🤡More Than Robots #26 / February 2020

'tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind’

Hello,
February was known in Old English as 'mud month' - which seems pretty accurate - but it was also known as the 'month of cakes' - which sounds so much better! So, here are a few sweet things that may help us get out of the mud...

📖 Research

Technology use and the mental health of children and young people / Royal College of Psychiatrists
Although the majority of young people find social media useful, young people are also reporting that it places them under significant stress...It is important that young people develop greater self-control and digital literacy to enable them to be more digitally resilient

Young people, Pornography & Age-verification / BBFC / Revealing Reality
62% of 11- to 13-year olds who reported having seen pornography described their viewing as mostly “unintentional” /  41% of those who knew about pornography agreed that watching it made “people less respectful of the opposite sex”

The state of children’s mental health services / Children's Commissioner for England
On average children are waiting just under 8 weeks (53 days) to enter treatment

Do mobile phone bans in schools work? / MUNI
Rules for using mobile phones during breaks are insignificantly related to adolescents’ activities during breaks

Sexting in schools: responses to abuse through image sharing / Contextual Safeguarding
Prevention education should focus on abusive image sharing rather than taking it in the first place

📎 Resources

Age appropriate design: a code of practice for online services / ICO
The new code sets out 15 standards for platform and app design with a focus on 'ensuring that children have the best possible access to online services whilst minimising data collection and use - by default'

Ask About Games / Ukie
Advice for parents and players about video game age ratings and tips on how to play games safely and responsibly

Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
A glossary of internationally agreed-upon terminology

Be Internet Legends - Digital Wellbeing module / Google / Parent Zone
Free resources to 'help 7 to 11-year-olds learn about how technology can make them feel – and reflect on how to use technology in a balanced way.' Can be used stand-alone or with the core Be Internet Legends Curriculum.
#SeeItDifferently / One Plus One / Good Things Foundation
Four short videos to support parents reflect on how their communication may impact on children

💬 Inspiration and opinion

Podcast: Safeguarding the sector: designing digital ethics for your charity
'Any innovation, whether in digital, data and technology can have unforeseen ramifications. Charities must consider how any technology they use, develop or pioneer can affect those they work with'

Twenty-first century contact in care: a response by foster carers
'The management and organisation of contact is now radically changing with the use of mobile devices and the internet'

Grieving in a Digital Age
'Online is not forever. Digital legacies disappear for a variety of reasons, sometimes unexpectedly, and losing them can feel as traumatic as a second loss'

From Manchester to Barcelona: Building a better story about the internet
'[The Luddites] weren’t against technology in the abstract. They were against the relationships of domination that particular technologies enacted'

Questioning Tech Work - A brief history of 'Computer People for Peace'
'Questioning the work we do is woven into the historical fabric of the tech industry'


...and finally
We may have left something. But we do not know where we have gone - maybe through a portal...