Rome (Italy). On 8 February 2022, Safer Internet Day (SID) is celebrated, the world day for network security, established and promoted by the European Commission in 2004, to promote the correct use of the network and an active and responsible role for everyone.
Over the years, SID has become a reference event for civil and educational institutions and organizations, involving over 200 countries around the world, engaged in the organization of initiatives and events aimed at raising awareness among communities on web-related issue, collected in a calendar on the European Commission website dedicated to the day: https://www.saferinternetday.org/
The 2022 theme is Together for a better internet, to reflect on how to promote together a responsible, respectful, critical, and creative use of digital technologies, in order to make the internet a positive and safe place for all, especially for children and young people.
From cyberbullying to the prudent use of social networks, to the protection of digital identity, every year Safer Internet Day, now in its 19th edition, aims to raise awareness of the dangers of the web and to value its potential.
Pope Francis in the Message for World Communications Day of 2019, highlighted the risks associated with social networks: “It is necessary to recognize that social networks, if on the one hand they serve to connect us more, to make us find and help each other, on the other hand, they also lend themselves to a manipulative use of personal data, aimed at obtaining political or economic advantages, without due respect for the person and his/her rights.”
At the same time, referring to the metaphor of the network, he invited us to rediscover its positive potential and to ‘network’ as a community committed to protecting its shared objectives: “Traced back to the anthropological dimension, the metaphor of the network recalls another figure full of meanings, that of the community. A community is all the stronger the more it is cohesive and supportive, animated by feelings of trust and pursuing shared objectives. The community as a network of solidarity requires mutual listening and dialogue, based on the responsible use of language.”
SID is an important opportunity to stimulate the critical thinking of children, adolescents, and young people regarding the conscious use of the network and the associated risks, making them feel accompanied and supported by families and educational institutions. To celebrate the day, there will be in-depth studies in schools, webinars, live shows, and interviews with experts. Each reality will animate the day through its own sites and social channels, connected to the European Commission site, which provides materials and research in different languages. The hashtag # SID2022 will accompany the story of the day on social media.
In Italy, the Safer Internet Center – Generazioni Connesse (Connected Generations) project is coordinated by the Ministry of Education (MIUR), with the partnership of some of the main Italian companies that deal with Internet security. Planned for 8 February is a direct steaming on the social channels of the site www.generazioniconnesse.it and on the website of the Ministry of Education, with institutional interventions and two webinars aimed at schools.
The 6th edition of the Month for Network Security will also begin with SID 2022. During the month of February, schools throughout Italy and the project partners are called upon to carry out activities to disseminate the principles of the positive use of the network and technological tools, which they will be able to share through the Generazioni Connesse portal.
