We've been highlighting the issue of children interacting freely with adults on Roblox since April. Our investigation of Roblox's new safety features in September revealed the problem persisted.

"My avatar is cyberbullied, aggressively killed, sexually assaulted and shat on - all with parental control settings in place". The experience of Australian reporter, Sarah Martin, comes as no surprise to us. www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

In a new guest post on the Ada blog, @revealingreality.bsky.social looks at the commercialisation of childhood through play and entertainment platforms over the last decade — from influencer sponsorship to product placement and in-app stores. www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/the-val...

@mollyroseorg.bsky.social commissioned us to investigate children's online exposure to harmful content. revealingreality.co.uk/suicide-self...

Egg monsters. Multiplying kittens. Too many fingers. AI-generated content was surreal & instantly recognisable as artificial. It's moved on. Now it's creating caricatures of Britain: our towns, our politics, our divisions. This is AI Britain: think.revealingreality.co.uk/ai-britain

4 months ago, our investigation into Roblox revealed adults & children mixing freely, with sexually explicit content easily accessible to young users. Roblox has since rolled out a number of updates. We’ve returned to the platform to explore the changes: think.revealingreality.co.uk/roblox-updated

Children’s Data Lives, commissioned by @infocommission.bsky.social, is now in its second year. It tracks a cohort of children to uncover how their experiences are shaped by data-driven digital design and what this means for their evolving relationship with data:

"I could be going out with my friends but I'm stuck in my room watching TikTok" But what happens when children give up their smartphone? That's what 32 children did at Ecclesfield School. Follow the link below to watch our short film and find out more. think.revealingreality.co.uk/why-dont-you

When Ecclesfield School approached us about their trial of 32 pupils giving up their smartphones entirely for 3-weeks, we jumped at the chance to visit and find out more - documenting the experiences of the children, parents and teachers involved on film: think.revealingreality.co.uk/why-dont-you/

This marks the 11th wave of our longitudinal study for @ofcom.bsky.social, where we track the evolving landscape of children’s media lives, and the continued blurring of boundaries between the online and offline. We've made a summary of the report's key findings: think.revealingreality.co.uk/cml11

Our latest deep dive into Roblox has uncovered key child safety gaps. Associate Director @hannahestcourt.bsky.social explained our findings today on BBC Woman's Hour (starts 11min50seconds) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Our exploration into Roblox shows that despite recent updates to safety measures, simple workarounds remain - allowing for contact details to be shared and interactions between children and adults to be taken off-platform.

Our exploration into Roblox revealed that experience descriptions can mislead, and maturity labels don't always align with content, potentially exposing children to adult themes. Our 10-year-old avatar witnessed the following:

If you are a parent and your child is playing on Roblox, take a look at our guide that explains some of the risks on the platform and where the safety features fall short. You might be shocked by the things we’ve found: think.revealingreality.co.uk/roblox-real-...

Would you let your 5-year-old chat to a 42-year-old stranger in the real world? The Guardian has shared our latest research showing how children and adults can freely interact on Roblox, one of the most popular virtual playgrounds for children:

Our recent work on ASMR has been shared in this month's edition of More than Robots - a great source of up to date research and info on how tech is impacting people's lives.

Alice Thomson, writing for The Times on our recent ASMR research, describes ASMR videos as ‘visual and aural pacifiers’ for anxious young people. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

"We all get calm and comfort from different things ... but we’re creatures who need physical connection; we’re mammals, primates". www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What are the implications of allowing adults and children mix freely on Roblox, the hugely popular gaming platform? Watch our film to see what we found:

What happens when adults and children share a virtual playground? Our latest work explores the world of Roblox. We set up a 42-year-old avatar, who observed interactions but didn't speak to users. What we uncovered was troubling. Click here to see what we found: think.revealingreality.co.uk/roblox

Thanks @jacksayspurple.bsky.social for covering our latest research- our researchers found watching all the ASMR videos eye-opening too. It seemed curious that something so popular, and yet quite strange, was not being more widely commented on.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03... What is the impact of replacing genuine human connection with technological substitutes? Our latest research has been covered by @telegraphnews.bsky.social. You can explore the full report here: think.revealingreality.co.uk/asmr-landing...

What do we lose when we use technology as a substitute for fundamental human needs? Explore our latest research here: think.revealingreality.co.uk/asmr-page1

Is ASMR is “like digital soma” for younger adults in a state of permanent overwhelm? Please take a moment to read about this thoughtful report from @revealingreality.bsky.social about what online self-soothing does for our capacity to build resilience www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Are we losing what it means to be human by embracing technology over genuine real-world connection? @theguardian.com has shared our latest research today.

Character AI has been emerging increasingly in our research. More and more, people are beginning to turn to chatbots that are designed to please and will always respond. We decided to take a closer look. Click below to see the disturbing content we found:

How do sexualised AI companions respond to signs that a user is underage?