16. 2. 2024
The digital world poses numerous dangers to children and adolescents, while also offering opportunities. This, along with safe online dating and online grooming were the main topics of an interactive workshop at the Srečko Kosovel Elementary in Sežana on 14 February, as February is also the Safer Internet Month. 58 students from the 4th to the 9th grade attended the workshop, with some of them just now entering the digital world, while others have already begun to master it.
The students engaged in an interactive, fun, and educational conversation about the pitfalls awaiting them in the digital world, how to avoid them, and what safe behaviour on the internet means, through a quiz, the GIGA memory game, and graffiti making.
“It is through these kinds of workshops that we aim to improve their knowledge, and especially to strengthen the awareness and consciousness of students about potential dangers that are just a click away, and to which children and adolescents in the digital world are exposed every day. It's important to openly discuss such topics, as they can also be a source of distress, and to focus on strengthening their digital skills, which will help them in their school and extracurricular activities, as well as later in life. This way, children are empowered and gain additional know-how to help not only their peers but also their parents and grandparents," emphasised Katja Šajnovič, Operations Development Director at Telekom Slovenia, which organized the workshop.
The young people impressed with their openness, curiosity, and in certain aspects, even maturity. "They showed us that they are extremely skilled and aware digitally. Primarily, we talked about online safety, but since we met on Valentine's Day, we also discussed love. More and more friendships and crushes are born online, for which we recognized a significant plus from this perspective. The students shared with us what love means to them, and we looked more closely at an example of online grooming and how to recognize and respond to it. We agreed that when the internet and technologies in general are smartly used, they can bring us closer rather than drive us apart," says mag. Anja Kostevc from Telekom Slovenia, who helped create the event and was a lecturer.
Nika Pukart Jeličič, who also helped created the event and lectured, pointed out that she sees educating the most vulnerable as her mission: "I sincerely wish we could teach all children and parents how to use digital devices in a healthy and educational way, while being aware of all the potential dangers lurking online. I was very pleased with the students' responses and impressed by their knowledge of cybernetics."
Telekom Slovenia aims to reach as many schools and young people across Slovenia with such workshops, helping to expand their knowledge and awareness of the importance of safer internet use.