"I happened to see a boy and a girl on OmeTV. He was holding a knife to her throat and wanted to cut her."
"I saw a naked person on OmeTV!"
"They told me to go on OmeTV, but I got really scared of what I saw, and I ran out of the room."
"Someone threatened me to give them money. They asked me where I live. I told them that I live in another country."
"On TikTok, if you look into Momo's eyes, blood starts flowing from your eyes."
"If you jump from the building, there's something down there, and you will be okay!"
In the second grade, in a school in Romania, children eagerly raise their hands. They talk about what they have seen on the internet, what they didn't like. They want to know if it's true or not because no one has ever told them where the line between real and fake is drawn online.
These children need guidance to navigate confidently and safely on the internet. However, many parents believe that such situations do not exist in their families, that their children do not talk to strangers, that they are not subjected to cyberbullying. Thousands of students, however, contradict this belief. The stories are repeated in every school and end with "my parents don't know what I'm looking at on the internet, they don't know I need help."
Are you a parent or a teacher? Read this article and find out why it's important to have open communication with children about unpleasant situations in the online environment.
Hello, I'm your new online friend, I promise I won't harm you
What's important to understand from the beginning is that the internet is necessary for the education and development of children. We live in the digital age, and restricting access will hinder learning and social opportunities.
Parents need to inform themselves and understand what the internet looks like through the eyes of children. They should learn about the dangers to which their children are exposed and how to help them avoid them. By doing so, they can provide the necessary tools for their children to use the internet safely.
Among the most common unpleasant situations that children in Romania are exposed to are:
- catphishing: people who claim to be their friends in order to obtain information about them or their parents;
- inappropriate images posted on the internet: either by children who do not realize that such exposure can have a negative impact on them, or posted by strangers with the intention of denigrating them;
- cyberbullying: children are either victims or harassers.
These situations are encountered by children in games and social media. They often blame themselves for what happens and prefer not to tell anyone. They lack the courage to seek help, and for some of them, the situations may seem unsolvable and perhaps even worse than they really are.
Others, however, are hard to listen to, like this story told by a student. It started with I have a friend who didn't even realize…Her new online friend convinced her to send him pictures of her, and before long, they were on everyone's classmates' phones. She is only 13 years old. Watch the testimony by accessing the link below.
The student shared this story with the Adfaber Association team for a reason. She wants to show children that they are not alone, that such situations occur, and that they can seek help.
The Heroes of the Internet program has prompted confessions from children whose voices have not been heard until recently. It started in 2020 and has had two editions so far, with thousands of teachers presenting it in the classroom and students benefiting from the program's information.
The Heroes of the Internet program, developed by Google and implemented by Adfaber, consists of the tools that parents and teachers need to openly discuss the online environment and educate children about their safety. It includes a comprehensive curriculum for teachers, a family guide for parents, and a game for children
At the end of the school year, Internet Heroes transformed into an Online Safety Caravan. With the support of Google and in partnership with the Romanian Police, the program reached over 95 towns and villages, more than 120 schools, and gathered stories that need to be heard by the whole world.
The Internet Heroes Caravan was also supported by the Code School Clubs technology clubs across the country, which offer IT, robotics, and programming courses. You can find out more about them here.
As volunteers, the Code School Clubs from Galați, Târgoviște, Baia Mare, Constanța, and Arad went to schools and talked to students and teachers about the Internet Heroes program.
In Galați, approximately 5,000 students and around 200 teachers discovered the Internet Heroes' tips about online safety through the volunteers from Code School Clubs.
Thousands of parents, teachers, and children have said YES, we need online safety education.
Schools in Romania need digital tools and education for their use. The Adfaber Association has been enabling the digitization and development of education for many years through programs and coding competitions dedicated to students. Whether from the office or by going to schools, together with the involved teachers, they ensure that students have access to modern learning resources.
This year, in May, the Adfaber team set the Eroii Internetului Caravan in motion with the support of Google. Among the places visited were schools in Bucharest, Urziceni, Galați, Focșani, Bacău, Iași, Târgoviște, Brașov, Sibiu, Bistrița, and Cluj.
Rural children, at the beginning of the online safety lessons provided during the Eroii Internetului Caravan visits, preferred to listen and learn. Their parents do not understand them, believing they do not have real problems, and consider seeing a psychologist or seeking specialized help as shameful. Silence is their solution. As long as an adult doesn't know they are being threatened by strangers on the internet or that their photos have circulated throughout the school, they feel safe. However, sad stories emerge after they find out they are not alone and that there are solutions to their problems.
In the city, some real problems become a matter of pride. In the pursuit of followers, children don't realize that they are exposing intimate details about their lives and confidential information about their parents.
The solution is information and education. Parents and teachers who have not yet discovered the Eroii Internetului program are invited to access the resources and training materials available for free, which will help them talk to the little ones about responsibility and safety in the online environment.
