DIGITAL LIBRARY
ONLINE TOLERANCE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
University "Prof. d-r Asen ZLatarov" - Burgas, Bulgaria (BULGARIA)
About this paper:
Appears in: INTED2020 Proceedings
Publication year: 2020
Pages: 5781-5790
ISBN: 978-84-09-17939-8
ISSN: 2340-1079
doi: 10.21125/inted.2020.1563
Conference name: 14th International Technology, Education and Development Conference
Dates: 2-4 March, 2020
Location: Valencia, Spain
Abstract:
The problem of online tolerance is especially relevant today, when a modern child spends a lot of time in Internet and communicates with children and persons over the age of 18 from all over the world. Unfortunately, online communication carries risks, and children are most vulnerable because they are naive and uninformed enough about it. Anonymity may be maintained in Internet, leading to impunity for acts that should be punished, which makes behavior in the virtual space more free than it actually is in reality.

The idea of tolerance education should cover children from the earliest possible age when their views, attitudes, expectations, and rules for communicating with peers and other people are formed. It follows that online tolerance must be nurtured, which is not supposed to be a form of behavior, precisely because the Internet gives more opportunities than just limits. The study, the results of which will be analyzed in this article, was conducted among 200 primary school students. The aim is to examine their attitude towards the lack of tolerance in Internet, the use of insults and threats on social networks, rejection of others' point of view.

The survey was conducted through a questionnaire of 20 questions that seek students' opinions in several aspects:
• Do they know the meaning of the concept of "tolerance"?
• Have they been threatened or insulted on the Internet and how do they react in such a case?
• Did they offend or threaten anyone else on the Internet and how did they feel about it?
• Do they use emoticons to express their feelings?
• How do they express feelings and mood through the text?
• Do they comply with the time they communicate through messages or video links with others?

It is wrong to think that insults and rude language are normal for today's students, who are heavily influenced by the media, the Internet, and social networks. Rather, adequate methods must be sought to respond to roughness with tolerance and positive communication. The fact is that the higher the computer literacy of students is, the more their online behavior is targeted and with less risk of being socially unacceptable.
Keywords:
Tolerance, Internet, primary school.