Stay Safe Online: Safer Internet Day 2016 Learnings

What do a WWE Star, minions and ASKfm have in common? They all believe in the importance of a safer, more positive Internet. Earlier this month, the ASKfm team joined the aforementioned special guests, along with hundreds of students, educators, and leaders in social media and online safety at this year’s Safer Internet Day at Universal Studios.

Hosted by ConnectSafely with the theme of “Play Your Part for a Better Internet,” the day featured interactive panels, discussions and activities on the latest and greatest smart digital citizenship practices for teens and families. The ASKfm team spent a good portion of the day doing what we do best – asking questions! We’ll be sharing video interviews with event participants and thought-leaders here over the next few months, so be sure to check back for updates.

There were a ton of great learnings from the day – ASKfm’s own Catherine Teitelbaum was a judge for this year’s student-led working group competition. Participants were asked: What are our rights and responsibilities as creators and consumers of digital media/content? Here’s a quick snapshot of the advice the winners from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California came up with:

  • Create knowledgeable and trustworthy content that is important.
  • Create a democracy-based environment that consumers will invest in.
  • Be positive, self-aware, generous and humble.
  • Protect our content from people stealing creative property. Secure it.
  • Because of social media, there are higher standards, unrealistic ideas of how people should look, live, act … which creates less self-confidence.
  • We have the right to post whatever we want but we should monitor our content considering other people’s feelings.
  • We have the right of free speech but the responsibility to use speech wisely.

Great perspective to keep in mind as we all go about our daily online activities! It takes a community to keep the Internet safe, and it’s great to see everyone, including teens, come together to help make the digital world a safe, positive experience.

For more interesting discussions and panels, you can view a live stream of Safer Internet Day here.