International School Dhaka and DPS STS School came together to arrange a webinar on Safer Internet for Children. The interactive virtual session facilitated by Grameenphone took place recently and was open for all to join. Creating a safer and balanced digital space for the children to help them experience only what is suitable – was the core theme of the webinar.
Due to COVID-19, children have been compelled to use the internet via different devices to connect to their education and other prospective activities from home. To help eliminate the possible adverse effects of these web-sessions on children, Khairul Basher, Head of Communications at Grameenphone, conducted the webinar emphasizing parental supervision and proper maintenance of digital community standards. Several hundred parents from the respective schools have attended the session.
Khairul Basher, Head of Communications, Grameenphone expressed his concern stating, “We have seen offices turn towards ‘Work from home’. While schools had to secure its doors to ensure physical safety, the windows for online education opened up. And this is what we call the new normal way of living. The Internet contains a universe of knowledge and information that helps us to learn and positively develop ourselves. As all physical entities and services convert into a digitalized form, it’s important our children are also able to access this. But this accessibility should be followed by guidance. And this is where the teacher, parents, and siblings hold the most important responsibility.”
The session also covers the issues of global usage of the internet and cyberbullying. In April alone, 50,000 years’ worth of media was live-streamed. Google Meet saw 3,800 years of the worth amount of time spent in sessions each day. There has been a 70% increase in the usage of smartphones and phones. 40% increase in the usage of laptops and a 32% increase in usage of PCs and desktops. Average global broadband consumption increased by 47%.
Correlating the aforementioned data, 87% of youth have been victims of cyber-bullying. 60% of children are exposed to cyber risks in some way or the other. One-third of middle school students report dealing with cyber-bullying at least once a week to daily. Girls get cyber-bullied 3 times more than boys.
