Smartphones, tablets, and games consoles are at the top of many children's Christmas wish lists. This raises many questions for parents. One of them is: How do I protect my child from potential dangers? Teachtoday provides tips on how parents can supervise the use of electronic devices and teach media skills through play. The vacation season is a good opportunity for this.
According to the Kinder Medien Monitor 2023, the smartphone is at the top of the wish list for 6 to 9-year-old girls and boys. And in fact, most children will get their first smartphone by their twelfth birthday at the latest. Christmas is just around the corner. Many children have high hopes for a digital device. For some parents, doubts and uncertainty mix with the joy of fulfilling their child's wish. After all, the arrival of smartphones, tablets, games consoles and the like in the home often brings new challenges.
As parents or guardians, they want to protect their children and guide them competently. They know that Media literacy is important. But what exactly does that mean? How can I help my child understand how platforms work, what trolls, bots and memes are, who and what content they can trust - or how they should react if they encounter hate online, are bullied, or ripped off?
The free time over Christmas is a good opportunity for families to take a closer look at the online world and its opportunities and dangers together. This doesn't just apply to digital beginners who are getting their first smartphone or tablet as a present. It also makes sense to talk to children who have been using digital technology for a while. After all, not many parents know what experiences their children are having online. This makes it even more important that children - as well as their adult caregivers - develop an understanding of how to use digital media safely.
Learning media skills with Teachtoday
This is precisely the aim of Teachtoday. The Deutsche Telekom initiative to promote safe and competent media use was launched in 2008 and supports children, young people, parents, grandparents and educators with everyday tips and materials. The website features exciting blog posts about the digital world, online workshops on artificial intelligence, interactive videos on digital moral courage and much more. Teachtoday offers a wide range of formats for different age groups and groups of people.
Here are a few examples
In the new Teachtoday Academy, there are webcasts to watch together, including on the topic of "Arguing fairly instead of arguing". Or various interactive learning modules, for example on the topics of "Digital civil courage" or "Gaming". The learning modules not only contain a video but are supplemented by various small interactive knowledge quizzes that support learning and encourage children to become active themselves.
There is also a suitable format for children aged 9-12 on the topic of digital moral courage: Courage on the Internet. It shows how we can all become tough online heroes. This and all other formats can also be found in the Teachtoday Toolbox. There are over 130 different materials and "learning snacks" for the young target group. These range from practical tips on topics such as cyberbullying, civil courage, gaming, and AI to a simple guide to coding.
The Scroller offers the best entertainment and interesting facts about the digital world. The free, multimedia digital magazine combines expert knowledge from research with many years of educational experience and offers a variety of interactive graphics, quizzes, audio, and video contributions, presented in an easy and appealing way for the target group of children aged between 9 and 12. Digital phenomena are presented in an understandable and interactive way in the Scroller. The current magazine, for example, is about the "Fascination of AI". For teachers, there is SCROLLER EDU+, an additional media-didactic accompanying offer, which is provided free of charge via Teachtoday.
