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0 Today, February 9th 2021, marks Safer Internet Day and here at Thumb Culture, we’re looking at the importance of reliability in the online world. It’s important to us as a team to promote Gaming For All, and a huge part of that of course includes knowing how to remain safe online. From gaming and tech and beyond, it’s crucial that we empower our young people and one another to use the internet responsibly and safely.
We’re making a pledge to keep our online community safe and welcoming for all members. One of the key ways we do this is through our Discord community, where we engage daily on a range of topics and aim to provide support and friendship to all members of Thumb Culture.
If you’d like to join us in the Thumb Culture Discord, then you can follow the link here or join up via our Discord widget in the sidebar. We’re a friendly bunch, so please feel free to join our community and be part of all things gaming, tech and daily life!
Safer Internet Day 2021: #AnInternetWeTrust
Safer Internet Day is an initiative created by the UK Safer Internet Centre. It’s an open invitation to all to make the internet a safer, more positive place, and we’re more than happy to get behind that! Here’s their campaign message for this year:
Each year in the UK, Safer Internet Day explores a new area or theme that is important to the young people we work with every day. Safer Internet Day 2021 celebrates the amazing range of information and opportunities online, and its potential to inform, connect and inspire us, whilst also looking at how young people can separate fact from fiction. The campaign focuses on how we can know what to trust online, supporting young people to question, challenge and change the online world. It will explore how influence, persuasion and manipulation can impact young people’s decisions, opinions and what they share online. We want to give young people the skills to support one another, and the strategies to spot and speak out against harmful and misleading content online.
Here are some of our top tips from the Safer Internet Centre for ways to encourage a safer internet experience for everyone, as well as some ways to encourage young people to stay positive and safe online.
Safer Internet Tips
What can you trust online? (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.
Trust online: advice from the experts at Full Fact (Tips for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.
Trust online: advice from the experts at Full Fact (Tips for 11-18 year olds) – BSL from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.
Trust online: advice from the experts at Full Fact (Tips for parents and carers) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.
Creating A Responsible Online Life
It’s really important to review and refresh our understanding of internet safety. Technology is such a fast-moving medium that we should all take time to reflect on our online boundaries, especially for our children and young people! We’d challenge you to take some time today to talk to your families about staying safe online. You might be surprised at some of the conversation points that come up!
Let us know your thoughts on online safety in the comments below. If you’ve got any top tips for setting up safe spaces for gaming and online communities, we’d love to hear from you!
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