Have you ever been in a situation where your own daughter was begging you for attention while you were on-line sending emails or going through your FB? The STEPin project is all about supporting parents to become role models for their children and motivators for using their time on-line in a sensible and constructive way while promoting the well-being of their children and the healthy life style of their families. The project addresses the following priorities: ADULT EDUCATION: Increasing the demand and take-up through effective outreach, guidance and motivation strategies HORIZONTAL: Innovative practices in a digital eraHORIZONTAL: Supporting educators, youth workers, educational leaders and supporting staff Most parents having school children aged over 10, belong to another less-digital generation themselves, feel powerless to face these dangers, prevent their childrens’ or even their own excessive exposure on the internet, protect them and deal with potential abusive behavior. Apart from the above, parents themselves, as adults, face related problems. For adults-parents this becomes especially difficult if one considers that 40% of adults in EU have insufficient digital skills (Eurostat 2018) and even those possessing a real command of digital skills often lack the attitude to put them to full use: only 2% of the digitally competent can demonstrate critical thinking while searching for information online (EU,2017). In addressing the above, the project will map out the current scene in all countries, record efforts to deal with Internet Abusing Behaviour/Addiction, as seen in children’s and young people’s (10-18yrs) attitudes, while proposing a series of actions: targeted upskilling programmes for parents/educators, delivered in an engaging social learning environment and build around the concept of learner motivation. Motivational workflows designed around the awarding of badges following the accomplishment of single mode or team challenges will immerse learners in a social learning context to help them achieve their screen reduction goals. Furthermore, the project goes even further by exploiting the role of parents as AMBASSADORS/ ROLE MODELS catering for the well-being of their children while introducing healthy life style within their families. Motivational activities will be organized to to encourage parents to reflect on their habits first by reducing their screen time and then to assess, identify, prevent or deal with their childrens’ on-line behavior. 7 organisations from the UK, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia will work together in this challenging project complementing each other in terms of expertise and experience, but with a common aim: to support parents in order to be able to identify, prevent or deal with internet abusive behaviours while improving the well-being of their families. 4 main Intellectual Outputs will be produceds: recording tool for good practices, peer review report, assessment tool for measuring and monitoring IAB, platform with help desk for parents, educational pack with learning material for adult educators and a strong awareness raising campaign. 5 multiplier events are planned to disseminate the products and results of the project. It is expected that by the end of the project: - Adult organisations will upgrade their tools and teaching resources - Adult educators will strengthen their profiles in dealing with IAB issues - Parents will be more prepared and aware of how to recognize symptoms and deal with their parents’ IAB - Parents will be able to understand the triggering factors of IAB and prevent them
The STEPin project has compiled a record of current efforts to deal with internet abuse behavior and implemented a range of measures to counteract this behavior. The aim of these measures was to promote rational, comprehensible and psychologically and socially non-harmful Internet use. In order to promote interpersonal networking, the participants also had the opportunity to meet the local project participants and representatives, such as other parents, educators and local trainers, to interact with them and share their experiences to increase their shared understanding of how to confront or even manage the problem of abusive internet behavior. Motivational activities were organized to encourage parents to first reflect on their habits by reducing their screen time and then to assess and learn how to deal with their children's online behavior. The transnational nature of the project has produced valuable tools that are transferrable to other EU contexts with minor modifications and additional benefits.
The 21st century, also known as the “digital age”, is characterized by increasing internet use. However, criticism of the harmful effects of the Internet has increased. In the meantime, the public discourse is also about the effects of excessive Internet use. The spectrum of problematic behavior in this context is far-reaching. A recent study in 10 EU countries found an overall prevalence of problematic internet use of 4.4% (Durkee et al. 2015). The research suggests that specific family influences, such as the quality and closeness of parent-child relationships, may be a critical set of factors that contribute to a child or adolescent developing patterns of abusive behavior when using the Internet. As a result, many parents and caregivers may feel powerless when faced with the increasing dangers of excessive internet use. Therefore, the STEPin project is about supporting parents and guardians to become role models for their children to use online time constructively and meaningfully while promoting the well-being of their children and families.