Technology

Middle School Misfortunes Then and Now, One Teacher’s Take

I started teaching in 2009. At that time, public school was very much the way I remembered it. That’s not the case anymore. Smartphones and social media have transformed students into creatures craving one thing: content. It’s a sad state of affairs. But there’s hope. Over the last few years, my students have become increasingly [...]

Where Kids Find Hate Online

Hate speech is all over the internet. Fueled by trolls, extremists, false information, and a group mentality, this kind of cruelty against a religion, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender, race -- or anything, really -- has reached a fever pitch. And while some kids will be attacked, and some may be swept up in the powerful [...]

Eyes on WA school students accused of sex offences

Dozens of WA school students have been convicted or accused of sex offences and need to be monitored under risk assessment management plans, Education Minister Sue Ellery has revealed. She told a hearing at State Parliament last week there were 72 students under RAMPs. “The department has been notified about 72 cases where students are [...]

By |2021-02-22T18:18:19+11:00November 19th, 2018|Categories: Cybersafety, Society & Culture, Technology, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Violence towards women in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 evokes toxic masculinity

-Jessamy Henricksen, CQUniversity Australia and Dr Marika Guggisberg, CQUniversity Australia It’s common practice in the world of gaming for serious video game players to upload videos of their gaming experiences to YouTube, usually for purposes of providing tips to other gamers, walkthroughs and highlights. Last month, the YouTube channel “Shirrako” uploaded a video capture of [...]

By |2021-02-22T18:17:18+11:00November 19th, 2018|Categories: Technology, Uncategorized, Video|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Why Facebook is so Hard to Resist

Why is social media such a hard habit to break? Because it makes us feel good, said Michigan State University's Allison Eden, assistant professor in the Department of Communication. She and researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, conducted two studies of frequent and less frequent Facebook users. They found even [...]

By |2021-02-22T18:16:42+11:00November 12th, 2018|Categories: Technology|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Surgery Students ‘Losing Dexterity to Stitch Patients’

A professor of surgery says students have spent so much time in front of screens and so little time using their hands that they have lost the dexterity for stitching or sewing up patients. Roger Kneebone, professor of surgical education at Imperial College, London, says young people have so little experience of craft skills that [...]

By |2021-02-22T18:16:11+11:00November 5th, 2018|Categories: Technology|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Android’s Under-5s Apps Have ‘Unfair and Deceptive’ Ads

Under-fives are being blitzed with app-based ads which are often manipulative, inappropriate or deceptive, according to a coalition of campaign groups. Examples given include a character crying if the child does not pay to unlock part of a game, and an app promoting another title that showed a cartoon of the US president trying to [...]

By |2021-02-22T18:15:31+11:00November 5th, 2018|Categories: Technology|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

What to do When Teens and Tweens’ Online Habits Blow the Family Budget

Glancing through her bank statement made Brisbane mother-of-two Belinda* realise there was a problem. What had started with a few small amounts, as little as $1.60, for video game purchases, a song or an app “add on”, racked up almost unknowingly by her teenagers, was now totalling almost $300. Neither Belinda nor her children, aged [...]

Tim Cook Blasts ‘Weaponisation’ of Personal Data and Praises GDPR

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has demanded a tough new US data protection law, in an unusual speech in Europe. Referring to the misuse of "deeply personal" data, he said it was being "weaponised against us with military efficiency". "We shouldn't sugar-coat the consequences," he added. "This is surveillance." The strongly-worded speech presented a striking [...]

By |2021-02-22T18:14:27+11:00October 29th, 2018|Categories: Technology|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

An Open Letter on the Dangers of Normalising Sex Dolls & Sex Robots

We are a coalition of humanists, parents, women’s groups, survivors, academics, and activists campaigning against commercial objectification of human beings who are concerned with the normalisation of “sex robots”. These technologies are developed and backed by academic and business robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) communities who have to date, the loudest voices shaping the policy [...]

Go to Top