Safer Internet Day is an initiative that originated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre. The centre is coordinated by a partnership that consists of three organisations namely; Childnet International, the South West Grid for learning as well as the Internet Watch Foundation. It also forms part of the Insafe network. It is funded by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Programme. The UK Safer Internet Centre has three main actions: It is an Awareness centre, a Helpline, and a Hotline.

In order to promote a safer, responsible and positive way to use digital technology for children and young people, the UK Safer Internet Centre initiated Safer Internet Day. Through the involvement of many organisations working together with the centre, The UK has launched successful Safer Internet Day celebrations on an annual basis since 2011.

90% of the participants surveyed said that they use social networking sites. Mxit & Facebook were preferred. 67.3% Said that they access it on a daily basis. 42,9% had been asked to meet someone they had only chatted to online. Nearly 40% of these participants physically met someone who they do not personally know. The participants surveyed that 30% of these online people were not who they thought it was going to be.

85.5% of the participants have a computer at home and 70.7% report that they have Internet access at home. However, children also access the Internet at schools. 6% of the participants spend more than four hours per day on the Internet. In addition, the majority (36.8%) use it in their bedrooms. 62.7% do not have to ask permission when using the Internet and 54.4% use it under no supervision.

_{M de Lange & R von Solms – ZA Paper Presented & Published. Institute for ICT Advancement and School of ICT Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Learners aged 12 to 18+ years old were involved in this study. The participants were of both genders and different ethnic groups. The aim was to complete 2000 surveys. However, the final sample consisted of 1594 learners}