Management approach
Parents and teachers are now under great pressure when it comes to the use of media by children and young people. Different value systems generate tension. Young people experience media as a natural element of their everyday lives and find it difficult to accept any limitations. Swisscom sees itself as bearing a responsibility, as its products make it possible for the everyday lives of children and young people to be penetrated by digital media in the first place. Swisscom decided very early to conscientiously fulfil more than just the legal requirements. It has therefore adopted additional measures to establish meaningful, target-oriented media use in Switzerland. Swisscom is convinced that only balanced, moderate media use can advance the information society.
CR team members are responsible for youth protection and media competence. When it comes to the protection of minors, Swisscom relies on technical measures such as filters, clearly regulated processes in the advisory and sales process and the blocking of value-added services. It does, however, also favour clear preventive measures such as targeted education, sensitisation and information for the various stakeholder groups. To ensure a meaningful KPI, Swisscom measures the number of contacts made as a result of these measures. Swisscom maintains an active discourse with individual stakeholder groups from the family policy arena, schools and parents’ organisations to make the best possible use of synergies.
Swisscom’s approach has been successful from the very outset. The various measures such as “enter”, the digital media guide, the media courses and the social media channel of the youth media protection officer are rated very highly by customers, readers and users and reach the target groups to a sufficient extent. Swisscom also supports the High Principles on Child Protection of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO).
The rapidly changing media landscape constantly produces new challenges for parents, teachers and all those involved in youth media protection. For this reason, Swisscom continuously updates its information material.
It is important to Swisscom that everyone in Switzerland should be able to take advantage of digital media. To this end, it guarantees reliable network access almost everywhere in the country. Beyond the applicable technical requirements, it takes the social impact of digital media seriously. It is committed to getting the most out of new media, to protecting minors and to supporting initiatives that bridge the digital divide. Swisscom will be maintaining its goal in 2019 and promoting measured, responsible media use, thereby championing a healthy information society that adds value in line with the federal government’s strategy. Swisscom is convinced that Switzerland as a business location, the Swiss educational landscape and the entire population will continue to benefit from a progressive ICT landscape both now and in the future. In harmony with Swisscom, the Digital Switzerland initiative passed by the Federal Council in April 2016 relates not only to the infrastructure aspects of information and communication technologies, but also to issues of data handling and the development of an information society. The digitisation of broad swathes of society is essential. This includes much more than the mere use of technical devices and applications and requires each individual to be open and willing to learn on a daily basis. For this very reason, it is vital that we as individuals develop a healthy, responsible attitude to dealing with the new forms of digitisation in the current phase of transformation.