Tuesday 11th February is Safer Internet Day. The theme for this year’s Safer Internet Day is ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online’.
Young people mostly enjoy using the internet – it allows them to connect with friends, access information easier, aids their learning, discover who they are and express themselves. But more and more young people are experiencing a negative time online – research suggests one in three young people have seen something worrying online while nearly half of young people have been exposed to online pornography.
We want young people to enjoy using the internet and have a positive experience while doing so.
At the Scottish Youth Parliament, we are currently working with young people to deliver two projects related to the online world – Mind Yer Time and NSPCC’s Child Safety Online initiative.
MindYerTime.scot is a digital resource made by young people for young people. It includes details on bullying, digital rights, learning, mental health, social media and more. Last year, our ‘Screensavers’ created new resources on body image and self-esteem, which is an important issue that young people raise in relation to content they come across in their social media feeds.
Marianna Medina MSYP, one of our Screensavers, said:
The resources are useful for young people as they are thought provoking and can lead to meaningful conversations between children and adults.”
Meanwhile, our Child Safety Online Project, in partnership with the NSPCC, aims to amplify young people’s views and experiences to improve online safety for children and young people in Scotland.
Our ‘Digital Safety Ambassadors’ – ten young people in the project working group – will be taking the lead in planning, delivering, and evaluating this project. Throughout 2025, the Digital Safety Ambassadors will lead participatory workshops to support groups of young people all over Scotland to:
- Identify and consolidate their views on the key issues related to child safety online.
- Co-design solutions to the problems they’ve identified as placing children and young people at risk online
Digital Safety Ambassador Catriona Daw MSYP, shared why this project matters:
It’s really important that we are involved in making the internet a safer place as the only people who can truly know the dangers of the internet to young people is us as we experience it firsthand. Leaving children and young people out of the discussion would lead to important issues being overlooked.”
Catriona elaborated on what her vision of a safer internet would look like:
“A place where children and young people can access social media and the rest of the internet without the worry of seeing harmful, inappropriate or misleading content and somewhere where they are safe from people with harmful intentions.”
You can access help, information and support for young people aged 12 to 25 on keeping safe online at: