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Keeping Our Children Safe in an Ever-changing Online World
From Mr Markovic
Director of Educational Technology
Saying that eSafety is important seems like stating the obvious – after all, eSafety is the virtual equivalent of personal safety in everyday life. When we educate our children about the dangers of the outside world and ways of avoiding these, one of the first things we teach our young ones is not to speak to strangers. I believe that it is high time to ask ourselves the following question – how certain are we that our children are not doing the very thing we warned them against in the virtual realm?
A recent survey confirmed that a substantial number of children aged 7-11 believe that information on platforms like QQ, Weibo, TikTok, and Bilibili is correct most or all the time, they feel that there is pressure to be popular on social media and believe that social media will make them feel happy.
These are patterns that we aim to target through education and conversations raising awareness of Digital Citizenship, including eSafety and digital health and wellbeing. We do so throughout the academic year through in-class activities, as well as during our dedicated themed weeks – Digital Citizenship Week (October) and Safer Internet Week (February).
It is encouraging that over two-thirds of the pupils in our school can react proactively to adversity online by using the ‘Report’ function offered by most platforms. This certainly owes to the fact that all our pupils reported that they had received guidance on how to use the Internet safely - in school, by a parent, or both. Together, we can ensure that they remember to Ignore-Block-Report unsettling content and suspicious people in the virtual realm.
Let us briefly reflect on the question we asked ourselves at the beginning of this article. While I want to believe that none of our children will speak to or follow strangers in the real world, it is evident that almost a third will engage with them in online conversation. Are we able to monitor 100% of our children’s time, including their online gaming? I would wager not. Clearly, the way forward is to continue educating children about the more and less good aspects of the Internet. We should regularly talk to our children, and perhaps more importantly – we must listen to our children, giving them an opportunity to share their ideas, experiences, and concerns with us.
Safer Internet Week
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This is an excellent segue into the theme of this year’s Safer Internet Week - navigating change online. Wellington College International Tianjin Safer Internet Week is an extension of Safer Internet Day, an annual event observed in February in over 170 countries worldwide.
Created by the UK Safer Internet Centre, it represents a celebration of technology as well as a global campaign to promote young people using the Internet responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively. In conversations and activities with our pupils in all phases of the school, we focus on change online, which includes covering topics such as young people’s perspective on new and emerging technology, potential ethical issues arising from the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the role and impact of social media influencers on children’s choices and behaviour both online and offline.
Onward, together, to a better digital future!
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