Norway launches big campaign against digital bullying
Anniken Huitfeldt, Minister of Children and Equality, was present at her own former school when the "Use your Head" (Bruk Hue) tour made its first appearance at Nordby lower secondary school in Jessheim outside Oslo. Photo: Riks24.no.
On Sept. 3 the Red Cross, ChildMinder, Telenor and the Norwegian Media Authority launched Norway’s biggest ever campaign against digital bullying.
During the next three months, 50 lower secondary schools, 7,500 pupils and 3,500 parents will be visited by the “Use your Head” tour, which is intended to prevent digital bullying by spreading information about how parents and children should handle digital bullying situations.
“It is very satisfying to see how many good forces we have assembled in the fight against digital bullying. Working with the various professional bodies, we have developed a campaign that will help to establish healthy attitudes to the use of digital media among both children and their parents,” says Ragnar Kårhus, head of Telenor in Norway, whose initiative the “Use your Head” tour was.
Half have bullied digitally – or know someone who does it
A survey carried out by Opinion on behalf of Telenor shows that the need for information about digital bullying is great. As many as 85 per cent of Norwegian parents believe that new forms of communication via the internet and mobile phone are helping to make bullying among children and young people more common. At the same time, one parent in four thinks that digital bullying is more serious than normal bullying. Among children aged 10 to 15, almost 50 per cent says they have carried out mobile or internet bullying themselves or know someone who has done it.
“The survey shows that digital bullying is a big problem for many children and young people. As a provider of mobile phone and Internet services, Telenor takes this problem very seriously. We want to be the best at security and safety. We have therefore developed specific tools against digital bullying and we are now continuing the fight through Norway’s biggest ever awareness campaign against digital bullying,” says Kårhus. He is supported by Anniken Huitfeldt, Minister of Children and Equality, who was present at her own former school when the “Use your Head” tour made its first appearance at Nordby lower secondary school in Jessheim outside Oslo.
Children and young people have the right to feel safe. Children and young people today spend a lot of time growing up in the digital arena and to many of them experience bullying on the internet and mobile phone. We want children and young people to be determined, to feel good about themselves and to consider other people. “We have therefore strengthened our campaign against digital bullying on several fronts, including by supporting the ‘Use your Head’ tour,” says Huitfeld.
Read more on Telenor.com
