Online Hate

Managing media with tweens (10-13 years old)

Helping Kids Build Safe and Smart Digital Habits

There are four main strategies to help kids become resilient to online risks. We can:

Curate our kids’ media experiences;

Control who can access our kids and their data;

Co-view media with our kids;

and be our kids’ media Coaches.

Managing media with teens

While they’re not going through as much development as tweens, moving to high school at the beginning of this stage – and moving out of it at the end – can be stressful.

Just a Joke? Printable activity sheet 

This printable activity sheet introduces basic media literacy skills and concepts and is suitable for use in homes, schools and libraries. It can be completed independently, but children will learn more if you discuss the activity with them. Younger children may need help reading the instructions and completing the activity. 

Break the Fake: Spotting hate propaganda

What do we mean by propaganda?

  • Propaganda tries to get you to believe in an idea or to feel a certain way.
  • Propaganda convinces you by provoking your emotions instead of making a logical argument.

Not all propaganda is bad! It can inspire positive emotions like love, pride and empathy. It can persuade us to do things like putting on seatbelts or brushing our teeth.

Hate propaganda is different: it tries to make us fear and distrust another group of people.

Printable activities for younger children

These printable activity sheets introduce basic media literacy skills and concepts and are suitable for use in homes, schools and libraries. They can be completed independently, but children will learn more if you discuss the activities with them. Younger children may need help reading the instructions and completing some activities.

My Voice is Louder Than Hate

My Voice is Louder Than Hate, MediaSmarts’ latest resource, uses digital storytelling and meme making tools to encourage youth to push back when they encounter hate online.

My Voice is Louder Than Hate: The Impact of Hate

In this lesson, students explore how interacting through digital media can make it easier to hurt someone’s feelings and can make hurtful or prejudiced behaviour seem normal in online spaces. They learn how Canadian youth feel about and respond to casual prejudice online and then use the My Voice is Louder Than Hate tool to create a digital story that will help people understand that online hate hurts everyone who witnesses it.

My Voice is Louder Than Hate: Pushing Back Against Hate

Level: Grades 9 to 10

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 1 to 1 ½ hours

This lesson is part of the My Voice is Louder Than Hate program. This program was possible with financial contributions from Public Safety Canada’s Community Resilience Fund.

My Voice is Louder Than Hate Teacher Guide

The My Voice is Louder Than Hate teacher’s guide provides an expanded discussion of topics such as online hate, casual prejudice, dehumanization and digital citizenship and detailed instructions on how to present the My Voice is Louder Than Hate lessons in a way that will be emotionally safe for students.

Talking to kids about casual prejudice online

That’s why it’s important to talk to kids about casual prejudice which is the use of words or phrases that are negative towards a particular group - and help them learn how to push back in situations where they’re not sure if the person meant to be hurtful.

Here are some tips on how to help your kids respond to casual prejudice online:

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