Local ToT, Bologna - Mind Over Screens
The digital world doesn’t come with a manual. For young people growing up online, the challenges are real – misinformation, privacy risks, digital wellbeing, and an overwhelming flood of media. Addressing those challenges requires educators who are not only knowledgeable, but confident and well-prepared. And that’s what this Training of Trainers set out to build.
Who was in the room?
Participants came from across the Trnava region, bringing a rich mix of backgrounds: trainee educators, NGO workers, volunteers, and youth workers. Some arrived with considerable experience; others were still finding their footing. What they all shared was a genuine motivation to better understand the digital landscape — and to support young people within it.
The six workshops organized as part of Youth Net’s Mind Over Screen program provided an opportunity for senior citizens, working professionals, and young volunteers from around the world to come together at the association’s headquarters to discuss the impact of new technologies on our minds and how we use them.
These workshops helped us develop practical skills:
- A critical approach to media information
- Knowledge of techniques to incorporate into daily life in order to use new technologies in a healthier way
- Understanding how our data is managed
- Recognizing the impact of social media on mental health and knowing how to protect ourselves
The different modules were about:
- The digital citizenship and online ethics
- Online safety and privacy protection
- A critical media consumption
- The digital Footprint management
- The digital wellness and selfcare
- Empowerment and Advocacy
- Monitoring and Evaluation Methods
To reach these conclusions, we shared our feelings, habits, and advice. This helped us let go of the guilt we might feel about our bad habits and realize that, unfortunately, many of us are affected by the negative impacts of social media in our lives.
Sharing our thoughts also allowed us to shed light on the challenges we face in our daily lives and helped us broaden our perspectives on certain issues we might not have considered on our own, such as more technical aspects like data security.
To ensure we use technology in a positive way in our lives, we’ve shared our best tips and recommendations that work for us. Specifically, we were able to share our experiences on how to feel less attached to screens, how to fall asleep more quickly, how what we post can influence our online image, and so on.
Now it’s easier for us to share our experiences openly and start a conversation with our peers about these topics. In addition, it was also interesting to take part in activities with participants of various ages, ranging from 18 to 67.
This allowed us to compare the experiences of different generations with technology, how its arrival in our lives influences our daily habits, and also to see that, despite our age differences, we share common practices when it comes to technology!
At the end of this training, we received a certificate, enabling us to apply these new skills to our personal lives, as well as to leverage this new experience in our professional lives.