INTERVIEW: Victoria Gribinet, online specialist

Why do youth workers and volunteers need to know about online safety?

Youth workers and volunteers need to know more about online safety as they are the ones who interact on a daily basis with young people, teenagers, children who might need their guidance, support, a trusted person.

What safety measures do you recommend to prevent digital sexual abuse?

First of all, let’s not forget that the internet is actually a public space. Even if we have a communication with a person in a private chat room, it remains. The internet remains in public space because anyone can access that conversation at any time. As a prevention, we should also try to protect ourselves when we send messages, distribute something on the Internet, whatever, to have some control questions, for example if I post this picture and it is seen for example by parents, would I be ok with that? If I post this picture or write this comment or whatever, in 5, 10 years from now will I be okay with this picture or this comment? If the answer is YES to both, then I think that would be a safer choice. If you answer NO or I don’t know or maybe, it would be good to maybe pause sending the message and reconsider. And that’s why it’s very important to talk about what we feel, how we feel online because even if the online environment is a space where we interact virtually, the impact of what happens online has a direct impact on our emotional state, on our well-being.

How can young people be encouraged to seek help if they feel they are being abused online?

Young people, children, teenagers who experience online abuse need to trust that they will be listened to, that they will not be judged, that the person they are confiding in will not make fun of their situation, will not minimize the situation and will try to help. We can encourage by our openness to talk about these topics, to show them that we are ready to talk about it, that we are not the people who will blame them or judge them for what they have done but we are the people they can talk to about how they feel and will always be on their side.

The interview is made after the Training Workshop entitled “Young men and women safe online”, which was attended by youth workers and volunteers from the Youth Centers in Chisinau. Read the article about the workshop HERE.