Safer Internet Day 2017

Today we’re supporting Safer Internet Day, a day where children’s charities, parenting groups, schools, government bodies and companies from across the world join to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of the internet by children and young people. Of course at Virgin Media we don’t limit ourselves to the promotion of child online safety to just one day a year; we commit to it day in day out. But with thousands of organisations coming together on a single day, the message can be all the more powerful.

At Virgin Media we get behind Safer Internet Day every year. This year the theme is ‘Be the change: Unite for a better internet’ so in that spirit we’ve decided to bring together our best tips and tools to help empower you and your family to get the best from the internet, and all in one place! Read on to learn more…


Parental controls and security:

The internet is a great place for kids to discover, create and play. But as a parent or guardian, how confident do you feel that your kids aren’t engaging with inappropriate content? We appreciate that dealing with this can feel daunting for parents, which is why we created filtering tools to help put the power back into parents’ and guardians’ hands. Whether you’re at home or out and about, our clever security tools are designed to give you that extra peace of mind when your family is online.

We provide two award winning tools: Web Safe for in home, and F-Secure SAFE for out of security for all of our broadband customers. You can learn more about how to use these tools, their many features and benefits here.


Boosting your child’s digital resilience with Switched on Families:

Of course no technological solution is going to be able to contend with every harm a child might encounter online. Research by the Oxford Internet Institute shows children who are equipped to identify and deal with online risks have a more positive experience of the online world. So rather than restricting access, teaching children digital skills and talking to them about what risks they might encounter is a vital step.

To help those conversations we created Switched on Families. This brilliant, freely available, interactive guide gives parents honest and useful advice on staying safe online. Here you can get to know the big issues and help your gang to get the best from the internet!


Working together for an interest that’s great for everyone:

We can’t make the internet a great place alone, so we’re collaborating with others to create resources and share tips. Many of these organisations have created some brilliant resources:

The UK Safer Internet Centre is leading SID in the UK. Their focus for 2017 is the Power of Image so check out their website to find some great resources that you can use to help your gang understand how to build a positive personal image online and what to do when they see something inappropriate. Their new age specific videos are great and cover issues like how to make an avatar to how to build an image that is appealing to future employers.

Internet Matters – Virgin Media teamed up with BT, Sky and TalkTalk to create Internet Matters, an online portal offering advice for adults, to help parents and guardians to help their children. Internet Matters provides a huge amount of guidance and support, from dealing with cyberbullying to talking about selfies and self-esteem. You can learn more about Internet Matters, and their own Safer Internet Day activity here.

Liberty Global – Our parent company Liberty Global, is also getting behind Safer Internet Day by raising awareness of the parental controls offered across their brands on their twitter feed.


Importantly, the day is all about highlighting the positive value of technology and exploring the role we can all play in helping to make the internet a safer and kinder place to be. I hope you have a great Safer Internet Day.

Join the Safer Internet Day conversation on social media using the #SID2017 and #giveasmile hashtags - you’ll find children and adults sharing posts filled with positive images and messages.