Upstanding through digital media
Upstanding can take many forms, and adding the context of digital media creates certain limits while at the same time opening new opportunities.
At Centre for Digital Youth Care we use the upstander approach in many aspects of what we do, but in a quite informal manner. When there is no COVID we tour schools and workplaces of Denmark, giving presentations on the digital lives of youth. We are in direct contact with over 6.000 students and over 4.000 professionals each year talking about life online.
One of the main things we focus on in these presentations are the ways to protect yourself online. We focus on consent, on saying no, on setting boundaries, and on reporting and blocking abusive, unpleasant, and unsolicited content and contacts. This is a very direct way of encouraging the upstander approach. However, we do also work with a quite indirect way of upstanding.
Through the podcast "Straight Up" ("Lige på" in Danish), which is a podcast about being a young man in Denmark, and all that entails of bodily insecurities, heartbreak, doubts about identity, trouble fitting in, and other insecurities, the upstander approach is encouraged through peer to peer communication. Young men talk to young men about their thoughts, feelings, and insecurities, and encourage each other to stand up for themselves and others. The goal is to create an open and respectful dialogue, to overcome taboos, and to break down stereotypes. Straight up has been quite successful with 20 episodes that have been heard over 7.000 times in total.
Straight Up - a podcast about being a young man in Denmark. No filter, no bullshit - straight up.
Life online is real life
Digital media is always the starting point for Centre for Digital Youth Care when talking to and about youth. The online and offline lives cannot be seen as two separate things, but are instead completely intertwined, being two different arenas which youh (and all people, for that matter) tune in and out of many times throughout the day. The sharp distinction between "online" and "real life" is arbitrary, no longer makes sense, and hasn't made sense in a long time. Therefore, it is vitally important that we, as professionals, acknowledge the digital space as just another arena youths frequent, just like "school" and "at home" are different arenas they frequent.
With this mindset it becomes a lot easier to create initiatives that are relevant to youths, and to show youths that we understand them and where they are coming from. This is one of our main focuses at Centre for Digital Youth Care - both in our general line of work, but especially when working with the upstander approach.
