In the times of pandemic, the lives of students, teachers and working professionals have gone digital. Now that teachers and students are also spending their maximum time on the Internet, it was observed that it’s the need of an hour to have a discussion on digital well-being. To highlight upon the most concerned issues, an online workshop was organized to talk about Cyber Safety and Cyber Etiquette.
The online workshop was started with a round of introduction of trainers. The online session commenced with a reflection on screen timings of kids with regard to social media. It was observed that the majority of kids aged between 13 – 15 yrs were more active on WhatsApp when it came to using social media platforms. Arnika gave a brief about social media and its uses.
Building the conversation around communication in the online spaces, the trainers played tangram with students in order to understand social communication. To create cyber awareness among students videos on online bullying and ‘5 tips on Internet Safety’ were played for students. Recently there has been a lot of news reports on cyber crimes targeted at minors. This has created a global debate among parents, educational institutions, governments and cyber security experts in order to create a safe online experience for below 15 teenagers.
Since the usage of the Internet has increased therefore, the next session highlighted the safety mechanism to be followed in the online spaces to secure social identity and features to be used. It was followed by a discussion with the students. In the final session there was a Q & A session where there were mainly questions regarding safety and privacy concerns while playing online games. The workshop wrapped up after the Q & A.
Social Media Matters has been conducting workshops on Online Safety and Digital Well-being pan India. The efforts are regulated to generate awareness among the masses about cyber safety and security.