Today, February 7th, is celebrated as Safer Internet Day. On this occasion, the Association for Civil Activism FORUM 16 – Bitola promotes its poster “If I were a superhero, what would I do to combat hate speech”. The poster is designed by our volunteer Darko Lekovski and for inspiration he used the drawings from the workshop “From Youth For Youth With Love” that we had with the students from the primary school “Kole Kaninski” Bitola.
This year, the No Hate Speech Movement marks Safer Internet Day under the motto “Be the change: Unite for a better Internet.” The movement shares the following questions to encourage critical reflection on what we can do to make the Internet a better place for all.
If you had the power what would you do to reduce hate speech online?
If you had the power what rules would you change to make the Internet a safer place for young people?
If you had the power how would you decrease fake news online?
If you had the power what would you do to prevent cyberbullying?
If you had the power what would you do to promote democracy online?
Do you behave the same when online as in your real life? Why?
What do you do when you read hate speech comments?
How do you find out if online news is real or fake?
How do you check if information is fact or false?
How can you support a friends that is being bullied online?
What does online democratic culture mean to you?
How can you behave democratically online?
The initiative for Safer Internet Day comes from the European Union, with aim to:
– Remind children and young people to use Internet and mobile technologies responsibly and safely, and to think about the consequences of the content they publish on their profiles
– Emphasize the need for parents, educational institutions and other organizations to put more effort to develop digital and media literacy of children from an early age
Social media today include millions of users; most of them are young people, children and teenagers. Often this category of users is not aware that the published personal information (photos, videos) remain in the network and are exposed to the danger of being abused by anyone who has access to the network. When asked what their favorite toys are, children say tablet or smartphone. So, the risk to come across an inappropriate content on the Internet is huge. It is therefore necessary the educational system to has curricula for digital and media literacy of children from preschool age. In order to have results, cooperation between schools, parents, other institutions and businesses is needed.