Media Smart and First News have come together to create the Boys’ Biggest Conversation – a campaign to encourage young men, across the UK, to talk about body image and the effect it has on their mental wellbeing.

Read more

June 2020.

The Education for a Connected World framework has been updated and describes the Digital knowledge and skills that children and young people should have the opportunity to develop at different ages and stages of their lives. It highlights what a child should know in terms of current online technology, its influence on behaviour and development, and what skills they need to be able to navigate it.

Access the framework here

ProjectEVOLVE resources each of the 330 statements from UK Council for Internet Safety's (UKCIS) framework “Education for a Connected World” with perspectives; research; activities; outcomes; supporting resources and professional development materials. 

Access Project Evolve here

Also, the Education for a Connected World is based on a framework originally created by Common Sense Media and there is a UK version created by Islington Schools which includes UK resources and teaching materials. Both frameworks and resources are free to use.

You can access this document here

A lifetime online

The first “social media babies” are turning 13! Their childhoods have been shared online by their families- and they’re not always happy about it. As the babies born since the advent of Facebook become old enough to have their own accounts, should we rethink how much we share about our children?

Read more

Most social media platforms have a minimum age limit of
13, but research shows a growing number of children
aged under 13 are using social media, with 3 in 4 children
aged 10-12 having their own accounts.
While much is known about how teenagers use social
media, this research provides the missing piece to the
story, exploring the social media lives of children before
they reach the teenage years. In October and November
2017, we conducted 8 focus groups with 32 children
aged 8-12 to understand the impact of social media on
the wellbeing of this age group.

Read the report

Schools should play a bigger role in preparing children for social media's emotional demands as they move from primary to secondary school, England's children's commissioner says.

Read more

Professionals Guidance Digital Romance
Digital Romance was led by researchers Dr Ester McGeeney (Brook) and Dr Elly Hanson (NCA-CEOP), the research took place between January and May 2017 and used a mixed methods approach involving an online survey, in person focus groups and one-to-one interviews.

The project was motivated by the desire to evolve online safety education by providing an in-depth insight into young people’s views and experiences. The project was influenced by US research conducted by the PEW Research Centre (Lenhart, Smith & Anderson, 2015) that explored the digital romantic practices of young Americans. Arguably, up until now, much of the focus of online safety work has been narrow – exploring the risks of online communication such as the unsafe sharing of personal details, the loss of control of material (especially images), and the facilitation of abusive and bullying behaviours. At times this approach has been at the expense of acknowledging the positive role of digital technology in young people’s lives and the complicated ways in which young people experience and negotiate risk.

Read the report