How can we protect minors online without excluding them from the opportunities that technology offers?
This timely question was at the heart of a roundtable discussion organised by Google in Athens on “Μinors’ Safety in the Digital Age”, with the participation of Dr. Garth Graham, Head of Public Health at Google & YouTube.
KMOP was represented by its Head of Programmes, Dr. Yiannis Pappas, who brought insights from the organisation’s longstanding work to protect children and promote their wellbeing in the digital world, as well as knowledge gained through KMOP’s participation in the European Commission’s Special Panel on Child Safety Online.
Reflecting on the issue, he explains:
Digital literacy is important, but so is an approach that strengthens not only digital skills, but also trust and communication between children, parents and educators, so that children feel able to seek help when something goes wrong. At the same time, responsibility cannot rest solely with families. Digital service providers also have a responsibility. This means we need to move beyond the simple question of whether children should have access to digital environments and ask a more difficult one: what should digital environments look like when we know that children are using them?
The discussion particularly highlighted the need for solutions that build safety into digital services from the outset, take account of children’s different needs and ensure their voices are heard. The aim is not to exclude children from the digital world, but to create the conditions in which they can learn, create, communicate and participate more safely.
At KMOP, we continue to contribute to this effort through initiatives that strengthen media literacy and critical thinking, activities that foster cooperation between children, parents and educators, research, and active participation in European dialogue. Through this work, we contribute to evidence-based policies and practices that put children’s rights, safety and wellbeing at the heart of the digital world.
We thank Google Greece for the invitation and the valuable exchange of perspectives.