“We are always haunted by the myth of our potential, of what we might have it in ourselves to be or do… We share our lives with the people we have failed to be,” says psychologist Adam Phillips. In the time before smartphones, when Nokias and Motorolas were the pinnacles […]
How To Parent What Kids Watch on YouTube
For quite some time now, YouTube, which is owned by Google, has overtaken the activity of teens watching TV. So, instead of watching TV, we now see teens and kids just hanging out and watching whatever comes on and following their favourite Youtube channels or YouTube ‘stars’. YouTube is a […]
The New World of Work. Are our students ready?
Are we preparing our students for our yesterday or their tomorrow? The question has been asked for generations in educational settings but seems to be a more apt question to be asking now. The challenge for schools and post-school institutions is that they are preparing students for courses and a […]
Sex Ed by Porn? It’s time we talked
It appears that pornography has become the most prominent sex educator for many young people and increasingly children. This raises considerable concern for parents who believe that pornography misrepresents reality ‘about bodies, sexual health, pleasure, consent, gender, power, aggression and performance.’ Exposure to pornography is more likely now because children […]
Is your child getting enough quality sleep?
Sleep research suggests that an adolescent needs between 9-10 sleep every night and school-age children need 10-11 hours to be physically, mentally and cognitively healthy. Regularly not getting enough sleep, poor sleep quality and irregular sleep patterns can lead to sleep deprivation which has very real implications for their physical […]
Stranger Danger Online A Risk For Children
Despite emerging research into the issue, grooming remains “difficult to identify and define”. One definition that is generally agreed upon is that child grooming is the ‘befriending and establishing of an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family to gain their trust and to lower the child’s inhibitions […]
How is Cyberbullying Different From Mean Behaviour?
Many of us are familiar with the concept of bullying in one way or another, yet we seem to lack a shared understanding of what exactly constitutes bullying behaviour, especially in the context of online bullying. Bullying has always been a pervasive youth problem, but only recent generations have been […]
Redefining ‘Stranger and ‘Friend’ in Online Spaces
Fact: 8% of 8 to 9 year-olds have communicated online with people they didn’t know.
Why is 13 Years Old the Legal Age for Having a Social Media Account?
Answering the question of why age restrictions for social media are so important entails consideration of two major things: the sheer amount of content that can be seen and shared on social media, and the permanence of the decisions young people make on social media. Social media represents a virtual […]
How Playdates and Sleepovers May Impact on Your Media Rules
If you’re a parent and you’re trying to establish cyber safety rules and regulations for your child, you may feel like every new piece of advice you get undermines the previous ones. In situations like this, all a parent can really do is go with their gut and follow the […]