A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
This longer read relates how Sesame Street is tackling tough issues that impact kids, such as foster care and family homelessness. Some are aware that the show has been starting to cover difficult real-world issues recently, but not many realise just how much research and consultation goes into making these topics kid-friendly while still conveying [...]
Australia's National Classification Scheme (NCS) provides classifications (like G, PG , M) as consumer information about the content in apps and games. It’s intended to help parents choose media for their children, and protect them from harm. But do parents think it does a good job? The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) [...]
When the world is struck with a catastrophic event, the instinct to shield our children from the effects of it is completely understandable. We want them to grow up believing that the world is pure and good and geared in their favour. We also want them to feel safe, and avoiding a discussion isn’t necessarily [...]
Many people are discussing and grieving fashion designer Kate Spade’s death, apparently by suicide. And in these moments, it becomes essential to discussing suicide as safely as possible. Whether you knew the person who lost their life personally or as a public figure, whether you’re speaking in private, public, or as a member of the [...]
When children learn about news like the deadly school shooting that claimed more than a dozen lives on 14 February 2018 in Broward County, Florida, a logical question for them to ask is: Will the same thing happen to me? As researchers and clinicians who have studied the problem of violence over the past three decades, we have [...]
Does watching violence on TV, in movies, or video games promote aggression? With recent worry about mass shootings and gun violence in the United States, one of the questions that always comes up is whether violent media promotes violent or aggressive behavior. This is something that is especially important to think about for parents, as violent [...]
Australian researchers have contributed to a 7 nation study of the impacts of media violence on youth. The study, just published online in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, used the same research methodology in each of Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Japan, Romania, and the US. It found that: violent media use was positively and [...]
Pixabay Images Have you heard about the latest study? Coffee fights cancer. Pizza and French fries are addictive like crack. Midnight snacks hamper our ability to retain memories. Actually, what’s really bad for our brains is all the junk science being reported as gospel. According to Pew Research, “79 percent of scientists believe [...]
Flickr Images The US reels from the senseless slaying of close to 50 individuals… the UK is shocked to the core by the callous shooting and stabbing of a politician …. Australia searches for answers to the Lindt Café siege. The mass media provide mass coverage of these horrific events: we all want [...]
ShutterStock It is time to ban pornography. Nothing can shock us except this suggestion. We find it perfectly acceptable that smut, no matter how bestial or misogynistic, should be widely available. We even think it a moral imperative, a dictate of freedom. It does not trouble us that children can view acts of [...]
