Hi, I’m Polina, the 16-year-old co-founder of a project aimed at helping Cherkasy youth understand the importance of internet safety.
Can you imagine spending even a single day without the internet? Probably not. Today, most of us are constantly online. While adults often approach the online space cautiously, young people tend to neglect safety due to a lack of awareness.
Internet addiction is one of the challenges many teenagers face. In 2021, a survey by Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation revealed that over 41 per cent of Ukrainians had experienced cyberbullying, and a third had fallen victim to online scams. Among teens aged 15 and older, 65 per cent reported feeling unsafe online, with 30 per cent experiencing fraud, another 30 per cent facing online violence, 25 per cent enduring offensive behavior and 23 per cent encountering upsetting or harmful content.
The COVID-19 pandemic also significantly increased our screen time, further exposing us to cybercriminals, misinformation and scams.
This is why my friends and I – Vika, Stella and Danya – decided to take action. Together, we launched ‘Children of the Internet’, a project implemented in our city of Cherkasy through the UPSHIFT programme run by UNICEF.
To understand the problem better, we conducted our own research among local youth aged 14 to 18. We discovered that 70 per cent of respondents were unfamiliar with safe online practices and 20 per cent had been victims of scams. Armed with this knowledge, and after participating in a bootcamp and receiving funding, we began our project.
Our initiative included two main stages:
1️⃣ Presentations in Cherkasy schools
We introduced our project, discussed online dangers and invited high school students (14 to 18 years old) to join our training sessions.
2️⃣ Cybersecurity training sessions: ‘The Dangers Facing Youth Online’
We held a series of interactive training sessions at the STEP IT Academy, teaching participants how to navigate the risks of the online world, especially in times of war.
The students who attended our presentations and training gained essential skills to stay safe online. They learned how to create secure passwords, recognize fraudulent accounts, avoid suspicious links and much more. The sessions also offered new friendships, thoughtful gifts and unforgettable experiences.
We’re proud of what we’ve achieved with this project!
So, let me ask you – do you know how to protect your personal data online?
