ICYMI: September's More Than Robots features stats, fakes, pre-bunking, power, media and financial literacies and opinions on all things youth / digital / equity www.morethanrobots.org.uk/more-than-ro...

There is a clear link between a child’s and their parents’ financial capability. Parents' digital financial capability needs to be improved, but this alone will not improve children's outcomes. Strategic parenting support is also needed. parentzone.org.uk/sites/defaul...

The myth of sovereign AI a handful of American and Chinese tech firms control the #AI infrastructure — from chips and large language models to cloud services and data centers. restofworld.org/2025/chinese...

Celebrate with us! Our biggest @officialpax.bsky.social Family Gaming Room: 🕹️ 100s PS5/Xbox/Switch games ♿ Accessible Tech from Respawn 🔥 Games from @wholesomegames.com 🎯 Parental controls and @esrb.org explainer sessions ✏️ So many Guestbook comments www.familygamingdatabase.com/search/list/...

[There is a] need to develop resources that address the identified skills gap for parents with low levels of digital inclusion in what to do when encountering challenges to their children’s online safety. www.gov.uk/government/p...

More Than Robots - September edition is available now A ramble around the youth/digital/equity Venn in too big new school shoes www.morethanrobots.org.uk/more-than-ro...

‘Perpetrators may initially engage boys through shared gaming interests, offer virtual gifts or game loot’ Increases in child online sexual extortion among boys may be facilitated by digital goods in gaming and gifting that can’t be easily rejected or switched off. www.thorn.org/blog/2024-yo...

‘These are not distant problems. Warning signs are already appearing in the UK and other countries. This signals a dangerous vulnerability to similar outbreaks of organized digital violence.’ The Anatomy of the South Korean Deepfake Crisis www.linkedin.com/posts/adgrov...

Back from leave - what did I miss?

‘Scam compounds in Myanmar may have more than doubled their use of Starlink after Thailand cut off their internet access in May 2024.’ Welcome to the future. mailchi.mp/restofworld/...

Never mind the socialweb... here comes the neuro-web 'Given the risks around neurotechnology, society cannot afford to repeat the failures of before.' www.unicef.org/innocenti/re... #MoreThanRobots

We’re delighted to launch #EverydayDigital - the product that helps parents develop media literacy skills for everyday life. Want to help parents protect themselves from disinformation or scams? Buy and access engaging resources to use in your work: parentzone.org.uk/everydaydigital

Media literacy – particularly for parents – is finally getting the attention it needs. How this will be delivered is the critical next step. What we can say is that without “long-term strategic vision” successful delivery remains unlikely. Read more: committees.parliament.uk/committee/17...

Stark statistics from @cfyounglives.bsky.social on the scale and scope of child vulnerability and poverty - increases across the board... www.centreforyounglives.org.uk/news-centre/...

'parents need targeted resources to help them reinforce media literacy education at home while improving their own skills in this area.' Lots to unpack in the new @houseoflords.parliament.uk report on #MediaLiteracy publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

If we designed products and services to reduce online harm or support people when they experience it, what might this look like? @rufflemuffin.bsky.social explores how design patterns could reduce #ChildFinancialHarms parentzone.org.uk/article/desi...

The Early years foundation stage statutory framework has been updated but where is the consideration for digital media literacy? As our @nuffieldfoundation.org supported review found, there's significant gaps between guidance, research and families everyday lives parentzone.org.uk/article/supp...

ICYMI: More Than Robots - July edition is out now A ramble around the youth / digital / equity Venn and all shady stops in between www.morethanrobots.org.uk/more-than-ro...

🚨 New funding opportunity: Smart Data Research UK Fellowships Today, we're pre-announcing the SDR UK Fellowships, offering UK-based researchers up to £200,000 (FEC) to undertake innovative research. Sign up for our webinar on 29 July: bit.ly/4lBrQQh.

‘Talking, debating, arguing - it’s the way you can help your child process what they’re seeing online. It’s not always comfortable or easy but has to be part of family life otherwise you’re leaving the internet to form their world view and that’s a terrible idea’ parentzone.org.uk/article/digi...

Young learners in England are facing a deepening crisis. Our Annual Report shows that disadvantaged five-year-olds are falling further behind their peers — and for children with SEND, the learning gap has widened to over 20 months, the widest gap on record 🧵 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

'Young people told us they often see scam posts on social media offering "quick cash" or bank transfers, especially on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.' NEW @childrenssociety.bsky.social report on financial exploitation: www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/...

Media literacy and digital inclusion can and should be key components of early years education. The ‪@eyalliance.bsky.social‬ essay collection #NoChildLeftBehind explores the changes needed to create a fairer, more equal early years system. Read now: bit.ly/EYAessaysNCLB

'While almost two-thirds of 19- to 21-year-olds live with their parents the vast majority of care experienced young people are expected to be almost entirely self-sufficient by the age of 18.' @nuffieldfoundation.org on a generation being abandoned www.nuffieldfoundation.org/research/our...

Overhearing a woman on the bus talking with her agency on the phone about her time sheet she completed that hasn’t been logged on the system. So she hasnt got paid and now can’t pay nursery fees. Then she lost connection. So much work and stress outsourced back to people with the least by digital.

'3.7m families are below the minimum digital living standard' Find out more about the shape and nature of the UK digital divide in @goodthingsfdn.bsky.social Our Digital Nation report: www.goodthingsfoundation.org/policy-and-r... #digitalinclusion

'Profiling children for the purpose of increasing children’s expenditures within the online environment in which they are profiled.' A rights-based assessment of profiling children for commercial purposes (in its various manifestations) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

'Parental e-safety guidance was found to be a significant mediator for the association of family vulnerability and significant online harms' - Education provides a universal baseline but parental support is key to impact. www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14...

More Than Robots July edition is available now A stroll around the youth/digital/equity Venn Ft @ofcom.bsky.social @shuhbillskee.bsky.social @peteetchells.bsky.social @renatesamson.bsky.social @pshe-association.bsky.social @cfyounglives.bsky.social and more www.morethanrobots.org.uk/more-than-ro...

'Young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are disproportionately targeted with ads promising easy income, quick earnings, and social mobility.' revistas.unav.edu/index.php/co...

'The [research] also found that the presence of loot boxes, in-game purchases and in-game advertisements was just as common in games rated ages 3 and up as it was in any other age classification.' icpen.org/news/1432 #ChildFinancialHarms

#AI and #education, if you want to keep up to date and get a critical, informed view on challenges and opportunities, then you will love the newsletter by @connectedlearning.bsky.social connectedlearning.substack.com

‘Tech Abuse can also extend into the healthcare domain. In documented cases, Bluetooth-connected medical devices (e.g. insulin pumps) have been hijacked in attempts to cause harm’ Cyberpunk times static1.squarespace.com/static/6502e... static1.squarespace.com/static/6502e...

In 2013, @timmaughan.bsky.social published a short story of dystopian fiction about Nicki, a 19-year-old zero-hour contract worker. Today, it reads as a plausible description of the working world of American nurses. My latest for @lpeproject.bsky.social. lpeproject.org/blog/nursing...

We’re looking for a Head of Education and Support. This is a rare chance to design and deliver an education and support programme that offers children, parents and professionals high-quality online safety, mental health and suicide prevention programmes. www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/molly-r...

'These children are not incidental to AI’s supply chain—they are foundational to it. Yet in the breathless coverage of AI’s possibilities, these children remain invisible, their suffering erased from the narrative of technological progress.' aylgorith.com/the-hidden-c...

You know you have a real problem when insurers are worried about it happening greencentralbanking.com/2025/06/09/i...

Media literacy can and should be key components of early years education Honoured to have contributed to @eyalliance.bsky.social essay collection #NoChildLeftBehind exploring what's needed to build an early years system underpinned by fairness and equality www.eyalliance.org.uk/no-child-lef...

'technofeudalism is sustained by rents, which we pay in the currency of attention and identity (our data), and almost anything we do in a digital environment benefits, to some degree, companies who maintain an exclusive right to monetize user data' theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/against-te...

NEW research by Money and Pensions Service recommends "ensuring [financial education programmes] help prepare children and young people to manage and protect their money in a digital world." #childfinancialharms maps.org.uk/en/publicati...

"We must state relationships, not procedures" #AI may be the new Pac-Man relentlessly devouring our world, but there are still some ghosts in the machine and power ups to be found... www.morethanrobots.org.uk/more-than-ro...

minimum digital living standard - accessible internet, adequate equipment, and the skills and knowledge people need. It is about being able to communicate, connect, and engage with opportunities safely and with confidence by @goodthingsfdn.bsky.social www.goodthingsfoundation.org/policy-and-r...

minimum digital living standard - accessible internet, adequate equipment, and the skills and knowledge people need. It is about being able to communicate, connect, and engage with opportunities safely and with confidence by @goodthingsfdn.bsky.social www.goodthingsfoundation.org/policy-and-r...

More Than Robots - June Edition is available now. A playful ramble around the youth / digital / equity venn - and all stops in between www.morethanrobots.org.uk/more-than-ro...

'The influence of contextual factors highlights the need for a nuanced approach to understanding how social media affects adolescent mental health, particularly in groups of children where negative impacts are stronger' www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

'20% sat on a virtual chair without checking for its real presence' We've all been there one way or another... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #VR

Brazil is piloting dWallet, a project that lets citizens earn money from their data. restofworld.org/2025/brazil-...

Brazil is piloting dWallet, a project that lets citizens earn money from their data. restofworld.org/2025/brazil-...

‘We live in a decentralized surveillance state where we dehumanize each other for social media clout’ www.garbageday.email/p/the-ai-gir... #Ai