Ireland’s Online Safety and Media Regulation bill signed into law
Irish President Higgins has signed the Online Safety and Media Regulation (OSMR) bill into law.
Research partners are key stakeholders in the Better Internet for Kids agenda, providing a body of knowledge and evidence on issues affecting children and young people online today. Armed with this knowledge, we are able to identify emerging trends and shape appropriate responses and create effective resources for the challenges presented.
On this page, you'll find a selection of articles corresponding to the work of research partners in the safer and better internet field.
Irish President Higgins has signed the Online Safety and Media Regulation (OSMR) bill into law.
The issue of low female participation in IT and cyber-related activities seems to be apparent in most countries. The information technology sector is in need of many new specialists in Estonia and elsewhere in the world.
High school students’ answers to a flash quiz suggest knowledge gaps regarding social networks and searching for information. This event occurred in the two Portuguese main fairs on education, work, and training. It was co-organised with the Portuguese Institute for Sports and Youth and actively involved young volunteers. Further collaboration with national stakeholders, young ambassadors and informal spaces could improve working digital skills in adolescents.
A Roundtable on child and youth consumer protection in digital markets will take place online on Thursday, 22 September. Hosted by European Schoolnet as part of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) initiative on behalf of DG CONNECT and DG JUST of the European Commission, the event will seek to consider the main online opportunities and risks for children and young people as consumers, and how child and youth protection in digital markets are being addressed through existing and planned regulation.
On the internet, adolescents are exposed to unrealistic beauty standards, idealised and sexualised images of people and their lifestyles. Failure to live up to such beauty standards imposed by unattainable and often graphically altered pictures online can have a negative impact on the well-being and mental health of young people, according to a new study conducted by the Slovenian Safer Internet Centre.
Today, the European Commission has adopted a new European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+), with the aim to improve age-appropriate digital services and to ensure that every child is protected, empowered and respected online. This new strategy comes ten years after the first BIK strategy, and during the European Year of Youth, spotlighting the voices and ideas of young people themselves.
Internet access opens up an endless world of interesting things for children and teenagers to discover and, at least in theory, helps them better understand how the world in which we live works. On the other hand, we see daily examples of sites, articles and videos that present social, political and economic events in a style that does not correspond to journalistic principles.
As technology has developed, although having many benefits, it has permitted various forms of cyberbullying to multiply over the years. From sending malicious or threatening messages, to spreading unpleasant secrets in the virtual environment, or breaking accounts on social networks and changing them in order to ridicule others, our children can be subjected to a range of humiliating situations online which they need help responding to.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, launched a comprehensive report of a national survey of children and young people, and their parents and carers regarding online safety. The report was commissioned following a recommendation put forward by the National Advisory Council for Online Safety (NACOS) that acknowledged the need for up-to-date research and evidence about the state of online safety in Ireland.
In less than two weeks, on the 29 and 30 November 2021, the first KID_ACTIONS EU policy, Research and Practitioners Forum will take place in Trento, Italy. Educators, researchers, youth workers, professors, people from the IT sector and many more, will travel to Trento to take part in this forum on-site or will join the forum online. The different stakeholders will gather to discuss the important matter of preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Make sure to join this event if you are interested in or working (indirectly) on the topic of cyberbullying.
Check out your SIC profile page to connect with national resources and sources of support, providing awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services.