A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
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 [...]
In June, the World Health Organization recognized video game addiction as a mental health disorder. It described the addition to digital and video gaming as “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior” that becomes so extensive that it ‘takes precedence over other life interests.” In a dzBB interview on Sunday, IT expert Jerry Liao [...]
In a lifestyle change which would have seemed unbelievable a generation ago, more teenagers own a telephone than a bike. The crucible happened six years ago: 2012 was the year teen mobile phone ownership crossed the 50 per cent mark. Since then, the saturation of these hand held devices has only increased, nine out of [...]
A mum has urged the NHS to diagnose her 15-year-old son with gaming addiction, as she says he has become so consumed by online games that he has not been to school for a year. Kendall Palmer, from north London, told The Telegraph she has fought for three years to have her son’s condition recognised [...]
Apple has unveiled new tools to help people control their smartphone use, after facing accusations that its technology is "addictive". A tool called Screen Time will create daily and weekly activity reports, the technology giant announced on Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose. The reports will detail how long you spend in [...]
"Do you call that a haircut? I hope you didn't pay for it." "Oh please this is rubbish, you're a disgrace to yourself and your profession." These are just two examples of comments that have followed articles I have written in my career. While they may seem benign compared with the sort of violent and [...]
How concerned should people be about the psychological effects of screen time? Balancing technology use with other aspects of daily life seems reasonable, but there is a lot of conflicting advice about where that balance should be. Much of the discussion is framed around fighting “addiction” to technology. But to me, that resembles a moral [...]
Brett Lee, a former undercover internet detective and police office of 22 years, is passionate about keeping parents and guardians informed about the risks facing children in the online world. Now the founder of the child safety organisation Internet Safe Education, Brett keeps his audiences informed of new technologies and trends to keep children out [...]
