In this podcast, Dr Weston talks to Chief Constable Simon Bailey about the culture of violence against women and girls, particularly in schools. They outline the key things that parents and schools should do to cultivate open and honest discussion around issues of sexual harassment, sexting and predatory behaviour online.
As parents, we can be under frequent pressure to download particular apps. This downloadable checklist of things to discuss with your child before they download Snapchat can be used in conjunction with our Snapchat FAQs.
Our researcher of the month, Dr Jesus (Jess) Alfonso D. Datu talks to Dr Weston about the importance of teaching children to be kind and the far-reaching psychological and social consequences of kindness. They discuss Dr Datu’s recent paper which examined whether fostering kindness in young people could promote media literacy.
In this podcast, Dr Weston talks with Canadian researchers Professor William Pickett and Professor Wendy Craig about their findings linking intense and problematic social media use with cyberbullying, particularly for girls. They discuss the findings of their research and give advice to parents on how to educate children about digital literacy, to lower the risk of being bullied, or bullying, online. They also talk about the impact of COVID-19 on social media habits and sexting.
In this podcast, Dr Weston talks to gaming and family technology expert Andy Robertson. They discuss all of the positive learning opportunities that games can offer and the optimal ways to engage with children about their digital world. They explore games which promote critical thinking, empathy and better communication and examine how the skills developed through gaming can translate to other scenarios.
In this podcast, Dr Weston talks to Dr Jeffrey DeMarco about how we should engage with our children about the online world. They discuss the importance of teaching skills such as digital literacy, fact-checking and critical thinking, to ensure that children can access the amazing resources on the internet safely. They also talk about online radicalisation and sexual exploitation, and how to protect children against these threats.
In this podcast, Dr Weston talks to criminologist, Dr Elena Martellozzo, about her research into young people’s feelings about, and experiences of, online pornography. They discuss how parents should approach conversations with their children about pornography and relationships, and also what Dr Martellozzo’s research found that young people would like to learn and talk about during sex education at school. They also explore the issue of online safety and how sex offenders operate in the online world.
Sending naked or partially naked images of oneself by text (sexting), is a relatively uncommon, but growing, activity among young people. It’s important that teens are fully aware of the potential consequences of sexts before they decide to send one, or worse, feel pressured into doing so. Discuss the realities of sharing images with your teen and agree on some sensible promises, using our suggestions as starting points. There is space to add your own too.
This practical exercise allows young people, alongside a parent or teacher, to weigh up some of the factors that might come into a decision to ‘sext’. We have provided an example of how this exercise might play out and also a blank template which teens can fill in during conversation about sexting. Remember, without sensible and realistic chats, there is no barrier between teens and these impulsive decisions, which they may later regret. Hopefully, these conversations will help teens to realistically evaluate the risks, and see that, whilst there might be some upsides to sexting, the downsides can be serious.
Sending naked or partially naked images by text (sexting) is a fact of life in the digital world. Sometimes young people can face pressure to send inappropriate photos. Discussing how they might respond in this situation is helpful in combating peer pressure and making them feel more prepared. Use this resource to help initiate these useful chats.
