By Teri Dimanlig
Mobile operator Globe Telecom has joined forces once again with the Department of Education and social media giant Facebook to launch ?Digital Discernment? the latest workshop module of their Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP).
The tie-up was announced during a media briefing last February 6, which coincided with the observance of Safer Internet Day.
?With more than 60 million Filipinos using Facebook and with majority of the traffic coming from the Globe network, we are happy to partner once again with Facebook together with the Department of Education,? Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said during his opening message.
As online usage increases in the Philippines, so do the potential risks users face whenever they go online. The most susceptible to these cyber risks being children, the executives said.
According to the annual DQ Global Impact Report, 73% of Filipino minors are exposed to cyber risks. This places the Philippines second among the 29 countries surveyed. Of these risks, the most prevalent include cyber bullying, inappropriate active searches, and gaming addiction.
On top of that, 93% of these children are currently on some form of social media, predominantly Facebook, with 53% being highly active users.
As more children spend more and more of their time in unsupervised online use, they become increasingly susceptible to being compromised by these cyber risks.
?It is inevitable that children of today will be exposed to devices and the internet. Although this comes with some dangers, we also know it presents a lot of opportunities. The crucial work for us is to help children maximize the opportunities technology brings and minimize the cyber risks,? said DQ Institute representative Galvin Ngo.
Given the importance of building a digitally literate online community for Filipino children, Globe, in partnership with DepEd and Facebook, launched the Digital Discernment workshop as part of their Digital Thumbprint Program.
The workshop teaches online users to be critical thinkers, and how to effectively distinguish credible from dubious information. Most importantly, it includes empathy as a core value, educating children to embrace and respect differences in perspective and opinion.
First launched in 2016, the DTP initially consisted of three workshop modules which have since expanded to four with the launch of Digital Discernment.
At present, the DTP has reached more than 17, 000 public and private high school students in the country, with more than 1,800 teachers facilitating the program. The goal is to include the program in all public and private school curricula and ultimately empower students and children alike to become responsible online citizens.
