Digital has endless benefits to how we live our lives. It can make our world bigger and create new opportunities. However, just as we can use it for good, it can also be used to be harmful. Some people may be more susceptible to harm, especially if they don't know how to navigate the internet safely.
This is no difference to how we might navigate our everyday lives in non-digital spaces to digital spaces. From a young age we are taught not to talk to strangers, to check before we cross the road and to tell our parents or carers if someone is horrible to us. As we get older, we experience more of the world, and these new experiences require us to learn new strategies to stay safe. The internet is the same. We all start knowing nothing. We all start in our digital youth, regardless of what age we actually might be. We don't experience the entirety of the internet in one go. We take small steps, learning along the way.
As practitioners, we must be aware of online harms, and how this relates to the people we support. We can't let our own fears determine the opportunities of others, but we should make balanced decisions informed by evidence. There is always an element of risk when we're on the internet, but there can also be risks to someone not having the opportunity to be online.
The guidance below comes from a cohort of organisations participating in the Digital Lifelines Scotland Community of Learning:
Have the awkward and uncomfortable conversations
When we think about harms and risks online, we often think about scams and fraud. This is important, but it’s also crucial that users are able to protect themselves from misinformation, sexual exploitation and even radicalisation. It might be awkward to have conversations about this, but one of our Digital Lifelines organisations said:
“Be kind, but blunt. Don’t leave conversations open to interpretation. Don’t shame people – work within the context of your service.”
Enhancing the media literacy of our learners is crucial to ensuring they have the capability to protect themselves in the current landscape.
Think about the relationship with money
We know that a fear of scams and fraud can be a major factor preventing people from accessing the internet. While there are lots of ways to support our learners to stay safe online, it was also clear from our cohort that the risks weren’t just garden-variety fraud. The ability to effectively manage money online, risks around online financial behaviours like gambling and general financial literacy were also raised. Access to the internet, naturally, amplifies the risk factors related.
The advice from our cohort varied, but improving education about managing money was consistently raised. Among this, supporting your learner to access advice and help from their bank and even attending the bank appointment with them were options. Some people also discussed encouraging users to use Pinterest rather than spending on Temu.
Embed online safety skills to build trust
One consistent feedback we have from anyone working in the digital upskilling space is that conversations around online safety often feel overly complex and not very interesting. A lot of digital inclusion practitioners will agree. We know that embedding online safety is the best way to address this, but sometimes we need to be explicit in how we address this – particularly for vulnerable people. Having conversations about passwords and managing location settings can contribute towards users feeling a greater sense of trust and security in the tech we’re supporting them to use.
We've highlighted some of the common online harms, and information from Get Safe Online on what you can do about each of them.
If you'd like to build solid media literacy foundations, or support someone else, you can follow this 'Media Literacy Learner Pathway' on the Connecting Scotland website.