Help sheet on TikTok

Help sheet on Snapchat

When Snapchat’s number of active users plateaued at around the 180 million mark for the majority of 2018, many observers surmised that the platform had become ‘old hat’ in the eyes of its younger fan-base. A continuous (and lockdown-abetted) recovery since then, however, has proved that reports of the app’s demise had been greatly exaggerated.

Snapchat’s willingness to move with the times, strategically adding new features such as Spotlight and Snap Map, has kept it relevant and appealing. Each fresh tweak, however, provides potential scope for new harms – whether deliberately or accidentally inflicted. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide focuses its discerning lens onto Snapchat.

Please click the link above, to access the help sheet on Snapchat.

Help sheet on Netflix

The planet’s most popular subscription streaming service, Netflix currently offers more than 500 shows and almost 2,500 films for users to choose from. Many of these, of course, are squarely aimed at an adult audience but are nevertheless accessible to children through a parent or carer’s profile unless preventative controls have been set up.

This was the problem behind the recent furore around Squid Game, a violent South Korean drama featuring deadly playground games which caused many unsuspecting adults to mistake it for a children’s programme. Our #WakeUpWednesday this week brings parents and carers a timely reminder of the potential risks related to Netflix – and suggestions for avoiding them.

Please click the above link, to access the help sheet on Netflix.

10 ways to share kindness online

Last year, the percentage of US teens who experienced bullying online stood at an all-time high of 36%. The UK figure – 19% – also represents an unhealthily large proportion. These numbers are by no means unrepresentative of the global picture, either – and recent increases in young people’s screen-time and anxiety levels during lockdown periods only inflamed the situation.

To lend our support to Anti-Bullying Week 2021, we’ve produced a special #WakeUpWednesday guide of suggestions for how we can all be part of the antidote to bullying by sharing kindness online instead of cruelty. The theme of this year’s event is ‘One Kind Word’ – and indeed, such small, sincere gestures online can go a long way to helping someone experiencing a tough time.

Please click the link at the top of this post, to access the help sheet.

Help sheet cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency’s availability – and influence – has grown exponentially since Bitcoin debuted in 2009. Little over a decade later, there are more than 5,000 different types of cryptocurrency on the market. Some, of course, are more successful than others – but the concept has now established a sufficiently robust beachhead to thrive in the coming years.

This means, naturally, that cryptocurrency will be embedded even more deeply in our culture by the time today’s schoolchildren are grown. It’s incumbent on the trusted adults of today, then, to begin equipping young people for this new method of carrying out transactions online. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide brings parents and carers the essentials on cryptocurrency.

Please click the link above, to access the help sheet on Cryptocurrency

Help sheet age appropriate content

According to research carried out by the British Board of Film Classification, last year 60% of children had to talk to their parents after viewing something online that had left them feeling uncomfortable, scared or confused. One in seven (13%) teens said that watching content online that they later wish they hadn’t seen is a daily occurrence.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than half of the content reported by children featured either violence, hate speech or explicit sexual material. Social media often acts as a gateway to this material: trending topics tend to be seen whether they were searched for or not. Our #WakeUpWednesday guide examines this and other sources of inappropriate online content.

Please click the link above, to access the help sheet.

Setting up new devices for children

Some adults shy away from adjusting the parental controls on their child’s digital devices, assuming that they’ll be hard to understand and tricky to set up. In most cases, however, it’s refreshingly straightforward: just a few clicks of a mouse or touches of a screen can provide an extra layer of protection for children using those devices to explore the online world.

From restricting inappropriate content and blocking in-app purchases to setting automatic screen-time limits and restricting who can contact your child online, our #WakeUpWednesday guide this week has some useful Yuletide tips. We’ll show you how to set up devices so that when your child uses them to go online, you can be more confident about their safety

Please access the help sheet, at the top of this post by clicking on the link.

Help sheet on Fortnite chapter 3

Fortnite is one of those rare titles which breaks through from the gaming world to create a wider cultural impact. This success was swiftly monetised, of course, leading to Fortnite action figures, plush toys, branded clothing, stationery, bedspreads and the like. The nature of these products hints at a sizeable proportion of the game’s fans being below the recommended age limit of 12.

So how much of a danger does Fortnite pose to its younger players? For starters, the game is fundamentally about using an array of weaponry to eliminate a stream of enemies. As our #WakeUpWednesday guide outlines, however, on-screen violence is far from the highest concern – with potential issues over in-app purchasing, scams and toxic behaviour from other players.

Please click the above link, to learn more about Fortnite.

Help sheet on Replika

Unlike some AIs, Replika can’t answer trivia questions. It can’t order a takeaway. It can’t control your domestic appliances. What it can do is chat – about anything from your favourite book to how your day was. The software learns to imitate its user, aiming to produce more rewarding interaction. The more a person talks to their Replika, the more it sounds – and thinks – like them.

Straight away, there’s an obvious potential issue. An advanced chatbot, constantly reflecting someone’s own thoughts back at them, could create a personal echo chamber where even extreme or distasteful opinions become normalised. As our #WakeUpWednesday guide this week discovers, that’s not the only possible threat posed by the AI companion app Replika.

Please click the link above to access the help sheet on Replika.

Help sheet on Horror games

With shriek-inducing jump scares, unbearable suspense and nauseating levels of gore, the sources of distress that children might find in a horror game are self-evident. Most commercially released titles have an age certificate high enough to alert parents to the possible dangers, but download-only titles don’t require a rating and therefore often push the boundaries even further.

Our #WakeUpWednesday guide this week tiptoes intrepidly into the blood-soaked but perennially popular realm of the horror genre, discovering that an unsettling atmosphere and disturbing imagery can stay in young minds long after the game has been switched off – and that real-life human players are more dangerous than legions of virtual zombies or vampires.

Please click the link above to see the help sheet on Horror games.