3rd March 2023
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
SAFER INTERNET AND MISOGYNY February was an important month for technology as it featured Safer Internet Day - A day designed to help inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively. In school I have been tackling this theme within my recent assemblies. However, internet safety is not just something we should focus on for one day; it should be of constant interest to us all. The national website for this event contains some useful resources for parents to engage in: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/ safer-internet-day-2019/education-packs/activitiesparents-and-carers You can find further information and links in our monthly safeguarding newsletter. The internet is wonderful. It has transformed the way we live, work and interact forever. However, for all the good technology does for us there remains many risks. Understanding how to use parental-controls is one way families can keep their children safe. Another way to protect children is to engage in the conversation. Some key advice includes the following: • • • • •
not using phones and mobile devices at the dinner table - talking as a family is very important for development. keeping screens out of the bedroom at bedtime talking as a family about keeping safe online and about cyberbullying and what children should do if they are worried. not using phones when crossing a road or doing any other activity that requires a person’s full attention. making sure children take regular breaks from screens by getting up and being active.
SOCIAL MEDIA, MISOGYNY AND THE POWER OF THE ALGORITHM Schools across the country are constantly dealing with situations in school that began outside of school. Situations such as these would not happen if social media had not been misused by children operating out of earshot late at night. Whilst we do our best to educate everyone about how to behave online and through social media it is our collective responsibility to ensure our learners are safe in their use of technology in and out of school. Parents, do you know how your children are using their technology in the evenings? In my assemblies I have used the backdrop of Safer Internet Day to discuss how Social Media ‘influencers’ are encouraging misogynistic behaviour. Central to the way misogyny spreads is the algorithm. On social media algorithms can be used to determine the content we see. Used positively, they can provide us with a more personalised and enjoyable social media experience based on our likes and dislikes. The darker side of algorithms is that they can be used negatively to try and manipulate someone’s views, beliefs or even their behaviour. Algorithms dictate our online experience and all too often place us in an echo chamber that distorts what is real. In assemblies the following story was shared to illustrate the power of algorithms: I signed up for a TikTok account when I was 13. I liked the funny videos and the ones about some of my favourite sports teams. At first, I only got suggestions for sport and amusing videos but soon I was getting more and more videos from influencers. These had extreme views that were rude about women. I watched a couple but didn’t like them, however, that didn’t stop more and more weird stuff being recommended to me. I found out how to block some of the content, but other things that were