For today’s younger generations, time spent online is almost as significant as time spent offline. The digital space offers a seemingly limitless range of opportunities for learning, communication, and entertainment, yet it also carries many hidden risks. On the occasion of International Youth Day, the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) is drawing attention to these challenges, underlining its strategic goal of equipping families with the knowledge needed for conscious and skilled use of digital devices.
International Youth Day, marked annually on 12 August since 1999, serves to highlight the role, rights, and everyday struggles of future generations. The NMHH stresses that education is key in this field. Young people must be aware not only of the potential dangers and harms in the digital world but also of how to use online opportunities to their advantage.
Guided by this approach, the NMHH is intensifying its educational activities to reach as many people as possible. This includes initiatives such as the Bűvösvölgy media literacy centres, which offer interactive training for 9–16-year-olds, and the Internet Hotline, a free legal aid service for over a decade. Another notable programme is the Net-Coach adult education course, launched with Apor Vilmos Catholic College, now entering its third year, which trains professionals to assist teachers, parents, and youth in managing online risks and opportunities.
The authority also operates child-protection education through its gyerekaneten.hu platform, produces podcasts on current online child safety issues, and runs public awareness campaigns. One recent initiative, ‘Be an Online Hero!’, launched in June with the Child Protection Internet Roundtable, shares five key tips to combat online abuse. These include making use of filtering software, creating a digital household code of conduct, safeguarding personal data, understanding the conscious use of artificial intelligence, and knowing how to access the Internet Hotline.
Further information is available at onlinehosok.hu or in the campaign’s video. The NMHH emphasizes that fostering safe, conscious, and opportunity-focused internet use among young people is essential to supporting their development in a digital age where the virtual and physical worlds are increasingly intertwined.
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