A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Parents of teens who haven’t gone to school for as long as two years because of their gaming addictions have been slammed for their efforts to stop the problem behaviour. Logan Ford, profiled last night on 60 Minutes, is one of several teens in Australia confined to their bedrooms because of gaming addiction. The 14-year-old [...]
Have you ever been harassed in the street? Received a crass message on a dating app? Had a coworker make a comment about your appearance that just didn’t sit right? You’re not alone. With the #MeToo movement, it’s easy to log onto Twitter or Facebook and see just how many women are victims of sexual [...]
It was the big tech equivalent of “drink responsibly” or the gambling industry’s “safer play”; the latest milestone in Silicon Valley’s year of apology. Earlier this month, Facebook and Instagram announced new tools for users to set time limits on their platforms, and a dashboard to monitor one’s daily use, following Google’s introduction of Digital [...]
In 1991, a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco accused the company of targeting children with its “Joe Camel” ad campaign. The ads featured a cartoon camel character that the suit said lured children to become smokers. Six years later, the company settled out of court and voluntarily ended the Joe Camel campaign. This week, a [...]
Facebook and Instagram are releasing a new tool to limit how much time people spend on their apps. The announcement follows concerns that excessive social media use can have a negative impact on mental health. Users will now be able to check how much time they've spent scrolling, set a reminder for when they've reach [...]
Psychiatrists have issued a warning over the link between depression and video game addiction, after MRI scans revealed for the first time the potential damage caused to young brains. The images showed the signals between the different parts of gaming addicts’ brains were disrupted, driving them to continue playing but also worsening their depression. The “emotional” [...]
I’m kind of glad there was no social media around when I was a teenager … because I was a jerk. Off the top of my head I can think of half a dozen dumb-arse things I said and did that would have got me chased off the internet today, and no I’m not going [...]
Parents today struggle to set screen time guidelines. One big reason is a lack of role models. Grandma doesn't have any tried-and-true sayings about iPad time. This stuff is just too new. But many experts on kids and media are also parents themselves. So when I was interviewing dozens of them for my book The [...]
The tech giants are racing to get digital assistants into our homes - the Amazon Echo Dot currently has a 40% discount during Amazon Prime Day - but debate rages over whether they are suitable for children. There have certainly been teething problems. Toy giant Mattel abandoned its "AI babysitter", Aristotle, last year following privacy [...]
Even before you download an app to help you meditate, or to manage your depression, it's speaking to you. Apps' marketing often implies that everyday stresses should be seen as mental health issues, and that you're on your own (with the help of the app, of course) to fix whatever is wrong with you. These [...]
