During our worship today we celebrated safer internet day. Safer internet day is celebrated all over the world and it helps children to understand ways of being safe online as the internet is growing as well as social media. Children discussed all the amazing things that they use the internet for and understand that it is an amazing platform to use with lots of positives. Although the internet is a great tool, we have to be careful that we: remain safe, understand age limits, only play games with those who you know, avoid online bullying and be able to recognise ‘fake news’. Children discussed many ways in which we can avoid these negatives and to enjoy using the internet for all its all amazing uses it can have such as:
- Do not believe everything you see online
- Do not post anything that isn’t kind
- If I see something that makes me feel uncomfortable tell a trusted adult, report it and block it
- Play with people we know
- Most importantly keep having fun!
- Understand age limits and respect those limits
- Keep microphones and cameras off when online gaming with people who you do not know.
One of the aims of the session was to keep talking and to be very open with a trusted adult about your online activity. Whether you have seen something that makes you uncomfortable or whether you have done something you believe is wrong. A trusted adult will always be able to help you and help you to remain safe online.
Most importantly we recognised that the internet is an amazing tool that can be used to help us gain knowledge, communicate with people and have fun. As the internet grows and gets more advanced we understand that it is not going away. But remaining safe is the key.
