A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Gaming on a computer or device is a wildly popular pastime for kids in Australia. In fact, 94 per cent of children between 6 and 15 play games and, while girls are fast gaining on them, gaming still remains more popular with boys. It seems that although (almost) everybody’s doing it, a lot of parents feel [...]
It may sound pedantic or philosophical to worry about definitions of “behavior,” “control,” and “understanding.” But for a field as young and diverse as neuroscience, dismissing these foundational discussions can cause a great deal of confusion, which in turn can bog down progress for years, if not decades. Unfortunately for today’s neuroscientists, we rarely talk [...]
The video gaming industry has transitioned from a group of backyard innovators to an industry of multi-billion dollar companies, hiring psychologists, neuroscientists and marketing experts to turn customers into addicts. The latest trend is the creation of "whales", people so addicted to games that they spend their entire life savings to keep playing. But the video gaming industry, [...]
Mark Zuckerberg’s social network removes in excess of one million accounts every single day, that breach the user agreement, but is still struggling to stem the tide presented by so-called “threat actors”. This is according to Facebook’s security chief, Alex Stamos, who appeared at at conference on Wednesday evening, saying that he believes in the [...]
Many Australian parents worry about their children having too much screen time, but perhaps they should look a little closer to home. If the six- and seven-year-olds of Manor Lakes College, west of Melbourne, are anything to go by, many children feel "sad", "ignored" and "angry" about their parents' mobile phone use. "When my dad's [...]
When you grew up, there were no iPads, Google phones, Facebook or Snapchat, and you never had to worry about your digital identity or blue light. But fast-forward to 2017 and you're now responsible for raising a child whose life will revolve around digital technology, and who will have to be tech-smart, tech-savvy, and tech-safe [...]
The neurological dangers implicated in overusing our devices are well-established. From the incessant cognitive itching to allay novelty bias to a consistent uptick in distracted driving accidents and deaths to the circadian chaos of excessive blue light, our memory and attention are not the only skills being affected. While no long-term studies have traced these [...]
Owning your own smartphone or tablet is now the new normal for Australian children, new research released today shows. The latest Australian Child Health Poll has found that almost all Australian teenagers, two- thirds of primary school-aged children and one-third of pre-schoolers now own their own tablet or smartphone. As well as owning their own [...]
Earlier this week, Harvard University revealed that it had rescinded admissions offers to at least 10 students who shared offensive images within what they thought was a private Facebook group chat. The students posted memes and images that mocked minority groups, child abuse, sexual assault and the Holocaust, among other things. It is easy for [...]
Anyone raising a child today has likely fretted about screen time and wondered about the impact of devices on our kids. Does the technology affect their brains? Does it limit their social development? Could it harm them emotionally? Could it delay when they start talking? I had never thought about that last question until a [...]
