Risks & opportunities

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    Children with special educational needs and disabilities more likely to encounter harm online, say parents

Children with special educational needs and disabilities more likely to encounter harm online, say parents

Sonia Livingstone and Dongmiao Zhang discuss the major findings from the latest Parenting for a Digital Future study, and outline why special educational needs and disabilities are important in shaping children’s digital lives and why. Sonia Livingstone is Professor of Social Psychology at LSE’s Department of Media and Communications and is the lead investigator of the Parenting for a Digital Future research project. Dongmiao Zhang is a […]

February 4th, 2019|Featured, Our publications|0 Comments|
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    The Media Maze – guiding and empowering children through media

The Media Maze – guiding and empowering children through media

In this post Dr Alicia Blum-Ross interviews Dr Eric Rasmussen about his book, Media Maze: Unconventional Wisdom for Guiding Children Through Media, which argues in parent-friendly language that the secret to protecting kids online is to change parents’ focus from protecting them to empowering them. Eric is an Associate Professor in the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University and is […]

November 28th, 2018|Featured, Reflections|0 Comments|
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    Dire warnings about children dying because of apps and games are a form of ‘juvenoia’

Dire warnings about children dying because of apps and games are a form of ‘juvenoia’

In this post Larry Magid takes a look at the recent media coverage of two apps and games that have been accused of harming children’s mental health. He argues that these sensationalist stories are often based on fake news and may serve only to exaggerate fears surrounding online risk in potentially damaging ways. Larry is a technology journalist and an Internet safety advocate. He is […]

September 21st, 2018|Featured, In the news|0 Comments|
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    Does excessive social media use actually harm the self-esteem of young people?

Does excessive social media use actually harm the self-esteem of young people?

A Swedish survey has claimed that social media use negatively affects the self esteem of young people. But such studies must take into account the complex intertwining of online and offline worlds, and recognise that a sharp distinction  between life, relationships, and communication online and offline is no longer meaningful. Stine Liv Johansen is an Associate Professor at the Centre […]

September 19th, 2018|Featured, In the news|0 Comments|
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It’s time to end the Wild West of the Web

Rapidly developing technology and the ubiquity of social media means that there is increasing risk of child sexual exploitation or abuse online. A recent NSPCC FOI investigation found there were more than 3,000 police-recorded offences for sexual communication with a child in England and Wales in 2017/18 alone. In this post, Pooja Kumari introduces the NSPCC’s new Wild West Web […]

September 14th, 2018|Featured, In the news|0 Comments|
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    Children’s online safety in Nigeria: the government’s critical role

Children’s online safety in Nigeria: the government’s critical role

Recent research by Project Open Eyes in Lagos, Nigeria has found that while nine out of 10 teenagers have access to the internet and three out of four have made friends with strangers online, there remains a very low level of digital literacy and a lack of regulatory protection at the state level. In this post Chukwuemeka Monyei calls for a more […]

September 12th, 2018|Featured, Research shows...|0 Comments|
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Parenting for a Digital Future July 2018 roundup

With summer holidays on the horizon, here’s our roundup of recent posts from the Parenting for a Digital Future blog. [Header image credit: P. Morris, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

Privacy, safety and rights online

With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force at the end of May, we asked how this will impact on children’s privacy and right to participate online, […]

July 20th, 2018|Featured, Reflections|0 Comments|
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Media and mental health: time to get serious?

In a response to a previous blog on this site about the Netflix TV series 13 Reasons Why, Richard Graham presents his perspective as a practising psychiatrist on the issues that it raised around media portrayal and reporting of suicide, and suicide more broadly. Richard argues that such debates present an important opportunity to create greater public awareness of the issues surrounding […]

July 6th, 2018|Featured, In the news, Reflections|0 Comments|
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    The tale of Iggle Piggle and the slot machine: children’s exposure to gambling

The tale of Iggle Piggle and the slot machine: children’s exposure to gambling

A whole generation of youth is growing up surrounded by advertisements for gambling, be it online, on radio or on television. The UK Gambling Commission’s latest report claims that the majority of 11 to 15-year-olds in the UK have seen gambling adverts on TV or social media, and it is estimated that around 31,000 children are problem gamblers. This […]

June 27th, 2018|Featured, Research shows...|0 Comments|
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The European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children

Professor Brian O’Neill is Director of Research, Enterprise and Innovation and Dean of the Graduate Research School at the Dublin Institute of Technology, and co-author of the recently-published report The Better Internet for Kids Policy Map: Implementing the European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children in European Member States. This blog, originally written for the Media Policy Project, provides a comprehensive survey of […]

June 8th, 2018|Featured, Our publications|0 Comments|
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