Eliot, 9, raised his hand from the back of the class to respond to a guardian agent I was wondering what it was cyberbullying. Without hesitation, this little boy explains to his classmates that “it’s when you’re on WhatsApp and someone starts telling you that you’re a failure, that you’re worthless, they tell you again, you’re sad and you start to cry. ” This is one of the reactions of a 4th grade student from the San Rafael de La Fuensanta diocesan center – where most admitted to having their own cell phones – to the intervention of the local police tutors, Paco and Isabel , responsible for preventing harassment, cyberbullying and the dangers of the Internet.
The presentation begins in the second class period. The guardian officers enter the classroom and one of the children says hello to them and says: Don’t shoot!, looking at his gun. uniformed officers. This is one of the anecdotes of these local police officers in charge of this project that improves coexistence in the centers that the coordinator of the unit Juan Jesús Alcántara talks about every day, who is celebrating ten years since its launch.
“There is an increasing demand from educational centers – last year we gave 400 lectures – and we try to be closer to the educational community, we also always serve parents through schools; It is a unit that is here to stay, just like road safety or road education. The conferences are aimed at children, according to their age, and are adapt the content. For example, you are not going to talk to a fifth grader about gender violence or pornography… but you are going to talk about hate crimes or cyberbullying. “What happens is that in this approach between tutor agents and students in their classes, they feel comfortable and come to share their own problems.
From these discussions arises the consequences of these cases, explains Jiménez. “Last year, 84 minors were treated with their families, for whom 622 follow-ups were necessary to solve the problem. “most were related to screen and internet use.”
One of the most serious cases tackled by this patrol of guardian agents last year was that of a 5th grade boy who confessed at the end of class between sobs what was happening to him. He showed her his arms with cuts that he covered with long sleeves while wearing a sweatshirt… even when it was hot. “This child didn’t want to talk to anyone, his parents had no idea what was going on, not even the guardian, but he called me at the end of the interview to talk to me because I inspired him with confidence” , says guardian agent Isabel, in her fourth year in this Córdoba Local Police Unit who teaches with Paco, in clear and didactic language, how to protect yourself from crimes committed on the Internet.
Guardian Officer Shows Cell Phone Cameras to Children to Warn Them They May Be Recorded
The lecture at the San Rafael school begins with a screen showing the most common games among children in this second stage of primary school, such as Roblox, Fortnite, MinecraftFifa, Tiktok… The guardian agent asks who knows them and the response is overwhelming, everyone raises their hands. The agent explains to him how they can have access to Tik-Tok or Fornite when the minimum age is 13, even though they are 9 years old. “Agents Isa and Paco come to warn of certain dangers which, with the things you do every day, can get us into trouble,” they begin to speak under the watchful gaze of the children.
The tutor agent Paco assures them that the Internet is “a tool which, used well, is magnificent but misused “It can cause a lot of problems.” Agent Paco asks Siri how big the moon is… and she replies that it has an area of 38 million kilometers. It’s the good side of the Internet, but it reminds kids that there may be bad people behind it all. The agents show you one by one the seven dangers of being online.
You never talk to strangers online
The first of these is that children’s accounts must not include their name or age. “If you have your own account on Tiktok, you lied because neither of you are 13.” “You should never put your photo on profile pictures, you are underage and they can use your face to give you a different body and then blackmail you and ask for more intimate photos. No talk to strangers through networks; “You have to put a landscape, your mascot or the emblem of your football team,” explains this agent who emphasizes that the biggest warning to these 4th grade children is to never talk to strangers online.
“In Robolox there are avatars that look for boyfriends and appear with the initials next to the number (NV); If you won’t say hello… to someone you don’t know or don’t even look at, why do it online? The guard agents explain to them that behind a guy called Spiderman there may be a bad man of 45 or 50 years old who does not have good intentions.
The recommendation is that in games I always know who I am playing with, whether it is my friend, my neighbor or my cousin… never with a name where we do not know who is behind it. Another of the recommendations of these agents is not to hang up vacation photos in the United States at the same time, because it gives thieves clues that the house is empty and they can take advantage of this to break in, as has happened to famous footballers. Networking also leads to a loss of social skills and causes irritability and poor language use.
Less than half of the children in the tutor’s class admitted that if they go out with their parents to eat and see children nearby, they do not get up and ask them to play with them.
