Safer Internet Day 2018

This is the theme of Safer Internet Day 2018, an initiative aimed at raising awareness among young people of both a conscious use of the Internet and of the active and responsible part everyone can play to make it a positive and safe place where to find information and share ideas.

The use of the Internet rocketed in the last few years.

During the last year, in particular, internet users grew by 10%, making up for over 50% of the world population.

An even greater growth was recorded by social networks. Besides hosting lots information easily accessible and available to everyone, social networks even allow sharing moments of one’s own life. It is worth remembering, though, that once posted online, information can hardly be removed from the net and often the “right to be forgotten” remains fine words on paper more than a reality.

Widespread use and ease of access are of course positive, but need to be managed carefully in order to avoid a misuse of the Internet and of social networks, specifically among the youngest users.

Using the Internet safely is not that difficult though… here are ten tips by the Italian State Police and the Italian Paediatric Association:

• don’t send photos of yourself to anyone, don’t use a webcam if not authorised by your parents
• don’t show yourself in explicit behaviours to anyone
• remember that promises that are too good to be true are actually never true
• never share your phone number or other personal information such as your address, age or photo via email, Facebook or Messenger
• never lend your phone to anyone
• think before opening an attachment or downloading contents: if you know the person from whom you received it, ask for confirmation that he/she actually sent it; otherwise ignore it
• think before posting something online: photos, texts, videos, conversations, messages can be seen also by strangers even after a long time; never post contents that you consider private or confidential and which you could regret in the future
• beware of scams: alarmist messages, requests for help, offers, requests for data, virus notifications are often scams, be careful
• check your social networks (Facebook and Twitter) profile settings: who can see it? who can run searches on you or gather information or expose you to situations that you cannot control? Try to limit access to your information as much as possible
• follow netiquette rules, i.e. good standard of behaviour online: read the site rules, avoid offending anyone, do not circulate someone else’s private messages.