Teaching Youth to Use Their Common Sense Online

According to the Pew Research Center 92% of teens in the United States go online daily and nearly 88% have access to cell phones or smart phones[1]. By the time children in the UK have completed their compulsory education (age 16), most have regularly accessed the internet and computers for multiple purposes. And we see similar trends across the world.

Additionally, according to Symantec's 2016 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), there were over one million web attacks worldwide against people each day in 2015 and nearly 75 percent of all legitimate websites have unpatched vulnerabilities.

Compound this with the growing risks that children face online, 42% of child sexual exploitation victims in the United States have met their perpetrators online[2], bullying is on the rise across the world and possible via a growing number of games and social media. Additionally, some children are becoming tech savvier than their parents, able to "outsmart" them and hide online activity. 

Children may be tech-savvy, but they don’t always make the best decisions or know how to use devices safely and responsibly. Protecting our devices, products and services is one critical piece of this puzzle however, education and advocacy plays an equally important role and is a powerful piece we must not ignore.

We believe that in the same way that we educate our children about other risks, it is imperative that we educate them about avoiding online dangers. Online safety is a key strategic area of our corporate responsibility and philanthropy strategy. We dedicate monetary and volunteer resources every year to strengthening our youth's and adult's ability to stay safe online.

For example, since 2010, Symantec has partnered with Common Sense a leading online safety non-profit, to empower our employees, educators and parents to become ambassadors for online safety. We do this through helping Common Sense expand and improve their offerings as well as leveraging their tools to join Common Sense's growing community of online safety advocates.

Leveraging Common Sense’s resources, Symantec's Online Safety in the Community Programprovides employees with all the materials and information needed to work with local schools and other organizations to help students and their families navigate online challenges and harness technology for learning and life.

Additionally, in FY15 and FY16, we supported Common Sense’s K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum, which teaches students how to make safe, smart, and ethical decisions in the digital world.  The core digital citizenship curriculum includes over 65 lesson plans tailored to each grade level and is based on the research of Dr. Howard Gardner and the GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Additionally, the curriculum includes lesson plans, family education materials, interactive activities, and professional development for teachers. Topics include internet security, privacy and security, cyber bullying, self image and identity, and more.

Our FY16 grant helped Common Sense expand this program into Australia and parts of Asia. 2,300 Australian and South East Asia schoolsand 3,445 educators have registered to use CSM’s online digital literacy and citizenship resources. Additionally, in the United States 90,000 K-12 schools and 300,000 K-12 educators have registered on the website.

Just as media and technology develop at a rapid pace, so do the risks that come along with them. We must continue to teach our tech savvy youth the what, why and how of a digital common sense that allows them to safely enjoy the richness today's media and technology offer. 

Symantec employees teach Online Safety to Jean Parker Elementary School in San Francisco, CA.

If you’d like to learn more about how a Symantec employee volunteer can teach online safety in your local school or classroom, contact us at Community_Relations@symantec.com.

Jaime Barclay is Symantec’s Corporate Philanthropy Program Manager