teach to kids.
This is a great post, and an important for for parents to read! I work with the charity Student Unity Project, and one of the many things that we strive to stress for parents is the importance of online safety for young people.
Sometimes, in a lapse of judgement, adults are just as vulnerable when they are on the internet. This serves as a good reminder to all of us internet users, parent or not.