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.

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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.

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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.

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Are you a teacher of 8-16-year-olds? Ask your pupils to complete the appropriate survey. They could do it for homework or during break time. It only takes 10-15 minutes.

You can then access free teaching resources to use with your pupils AFTER they have completed the survey. This includes a resource that takes you through the correct answers to the test questions and a booklet with ideas of how to embed critical literacy within your classroom.

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An image of an NFL player burning the American flag in a locker room has gone viral despite being completely fake.

The doctored photograph, which has been shared thousands of times on social media, shows Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett fervently burning the flag.

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A dad has shared distressing screenshots of messages his seven-year-old daughter received from an online predator in a bid to warn other parents.

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