Together for a Better Internet
Hello to our fellow internet and social media users!
Welcome to the first instalment of our ‘Safer Social’ weekly newsletter.
Social media and the internet have become an integral part of all of our lives. We as humans are social creatures, and with over 4 billion users worldwide, the internet plays a key role in how we stay connected, educate, and entertain.
It’s 2022 and RiskEye has decided to start the year by launching our Safer Social campaign. Over the past couple of years, we at RiskEye have been observing internet behaviour, risk, and experience, and have noted many gaps in regulation, legislation, and user safety. After observing extreme negativity, cyber-bullying, misinformation, and polarisation over the years, the team decided to sit down and think about ways to promote a safer internet experience for everyone.
Our team came up with the idea of ‘SaferSocial.com’ as well as the idea to publish a weekly newsletter as a way to create an ever-growing community of people who care about a safer, healthier, and more inclusive online space.
The Risks of Online
While the Internet gives us the ability to make connections, learn, laugh, and play, it can pose serious risks to our mental health when things turn dark.
At RiskEye we know seeing the full picture regarding risks is the most complex part. RiskEye have been in the business of risk for quite some time, and we have seen all kinds of danger and threats over the years, and a lot of it isn’t quite what you would expect.
There are, of course, different risks depending on what it is that you use the internet for. Children and teenagers, for example, are at a greater risk of;
- Peer-to-peer comparison on social media apps,
- Cyber-Bullying
- Mental health problems
- Self-confidence issues
- Other forms of targeted harassment.
For adults and the elderly, there is a different set of risks that pose a threat;
- The mass spread of misinformation
- Hacking
- Phishing scams
- Data breaches
If you find yourself spending an excess of time online and you are feeling anxiety, sadness, or frustration – Safer Social may be for you.
What can Safer Social do?
There are different levels to the goal of a Safer Social. Firstly, we decided to look at safer social media use on a personal level, by addressing each user’s personal safety online.
On a universal level, each internet and social media user has a responsibility to take care of each other and promote tolerance and kindness online.
The internet over the years has given people with no voice, a chance to speak and be heard – but in doing so, it has allowed people to hide behind a screen and spread hate and negativity without facing consequences.
After observing and researching over the last number of years, RiskEye decided to design a website, SaferSocial.com, as the first step in creating an online community and spreading the message of online safety and positivity. Safer Social looks at topics like cyber-bullying, online privacy, scams, phishing, viruses, addiction, mental health, and self-worth.
The Safer Social site will allow users to understand everything from online risks to online solutions, as well as tips and tricks for staying safe online for adults as well as for kids. The site will include weekly blogs and infographics as well as a forum where we can start a safe and open dialogue about the ‘digiverse’.
The site also includes how-to guides for fact-finding and learning how to reliably source in a bid to stop the widespread misinformation campaign that has been growing in recent years. The site will also include information regarding other examples of internet risks like understanding and spotting the use of bots both commercially, and politically.
Why should you join the Safer Social Journey?
The goal of Safer Social isn’t to influence you in any way, but to balance the internet playing field and make the space safer for everyone to participate. We want everyone to feel included, to feel like they have a voice and have the tools to keep themselves and each other safe online. We want to also remove the doom and gloom that surrounds social media and the world wide web in 2022.
We encourage you all to subscribe, like, and share our Safer Social content, and join us weekly as we dive into the ins and outs of the internet on our journey to make online a safe and inclusive space for all.
If we were all to adopt the attitudes of Safer Social, the internet would be a much safer space! #safersocial #riskeye #internetsafetyday