Launching Norway's biggest campaign against digital bullying
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - (Fornebu, Oslo 3 September 2009) Today the Red Cross, ChildMinder,Telenor and the Norwegian Media Authority launched Norway's biggestever campaign against digital bullying. During the next three months,50 lower secondary schools, 7,500 pupils and 3,500 parents will bevisited by the "Use your Head" tour, which is intended to preventdigital bullying by spreading information about how parents andchildren should handle digital bullying situations."It is very satisfying to see how many good forces we have assembledin the fight against digital bullying. Working with the variousprofessional bodies, we have developed a campaign that will help toestablish healthy attitudes to the use of digital media among bothchildren and their parents," says Ragnar Kårhus, head of Telenor inNorway, whose initiative the "Use your Head" tour was.Half have bullied digitally - or know someone who does itA survey carried out by Opinion on behalf of Telenor shows that theneed for information about digital bullying is great. As many as 85per cent of Norwegian parents believe that new forms of communicationvia the internet and mobile phone are helping to make bullying amongchildren and young people more common. At the same time, one parentin four thinks that digital bullying is more serious than normalbullying. Among children aged 10 to 15, almost 50 per cent says theyhave carried out mobile or internet bullying themselves or knowsomeone who has done it."The survey shows that digital bullying is a big problem for manychildren and young people. As a provider of mobile phone and Internetservices, Telenor takes this problem very seriously. We want to bethe best at security and safety. We have therefore developed specifictools against digital bullying and we are now continuing the fightthrough Norway's biggest ever awareness campaign against digitalbullying," says Kårhus. He is supported by Anniken Huitfeldt,Minister of Children and Equality, who was present at her own formerschool when the ""Use your Head" tour made its first appearance atNordby lower secondary school in Jessheim outside Oslo."Children and young people have the right to feel safe. Children andyoung people today spend a lot of time growing up in the digitalarena and to many of them experience bullying on the internet andmobile phone. We want children and young people to be determined, tofeel good about themselves and to consider other people. We havetherefore strengthened our campaign against digital bullying onseveral fronts, including by supporting the ""Use your Head" tour,"says Huitfeld.One in three parents doesn't speak with their childrenThe survey shows that more then one in three parents don't speak withtheir children about mobile or internet bullying. The children answerapproximately the same."Children don't always want to speak with their parents about issuessuch as digital bullying. That's why it's important for children tohave a place to go to. Red Cross are there for the children through"Kors på halsen", where they can talk to responsible adults abouttheir worries and questions", says Sven Mollekleiv, President in RedCross."As a parent, it's not easy to keep up with of our children ineverything they do on the Internet. They use online communities inthe same way as we used the coffee shop on the corner in the olddays. It's important to get out information about the fact thatdigital bullying is just as serious as bullying in the school yard",Mollekleiv says.Prevention to stop the first bullying messageSeveral of the organisations behind the "Use your Head" tour pointout the particular importance of preventive work to fight digitalbullying."We are particularly concerned to put the focus on good communicationbetween parents and their children. For this reason, the "Use yourHead" tour encourages a dialogue with both parents and pupils atevery school. This will make it easier for parents to talk to theirchildren about relevantproblems later, which is something very valuable," says consultantKjellaug T. Tønnesen of ChildMinder.The authorities are also backing the "Use your Head" tour and theNorwegian Media Authority's "Trygg Bruk" (Safe Use) project has,together with Telenor, helped to realise the project throughfinancial support."The "Use your Head" tour helps to create an increased understandingof how important it is to use normal good manners when using digitalmedia. This is a very important job and we want to support it," saysThomas Hepsø, project manager of the Trygg Bruk project.Thousands are using the bully filter on their mobile phonesLast winter Telenor launched a dedicated bully filter to shut thebullies out of mobile phones. Telenor has since had ample proof ofthe need for this service. To date, over 1,300 mobile phonesubscribers have installed the bully filter on their phones."The aim is to help establish a healthy set of values and standardsamong users of digital services. In the long term, we hope thereforethat the need for bully filters and similar services will disappear.In the meantime, however, there is no doubt that such a need existsand that many need extra protection. The bully filter is a good andimportant contribution to this," says Kårhus.The bully filter from Telenor gives users the opportunity toblacklist mobile phone numbers they don't want to receive text orimages from. The bully filter may easily be activated by callingTelenor's customer service on 09000. Then it is up to the user toenter numbers on www.telenor.no. Once the bully filter has beeninstalled, blacklisted messages will be sent to a dedicated e-mailaccount at www.telenor.no , so that the user can access them if sodesired. The sender of any blacklisted message that has been blockedwill receive the following message: "Warning. You have been blockedfrom sending messages to this number." The bully filter is completelyfree of charge.About "Use your Head" - a tour of schools about digital bullyingThe work of developing the "Use your Head" tour has been going on foralmost a year. Telenor, the Red Cross, ChildMinder and the NorwegianMedia Authority have been jointly developing a dialogue based schooltour that emphasises participation by both parents and the childrenthemselves. The tour gives specific advice about how both childrenand parents can fight digital bullying. The aim is to make youngpeople, parents and teachers more aware of what digital bullying is,what can create bullying situations, what one should avoid doing andwhat mental and legal consequences digital bullying can lead to.During the course of autumn 2009, the tour will visit 50 schools,7,500 pupils and 3,500 parents. Each visit will include a daytimemeeting for lower secondary school pupils and a meeting for parentsin the afternoon and evening. The tour begins in Oslo, ÿstfold andAkershus, where it will be visiting lower secondary schools over thenext three months.For further information, please contact:Telenor's information manager, Atle Lessum, telephone: + 47 415 05645Red Cross media consultant, Astrid Arnslett, telephone: +47 22 05 4047 or mobile: + 47 932 86 460.Kjellaug T. Tønnesen, consultant at ChildMinder, telephone: + 47 5351 93 83 or mobile: +47 473 75 686.Thomas Hepsø, project manager of the Trygg Bruk project at theNorwegian Media Authority, telephone: +47 69 30 12 59 or mobile +4797 66 44 91.See also www.brukhue.com for more information.This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Datum: 03.09.2009 - 13:11 Uhr
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