The main goal was to prevent the negative impact & influence of social media influencers on youth. This was part of the general efforts towards responsible use of the internet both by young people, but also the responsibility to provide online safety from the public institutions & private companies. It is the role of young workers to empower young people in critical thinking and media literacy. It is also their role to advocate based on the EU standards protecting young people on internet. The specific objectives of the project were: 1. To empower youngsters in critical thinking and media literacy through developing a toolkit with a set of innovative workshops and tools. 2. To empower youth workers in creativity for prevention of negative impact of social media influencers on youth, through developing curriculum. 3. To build the capacity of youth workers to advocate towards local and national governments on implementing the European standards protecting young people on the internet such as Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), Digital services act and the European strategy for a better Internet for children.
We applied for this project to address the growing negative influence of social media influencers on young people’s self-esteem, mental health, and well-being. While some argue that influencers can inspire and motivate young people to pursue their goals and aspirations, others suggest that they can have a negative impact on young people's mental health and well-being. On the positive side, some influencers use their platforms to promote positive messages and provide a sense of community for their followers. However, we wanted to address the negative influence, to make sure that young people will critically assess the information received from the media and do the same when considering to create content for the public. The project addressed the need for youth to develop critical thinking and media literacy, while also equipping youth workers with innovative tools to address these challenges in line with European standards and policies.