Bullying & harassment

A clearer picture of what hurts kids online

What do young people find harmful online? Is ‘cyberbullying’ an adequate and useful term to be using in our research?  Anne Collier discusses findings from Global Kids Online research against University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center’s findings. Anne is executive director of national nonprofit organisation The Net Safety Collaborative (TNSC) and founder of its main project iCanHelpline.org, the U.S.’s social media helpline for […]

August 1st, 2018|Featured, Research shows...|0 Comments|
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    More hate speech and hateful content for Italian children online

More hate speech and hateful content for Italian children online

The latest EU Kids Online Survey in Italy investigates how children experience harmful content online, including feeling upset, uncomfortable or scared. Because the number of children who have felt bothered by something online has more than doubled since 2010,  Giovanna Mascheroni explores what action must be taken to educate and protect against such abuse. Giovanna is Lecturer in Sociology […]

January 31st, 2018|Featured, Our publications|0 Comments|
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    Some thoughts on the Atlantic’s ‘Have smartphones destroyed a generation?’

Some thoughts on the Atlantic’s ‘Have smartphones destroyed a generation?’

In this post, Vicky Rideout responds to the latest issue of The Atlantic which features an article linking teenage suicide to smartphone use. Vicky argues that to interpret the relationship between those two trends as causal is to misuse existing data. Presenting data that she gathered in a Common Sense Media nationally-representative survey, Vicky shows the nuance and complexity of the […]

August 11th, 2017|Featured, Reflections|3 Comments|
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Talking to children about pornography: Five insights

Jessica Zurcher had an experience that led her to conduct 33 qualitative interviews regarding parent–child pornography communication. This post draws on those interviews to offer five suggestions for talking with children about pornography, advocating for an approach with open communication and discussion. Jessica is an assistant professor in the School of Communications, Brigham Young University, USA. She researches new […]

August 9th, 2017|Featured, Research shows...|3 Comments|
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Friends Like Me: The screen lives of children and teens

How do children encounter sexually explicit content online? In this post, Manuela Maiguashca discusses her findings through video interviews with young people. Manuela produces and directs documentary media projects that deal with taboo experiences, stigmatised communities and human rights issues. She runs media workshops as well as her own media workshop programme, Film Crew Club. In this blog she highlights the benefits of […]

July 12th, 2017|Featured, Research shows...|0 Comments|
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The Blue Whale game paradox, digital literacy and fake news

Last week there were a number of news reports about the harmful effects of social media on the mental health of teens and young people. Responding to this, we are publishing two posts this week that address the topic. The first post was about young people encountering inappropriate content online. This second post by Gianfranco Polizzi looks at the Blue […]

May 25th, 2017|Featured, In the news, Reflections|9 Comments|
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    Is there a ‘family factor’ in mediation? A Jamaican perspective

Is there a ‘family factor’ in mediation? A Jamaican perspective

How do different family types influence the parent’s role in a child or teen’s life online? Anthea Edalere-Henderson looks to Jamaican family relations to understand online engagement. Anthea works at CARIMAC, The University of the West Indies, Mona where she is interested in the development of a critical Caribbean scholarship for understanding 21st century information technologies. Her research is […]

March 30th, 2017|Featured, Research shows...|2 Comments|
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The need for parity of protection

Julia Fossi explores the diverse interests of children and the rich lives they lead online. She argues that to reflect the modern experiences of children, steps must now be taken to equally protect them online and offline. Julia is Acting Head of Child Safety Online at the NSPCC, where she is responsible for all policy and the charity’s related programme of work in relation […]

December 5th, 2016|Featured, Reflections|1 Comment|
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Are the trolls winning?

Guest blogger Wendy M. Grossman finds that it’s hard for parents and teachers to guide children to avoid bullying (online and off) when so many adults behave so visibly so badly. She takes a closer looks at bad behaviour online, and how to avoid ‘feeding’ the trolls while maintaining ‘freedom of speech’. Wendy writes about the border wars between cyberspace and […]

February 15th, 2016|Featured, Reflections|0 Comments|
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    More online risks for parents to worry about, says new Safer Internet Day research

More online risks for parents to worry about, says new Safer Internet Day research

Credit: G. Knight, CC BY 2.0

Parents are worried about their children’s online privacy, but what are their options? Filtering content, invasive protection measures, or turning the internet off? Today is Safer Internet Day and Sonia Livingstone takes a closer look at children’s exposure to online hate. Sonia is Professor of Social Psychology at LSE’s Department of Media and Communications and has more than […]

February 9th, 2016|Featured, Reflections|5 Comments|
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