Encouraged by the sustained effort and attention to promoting safer internet practices, through a raft of initiatives this year, various stakeholders have given their full endorsement to Flow Jamaica’s Connected and Protected programme.

The increase in cyber bullying practices has become a growing concern for many Jamaican citizens who would have requested that the issue be addressed and strategies implemented to reduce its frequency. Through this programme, Flow aims to educate youths, parents and the elderly about safer internet practices.

Due to the expanded access and dangers on one side for the youth and elderly, and the thrust by predators on the other, the stakeholders said they recognised that more needed to be done through their continuous efforts, and they have acted.

Launched on January 31, the event featured government, non-government organisations (NGOs) and a students’ council.

In attendance was Lesia Bhagwandat Vassell, acting deputy registrar, Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), who said she was happy Flow would dedicate an entire year of activities to protecting Jamaican children.

“The area that we’ll seek to collaborate on is that of educating our parents. We know that the children know everything about the internet and being safe, so to speak, but teaching and training our parents to help their children to be safe when they’re on the internet, that’s big for us,” said Bhagwandat Vassell.

Dannyelle-Jordan Bailey, president of the National Secondary Students’ Council (NSSC), also welcomed the proramme, noting that it was a good way to ensure safety within the online space, “especially since it’s so predominant in socialising our young people” in today’s society.

She added that the programme was a good way to help youths express themselves and voice issues that they see on the internet. Additionally, it will allow youths to share how the internet can help with their education and building tolerance for different beliefs.

“Usually when people share with us any suspicious interactions that they would have had within the internet space, or suspicious interactions that they’re having, the most that we can do as students is pretty much tell them to stay clear of it because we can tell the signs of when something is going to go
wrong within the online space, since we’ve been grown within the online space,” Bailey reasoned.

Similar sentiments were shared by Stewart Jacobs, president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), who called the initiative a remarkable show of corporate social responsibility because “Flow is spending their hard-earned cash back into society to protect us.”

Jacobs continued: “#ConnectedandProtected2023 is indeed a great initiative. It’s value added to the wider landscape of Jamaica, especially our children who are so vulnerable at times to the predators on the internet. In the same way that we protect ourselves and our families on the physical highway, then we ought to protect them on the internet highway.”

He added: “One of the things I like about this programme, especially, is that it encompasses what I call the sandwich effect; it encompasses the elderly and the young, both on the vulnerable spectrum of the human race.

“It is not only for a day, like a nine-day wonder, it’s not only for a week, it’s for an entire 12 months and I think what will happen is by 2024, when you have another Safer Internet Day, it will be part and parcel of our natural behaviour in how we surf the net, and what we choose to consume,” Jacobs theorised.

“Content protection is what it’s all about and I really appreciate and laud Flow for what they’ve done.”

Activities in the #ConnectedandProtected programme will run over a year and focus heavily on strategies to counter negative online behaviours, especially for children and the elderly, who are more vulnerable. The key elements of #ConnectedandProtected2023 are:

• The Safer Internet Day Youth Summit on Tuesday, February 7

• A U-Report Online Safety Poll – conducted this year between January 16 and 31

• Seniors’ Online Safety Forum on Tuesday, February 21

• Safer Internet School Grant

• Online Safety Ambassador Programme, returns from March-May

• Online Safety Sessions with Parents from June to August

• September to November is focused on Online Safety Sessions with Seniors and Volunteers.