Being Safe on the Internet (Asia Region)
This video includes tips on internet safety, advising young people to think carefully before they share pictures and videos on the Internet. The video covers what to do if someone you met on the Internet makes you uncomfortable – stop communication immediately and tell a trusted adult. The video advises young people not to meet someone they only met online in person, but if they do, meet in a public place and bring a friend. The video also includes a definition of cyberbullying and what to do if you are experiencing cyberbullying. Finally, the video suggests checking privacy settings and never sharing passwords.
Youth
This video discussion guide is one of a set of six discussion guides available for peer educators to use to educate young and middle adolescents about sexual and reproductive health in the Asia Pacific Region.
The discussion guides each incorporate an AMAZE educational video that addresses a topic and can be used to supplement existing lesson plans or resources that you may already be using to provide sexual and reproductive health information to young people. Each video discussion guide consists of an introduction to the topic of the video, a screening of the video, discussion and reflection questions, and an optional activity and/or quiz.
Discussion and Reflection
- What was it like to watch this video? What is your initial reaction?
- How easy or difficult can it be to decide what information to share or not share? What feels safe and what feels unsafe online?
- How would you define “cyberbullying”? What are some things you’ve heard about cyberbullying?
- What suggestions do you have to reduce instances of cyberbullying?
- What are your key takeaways from this video and discussion?
- Respect participants’ opinions
- Practice active listening
- Use inclusive and gender-neutral terms
- Give everyone a chance to respond or share
- Remind participants to be respectful of others and practice active listening
- This discussion may trigger trauma in participants who are currently or have previously experienced cyberbullying. Be sure to let them know that they can talk to you after the session and be prepared to provide referrals to a counsellor or health services as needed.
- Be prepared to respond to participants who may begin to disclose personal experiences during the discussion or point out perceived perpetrators by acknowledging what they’ve shared and letting them know where they can seek support, including a trusted adult.
- Be attentive to participants’ special needs. Some participants may need special arrangements to be able to engage in discussions or activities. For instance, you can adjust the physical space to accommodate participants with limited mobility or modify the activity to require less movement.
Agree? or Disagree? Activity
This is a great group activity that you can conduct online or in person. Explain to participants that you will be playing Agree or Disagree. In person, tell participants to position themselves in a line facing the same way in the middle of the room and that you will be reading several statements. If they agree, they should move forward a step; if they disagree, they should move back a step. If conducting the activity virtually, consider using the Raise Hand feature on Zoom for participants to indicate that they agree.
- The internet is supposed to be used freely, so sharing personal stories or information on social media platforms is okay.
- Someone is sending threatening messages to your friend. Since you think your friend is being cyberbullied, you would encourage them to talk to a trusted adult.
- Someone is sending threatening messages to your friend in their social media platforms. The best thing for them to do is respond and engage to fight back.
- It’s okay to meet in person someone you’ve only met online, even if you’ve been communicating with them for a long time.
Summary
Cyberbullying involves the posting or sending of electronic messages, including pictures or videos, aimed at harassing, threatening or targeting another person.
Adjust social media settings so that only the people you select are able to see your personal information and posts. It’s important to check these privacy settings frequently, because sites sometimes change their policies.
- Think before you post.
- Don’t reveal identifying details about yourself, like address, phone number, school, credit card number, and other personal information, online.
Conclude the session by sharing the key summary points below:
Remember to make sure that you are aware that nothing we do online is really private, including emails, text messages and even the apps that we use in our gadgets before you decide to post or share anything on your social media platform. The good news is that you are in control of how much or how little to share with friends, networks and the world and
there are actions that you can use to stay safe.
If someone you met on the Internet makes you uncomfortable – stop communication immediately and tell a trusted adult. It’s best not to meet with someone in person if you only met them online, but if you do, meet in a public place and bring a friend.
If you get threatening or intimidating online messages, or find someone shares your picture or personal data without your consent, you are being cyberbullied. If you realize that you, or someone else you know, is being cyberbullied – it’s always better to block, delete, or ignore bullying messages, rather than keep responding to them. If that doesn’t work, or if it’s a threat – get help from a trusted adult.