science

Internet Matters

Internet Matters is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Internet Matters rather than just read about it. In short: Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation based in London, England. Launched in May 2014 by the United Kingdom's largest internet service providers BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the organisation offers child internet safety advice to parents, careers and professionals.

Internet Matters — illustration

Key takeaways

Internet Matters belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Internet Matters to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Internet Matters from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation based in London, England. Launched in May 2014 by the United Kingdom's largest internet service providers BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the organisation offers child internet safety advice to parents, careers and professionals.

History Internet Matters was launched on 13 May 2014 with a launch event at the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London attended by guests including Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Janet Ellis and industry experts including Sonia Livingstone. At the time, David Cameron described the launch as 'a significant step forward in our mission to protect our children online'. Internet Matters is supported by the largest internet service providers in the UK. Between them they have direct relationships with 90% of internet households in the UK. The organisation also works closely with other child e-safety charities and industry bodies including the NSPCC, Childnet, FOSI, the CEOP, search engine Google and TikTok.

Partners

Website The Internet Matters online portal gives information and guidance about the main e-safety issues children might be exposed to when browsing the internet, as well as safeguarding and parental controls advice. The portal contains information for parents on the online issues of cyberbullying, inappropriate content, online pornography, online reputation, online grooming, sexting, self-harm, radicalisation and more. The site has published guidance to help parents understand information relevant to their child’s age, the latest in connected technologies, mobile applications, social networking and online gaming.

Connecting Safely Online Connecting Safely Online is an initiative to help children and young people with learning difficulties tackle online safety issues. It was launched in 2020 alongside Youthworks and in partnership with Meta.

Digital Matters Digital Matters is an online safety learning platform designed for schools, parents, and children to teach children skills in online safety. It was developed with support from Internet Matters' partner, ESET, and uses manga-style art. It was shortlisted for the Teach Primary 2022 awards in the App category.

Published research

Cybersafe (2013) Cybersafe 2013 was a study commissioned to support the launch of Internet Matters. The findings of the study highlighted a clear demand for more information about the risks children face when accessing the internet, at the time of research 74% of parents surveyed stated they wanted to know more. Of the 74%, 18% wanted to learn more about filtering content and blocking access to specific websites.

Back to School (2015) Over 1000 UK parents were surveyed to identify at what age they thought a child owning a smartphone was OK. The survey revealed that the majority of parents (84.6%) would like a minimum age on smartphone ownership with 10 being the most popular age.

Pace of Change (2015) Internet Matters commissioned Childwise to carry out a UK-wide study to explore the use and understanding of technology among children aged 7–17, and parents of children this age. The research revealed an increasing gap between parents and children online with the fact that children spent significantly longer online, with girls using smartphones on average 4 hours a day.

References

External links Internet Matters Back to School (2015) Pace of Change report (2015) Cybersafe (2013)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Internet Matters

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Internet Matters claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Internet Matters before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Internet Matters ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Internet Matters

In research: Internet Matters appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Internet Matters in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Internet Matters is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 establishments in England, Charities based in the United Kingdom, Internet-related organizations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Internet Matters outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Internet Matters in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Internet Matters means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Internet Matters out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Internet Matters in simple terms?

Why does Internet Matters matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Internet Matters?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Internet Matters.