DELIVERED BY ALEX LAMING, HEAD OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Safer Internet Day is held every February in over 170 different countries. The goal of Safer Internet Day is to call on people across the world to work together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, but especially for young people. In the UK, the UK Safer Internet Centre runs a campaign especially for the day which aims to start a national conversation about using technology safely and positively.

Safer Internet Day is also a celebration – of everything the internet has done and can do for us all. Imagine a world without the internet – how would your life change?

The theme for Safer Internet Day this year is all about change online.

Technology is changing all the time, often at a rapid rate. Think about how technology has changed in your lifetime alone.

What new developments have happened in the last 10 years?

Of course, we can also think about this theme in another way: how is the internet changing us?
What we see online, who we see it with, how long we see it for, how we see it… all of the content we come across and interact with has the potential to influence the way we think, feel and act.
Think about …

It’s likely that all of these have been influenced or even changed by your use of technology and the internet in some way.

So, let's start by thinking about how the internet can change our lives for the better. Who or what online has allowed you to change, learn, or grow in a positive way?

There are some great things on that list, but we know that technology and the internet can also have a negative influence on us too…

Here at Queenswood we want to make sure you are safe, in all parts of your life including online. If something you’ve seen online or something that happened online is worrying you or affecting you, please come to us for help and advice.

We’ll listen carefully and work with you to decide what the best thing to do next might be.

As we come to the end of this assembly, we’ve looked at how technology and the internet are changing all the time. These changes mean that we can access and consume content in ways that have never been done before, which can influence us in lots of positive ways but also in some negative ways as well.

However, many of you here will also be using the internet to message, share and post your own content online. That means you’re not just being influenced online, but also potentially influencing others too. So, one thing I challenge you to reflect on this Safer Internet Day is: How are you going to use that influence to inspire positive change?