The Internet has been an amazing invention that has undoubtedly change the world in more ways than we can think of. Not all of those ways, unfortunately, have been positive. We can connect to people faster, find things easier, and transfer information at the speed of light. These very boons of communication can become the bane of safety. So much of our private lives and information get transferred over the internet, Safer Internet Day reminds us to protect ourselves from the dangers there and make the internet a little safer for everyone.

The internet has been a boon and a curse for teenagers. — J. K. Rowling

History of Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day officially came into existence in 2012 when the US Department of Homeland Security and the European Commission decided it was time to help shepherd the growing beast that was the Internet into a playground that was safer for our youth. In America, things got really going in 2013 when ConnectSafely.org was appointed to coordinate the efforts in the American theater, and they’ve been driving it forward a little more every year. Each year, they choose a theme to help promote and a goal that they intend to reach. What kinds of goals?

In 2015, they began to promote that year’s theme, “Actions & Activism Toward a Better Net & World”, where they focused on concerns like bullying and integration with the National Parent Teacher Association and working to use technology to help effect social change. This is a particularly powerful use of the tool, given that people from every walk of life and culture from around the world can connect and communicate in ways they never could before. That’s what the Internet was for, what it brought to us, and the world it helped bring together.

SAFER INTERNET DAY TIMELINE