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How to spot 7 online fakes

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How to Spot 7 Online Fakes Used by Scammers

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You can't trust everything you see online. Here are seven commonly faked elements online and some advice for identifying them.

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Cyfryngau cymdeithasol ac iechyd meddwl / How heavy use of social media is linked to mental health

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Cyfryngau cymdeithasol ac iechyd meddwl / How heavy use of social media is linked to mental health

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https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/05/18/how-heavy-use-of-social-media-is-linked-to-mental-illness?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/howheavyuseofsocialmediaislinkedtomentalillnessdailychart

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Byddwch yn ymwybodol o seibrgwestiynau / Cyberawareness reminder

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Byddwch yn ymwybodol o seibrgwestiynau / Cyberawareness reminder

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A friendly cyberawareness reminder that this Royal Wedding 'Royal Name' meme thing is quite literally asking for the most commonly selected online access/recovery Security Questions. DON'T FALL FOR IT.

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By enabling SafeSearch, you can filter out most of the mature content that you or your family may prefer to avoid. If an inappropriate result does sneak through, you can report it to Google. We're always working to improve our content filters, and this kind of feedback can help us make SafeSearch better for everyone.

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Neges bwysig i bawb // An important message for all! 

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Neges bwysig i bawb // An important message for all! 

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Series of activities and lessons

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We're retiring Digital Passport in June 2024.

Heads up! Digital Passport will be retired on June 30, 2024. But don't worry-we still have you covered! Elementary school students can watch our Meet the Digital Citizens and Device Advice videos.

Until then, introduce students in grades 3-5 to Digital Passport™ by Common Sense Education. The award-winning suite of six interactive games addresses key issues kids face in today's digital world. Each engaging game teaches critical digital citizenship skills that help students learn to use technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate. Games are available in Spanish.

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Digital Passport by Common Sense Education

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Teach your students the ins and outs of online safety and communication with Digital Passport™, Common Sense's award-winning suite of digital citizenship learning games for elementary students.

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We are living in an age where becoming a full-time YouTuber is now a credible career option. So much so that a recent survey found that 34% of young people consider it a dream job.

Famous YouTube stars include Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg - better known by his online pseudonym PewDiePie - a Swedish web-based comedian and video producer.

PewDiePie has been in the headlines recently because despite having 57m subscribers, he has faced a backlash against his use of racist slurs.

Then there is the sweetness that is Zoella - real name Zoe Suggs - a beauty vlogging sensation. Her perky "Hi guys" greeting, pug dog, make-up tips and rose-gold aesthetics have made her a household name with teenagers across the world. And this popularity has seen her publish three books, sell a line of make-up in Superdrug, and have her name featured as the punchline on TV sitcoms such as Peep Show and Gilmore Girls. She is, as they say, à la mode.

These two YouTubers are united by their rags to riches origin stories - they both created their own success from their bedrooms. Pewdiepie grew his gaming channel after dropping out of university in 2011 - the story goes that he initially funded himself by selling hot dogs. Zoella, meanwhile, started her beauty blog during a boring internship.

Both these stars are often held up as examples of how platforms like YouTube have shaken up pathways to media entrepreneurship. And with the next generation poised at the keyboard, a crop of vlogging schools, such as Tubers Academy in Exeter, have recently sprung up to help young people achieve their #YouTubeGoals.

But despite these new age entrepreneurs making huge waves in the video world, it seems this new media wonderland has the same old glass ceiling and pay gap of yore.

Women on top?

In this way, most YouTube vlogs in the UK replicate stereotypical gender roles and themes that have long existed in the rest of the media. Zoella is a woman, and a beauty vlogger - she is sweetness and light with no hint of any controversy or scandal. PewDiePie, on the other hand, is a man who has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, while making videos about gaming and comedy.

Similarly, the most popular male vloggers, also make a diverse range of content covering science, comedy, animation and "prank" vlogs.

To analyse these trends more fully, I used SocialBlade to identify the 30 most subscribed to YouTube vlogging channels in the UK. PewDiePie doesn't count, because despite living in Brighton, he has listed his channel as based in the US.

I found that only six of these 30 channels are run by people identified as female, and four of these female identified vloggers are babies and children. So, of the 30 most subscribed to vlogs in the UK, only two are run by adult women. In fact, they are run by the same adult woman, they are Zoella's first and second YouTube channels.

Zoella has recognised this solitary positioning in the most visible ranks of YouTube, telling Blogosphere magazine in 2016: When it comes to a YouTube UK female, the spotlight is on me.

The second most popular woman below Zoella is another beauty vlogger with the same management, Tanya Burr, who has 3.7m subscribers - a third of Zoella's 12m followers.

Gender pay gap

Of course, being a YouTuber can mean big money for some stars - and recent reports estimate that Zoella earns on average £50,000 a month. But despite these high numbers, in her new book studying influencer employment, Brooke Erin Duffy suggests that only eight per cent of fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers make enough money to actually live on. This means that most beauty vloggers are probably supplementing their income, or working part time to make ends meet.

On the other hand, the most famous male YouTubers are much more likely to helm channels that bring in millions of views. Gaming videos can be turned around quickly, so these channels can amass a huge volume of content, which YouTube's algorithm treats favourably. They can also land lucrative sponsorships - British gaming vlogger Olajide William Olatunji, otherwise known as KSI, has partnered with Kellogs and Puma. Minecraft vlogger Dan Middleton (Dan TDM) has a range of action figures entitled Tube Heroes.

On YouTube specifically, Google purposefully maintains an air of mystery around the income of creators in the "Partner Program" - these are the YouTubers able to monetise their videos. But estimates show it isn't much - coming in at £1 to £4 per 1,000 views. So although this inequality is affecting top vloggers, they are the limited few that are doing this professionally.

For female vloggers, the ability to grow channels which aren't about beauty doesn't seem to be as easy. And when they do, it's often considered niche. One example is Book Tube, a genre of (mostly female) vloggers discussing all things literature. But even the most popular book tubers have full time jobs, meaning a lot of labour is undertaken for free.

What all this shows is that despite the apparent democratic potential of new media platforms like YouTube, the stubbornness of gender stereotypes and inequality persist. Not a lot has changed, then, from the traditional magazine racks - where women's magazines are about beauty and fashion and men's magazine's focus on technology, gaming and music.

Sophie Bishop is a PhD Candidate for Arts Technology and Innovation at the University of East London
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Image: YouTube stars Zoella and PewDiePie. Courtesy of
Want to continue this conversation on The Media Online platforms? Comment on Twitter @ MediaTMO or on our Facebook page. Send us your suggestions, comments, contributions or tip-offs via e-mail to glenda@wagthedog.co.za or michael@wagthedog.co.za

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Beauty for girls, pranks for boys - it's the same old gender stereotypes for YouTube stars

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We are living in an age where becoming a full-time YouTuber is now a credible career option. So much so that a recent survey found that 34% of young people consider it a dream job. Famous YouTube stars include Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg - better known by his online pseudonym PewDiePie - a Swedish web-based comedian and video producer.

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What do you like to do online? Watch videos? Post pictures? Play games? Whatever you like doing, if you use the internet you might have met people online who want to chat.

They might leave comments on your posts or request to be your friend or follower. Maybe they say they live near you or like the same music as you.

With over 4 billion people on the internet there are plenty of people to meet. It can be fun chatting to people who are interested in the same things as us. Some people online will be honest and just want to chat or be friends. However, not everyone you chat to online will be who they say they are.

It's easy to lie online

Even if you've been chatting to the same person for ages and you feel like you know them, it can be difficult to know if someone is telling the truth.

Lots of people online are genuine. But some people use the internet to chat to young people because they want to hurt them or make them do things they don't want to.

So, if you are going to chat to people you meet online here are some tips to help you do it safely.

REMEMBER - if someone makes you feel uncomfortable, worried or even frightened online you should tell an adult you trust, or report to CEOP. Whatever may have happened you won't be in trouble.

5 things to look out for

It can be difficult to know if online friends are genuine, here are some signs that they might not be:

1. They're too good to be true
Do they like all the same things as you and give you loads of attention? Are they really nice about things you post like photos? It's great to meet people you connect with but some people use the internet to make friends with young people and then abuse their trust. If you think someone might not be who they say they are tell an adult you trust or report to CEOP.

2. They offer presents or make promises
Do they make promises or offer you gifts if you will do things for them? Giving gifts and making promises can be a way of putting pressure on you. If you feel under pressure to do something you don't want to do, you might be chatting to someone unsafe and should talk to an adult you trust.

3. They put pressure on you
Do they try to talk about things you're not comfortable with, like sex? It's wrong for anyone to put pressure on you to do things you'd be embarrassed about or don't want to do. If anyone puts any pressure on you or makes you feel uncomfortable you should tell an adult you trust or report to CEOP.

4. They want to message in private
Have they asked to 'private message' or to add you on a social network or mobile app? Ask yourself, why do they need to chat in private? Games, chatrooms or forums are usually 'public places' where other people can see your conversations. Sometimes they will have 'moderators' who can look out for, and block anything that's inappropriate. You should keep your chat in a 'public place' to stop anyone from saying or doing anything weird.

5. They want the chats to be kept secret
Do they tell you to keep your chat secret? Do they say you'll be in trouble if you don't? If they ask you to keep secrets they might be trying to stop you from getting help if things feel uncomfortable. You shouldn't keep secrets for people you meet online. If a secret is making you worried or anxious tell an adult you trust or call ChildLine on 0800 1111.

Chat with confidence

Here are some things to consider:

What could they find out?
If you post stuff online, think about how much people could find out about you from it. Have you posted about your favourite music or sports? Remember, people do lie online and the more information they have about you the easier it is for them to try to trick you.

Don't say too much
If you're chatting to someone, don't tell them anything which could help them find you in the real world - things like your full name, school, email address or even photos. Remember, even if you've been chatting for ages you still can't be sure that they aren't up to no good.

Be careful on camera
It can be unsafe to video chat with people you meet online. Some people online will threaten to share a private video or picture with other people if you don't do what they say. If anyone threatens you in this way they are breaking the law and you should report them to CEOP. Whatever has happened, you won't be in trouble!

Don't meet up without an adult you trust

People do lie online so it's always risky to meet up face to face with someone you've met online. If you do meet up with someone, make sure you do it in a busy public place and take an adult you trust with you. If you take a friend you could put them at risk as well. Tell the person you're meeting you want to meet in a public place and that you're bringing an adult with you. Anyone who genuinely wants to be friends should understand that you want to make sure you are safe.

Block and report
Most websites you can chat on will let you 'block' other people if don't want to talk to them anymore. Learn how to do this on any sites and apps you use. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable or upset 'block' them.

Know how to report
No matter how long you've been chatting and whatever has happened it's never too late to seek help if someone starts being weird with you, makes you feel uncomfortable, worried or frightened. If you don't want to talk to an adult you trust you can always phone Childline on 0800 1111 or report to CEOP. They will understand and be able to help. You won't be in trouble.

Worried about someone you've been chatting to online?

Have you met someone online and you're not sure they are who they say they are? Is an online relationship moving too fast? Is someone trying to take things further by showing you porn or asking you to do sexual things on camera? If you're doing things you don't want to do it's never too late to get help. You won't be in trouble.

Talk to an adult you trust, like a parent, carer, teacher or youth worker. If you don't want to speak to someone you know there are organisations who can help.

Report it

CEOP

CEOP helps young people who are being sexually abused or are worried that someone they've met is trying to abuse them.

If you've met someone online, or face to face, and they are putting you under pressure to have sex or making you feel uncomfortable you should report to CEOP.

This might be someone:

Making you have sex when you donʼt want to

Chatting about sex online

Asking you to meet up face to face if youʼve only met them online

Asking you to do sexual things on camera

Asking for sexual pictures of you

Making you feel worried, anxious or unsafe

If this is happening to you, or you're worried that it might be, you can report this to CEOP.
www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre
Talk to someone

Childline

Childline is a free helpline for children and young people. You can contact Childline about anything. No problem is too big or too small. Whatever your worry, it's better out than in.

Childline is a private and confidential service. Confidential means not telling anyone else what you've said. This means that whatever you say stays between you and Childline.

They would only need to tell someone else if:

You ask them to.

They believe your life or someone else's life is in immediate danger.

You are being hurt by someone in a position of trust who has access to other children like a teacher or police officer.

You tell us that you are seriously harming another young person.

Call them on 0800 1111. The number won't appear on your phone bill.

You can also visit www.childline.org.uk to speak to a counsellor online.
Share your experiences with other young people
Talk to other young people about your experiences and get support at the Childline messageboards. There are lots of young people talking about everything from sex and relationships to sport and fashion.
Childline messageboard
The Mix

The Mix provides free, confidential support for young people. They'll explore your situation with you and find organisations that may be able to help you further.

The Mix have a crisis messenger text service that provides 24/7 support. If you're experiencing any painful emotion or are in crisis, you can text THEMIX to 85258.

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What do you like to do online? Watch videos? Post pictures? Play games? Whatever you like doing, if you use the internet you might have met people online who want to chat. They might leave comments on your posts or request to be your friend or follower.

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Guardian: The harvesting of our personal details goes far beyond what many of us could imagine. So I braced myself and had a look

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Want to freak yourself out? I'm going to show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it.

Google stores your location (if you have location tracking turned on) every time you turn on your phone. You can see a timeline of where you've been from the very first day you started using Google on your phone.

Click on this link to see your own data: google.com/maps/timeline?...

Here is every place I have been in the last 12 months in Ireland. You can see the time of day that I was in the location and how long it took me to get to that location from my previous one.

Google stores search history across all your devices. That can mean that, even if you delete your search history and phone history on one device, it may still have data saved from other devices.

Click on this link to see your own data: myactivity.google.com/myactivity

Google creates an advertisement profile based on your information, including your location, gender, age, hobbies, career, interests, relationship status, possible weight (need to lose 10lb in one day?) and income.

Click on this link to see your own data: google.com/settings/ads/

Google stores information on every app and extension you use. They know how often you use them, where you use them, and who you use them to interact with. That means they know who you talk to on Facebook, what countries are you speaking with, what time you go to sleep.

Click on this link to see your own data: security.google.com/settings/secur...

Google stores all of your YouTube history, so they probably know whether you're going to be a parent soon, if you're a conservative, if you're a progressive, if you're Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, if you're feeling depressed or suicidal, if you're anorexic ...

Click on this link to see your own data: youtube.com/feed/history/s...

Google offers an option to download all of the data it stores about you. I've requested to download it and the file is 5.5GB big, which is roughly 3m Word documents.

Manage to gain access to someone's Google account? Perfect, you have a diary of everything that person has done

This link includes your bookmarks, emails, contacts, your Google Drive files, all of the above information, your YouTube videos, the photos you've taken on your phone, the businesses you've bought from, the products you've bought through Google ...

They also have data from your calendar, your Google hangout sessions, your location history, the music you listen to, the Google books you've purchased, the Google groups you're in, the websites you've created, the phones you've owned, the pages you've shared, how many steps you walk in a day ...

Click on this link to see your own data: google.com/takeout

Facebook offers a similar option to download all your information. Mine was roughly 600MB, which is roughly 400,000 Word documents.

This includes every message you've ever sent or been sent, every file you've ever sent or been sent, all the contacts in your phone, and all the audio messages you've ever sent or been sent.

Click here to see your data: https://www.facebook.com/help/131112897028467

Facebook also stores what it thinks you might be interested in based off the things you've liked and what you and your friends talk about (I apparently like the topic "girl").

Somewhat pointlessly, they also store all the stickers you've ever sent on Facebook (I have no idea why they do this. It's just a joke at this stage).

They also store every time you log in to Facebook, where you logged in from, what time, and from what device.

And they store all the applications you've ever had connected to your Facebook account, so they can guess I'm interested in politics and web and graphic design, that I was single between X and Y period with the installation of Tinder, and I got a HTC phone in November.

(Side note, if you have Windows 10 installed, this is a picture of just the privacy options with 16 different sub-menus, which have all of the options enabled by default when you install Windows 10)

The data they collect includes tracking where you are, what applications you have installed, when you use them, what you use them for, access to your webcam and microphone at any time, your contacts, your emails, your calendar, your call history, the messages you send and receive, the files you download, the games you play, your photos and videos, your music, your search history, your browsing history, even what radio stations you listen to.

I got the Google Takeout document with all my information, and this is a breakdown of all the different ways they get your information.

Here's the search history document, which has 90,000 different entries, even showing the images I downloaded and the websites I accessed (I showed the Pirate Bay section to show how much damage this information can do).

Here's my Google Calendar broken down, showing all the events I've ever added, whether I actually attended them, and what time I attended them at (this part is when I went for an interview for a marketing job, and what time I arrived).

This is my Google Drive, which includes files I explicitly deleted including my résumé, my monthly budget, and all the code, files and websites I've ever made, and even my PGP private key, which I deleted, that I use to encrypt emails.

This is my Google Fit, which shows all of the steps I've ever taken, any time I walked anywhere, and all the times I've recorded any meditation/yoga/workouts I've done (I deleted this information and revoked Google Fit's permissions).

This is all the photos ever taken with my phone, broken down by year, and includes metadata of when and where I took the photos

Every email I've ever sent, that's been sent to me, including the ones I deleted or were categorised as spam.

I'll just do a short summary of what's in the thousands of files I received under my Google Activity.

First, every Google Ad I've ever viewed or clicked on, every app I've ever launched or used and when I did it, every website I've ever visited and what time I did it at, and every app I've ever installed or searched for.

They also have every image I've ever searched for and saved, every location I've ever searched for or clicked on, every news article I've ever searched for or read, and every single Google search I've made since 2009. And then finally, every YouTube video I've ever searched for or viewed, since 2008.

This information has millions of nefarious uses. You say you're not a terrorist. Then how come you were googling Isis? Work at Google and you're suspicious of your wife? Perfect, just look up her location and search history for the last 10 years. Manage to gain access to someone's Google account? Perfect, you have a chronological diary of everything that person has done for the last 10 years.

This is one of the craziest things about the modern age. We would never let the government or a corporation put cameras/microphones in our homes or location trackers on us. But we just went ahead and did it ourselves because - to hell with it! - I want to watch cute dog videos.

A caption was corrected on 28 March 2018 to replace "privacy options in Facebook" with "privacy options in Windows 10".

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Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you | Dylan Curran

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Want to freak yourself out? I'm going to show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it. Google stores your location (if you have location tracking turned on) every time you turn on your phone.

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Bullying UK

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Cyber bullying advice - bullying on mobiles, Facebook and social networks what to do and how to prevent it

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Digital Footprint

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Ôl troed digidol / Digital Footprint by Ceri Anwen James

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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TED talk

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https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/online-mobile-safety/staying-safe-online/

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BBC Northern Ireland

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They are two separate mothers, with two different and unconnected experiences with cyber-bullying.

For one - Mandy Trowbridge - the painful loss of a child who was a victim.

For the other, who spoke anonymously, the shock of being told by police that her child was a cyber-bully.

But from both, the same message: Cyber-bullying is a real threat that parents and children must tackle to avoid similar heartache in their own homes.

Facebook and Twitter could face 'online abuse levy'

Both mothers shared this message and their separate cyber-bullying experience with BBC Newsline ahead of the launch of a new awareness programme designed to promote online safety to children and parents alike.

The programme, developed by the Safeguarding Board of Northern Ireland, will be shared in schools, church groups and community groups.

Its aim is to make parents and children aware of safety when using social media sites, chat room and internet forums and also to be mindful of the damage that can be done by sending threatening messages online or on mobile phones.

The awareness strategy comes at a time when the NSPCC has said that children as young as five are on social media and one in three has been the victim of cyber-bullying.

One of those victims was Elle Trowbridge, a 16-year-old from County Tyrone, who took her own life in April after being targeted by cyber-bullies since she was 11.

Her mother Mandy told BBC Newsline's Donna Traynor that she did not want anyone else experiencing what her and her family have gone through.

'Sent her spiralling'

"Awful messages were sent to her phone one day," she said. "Elle came and told me about it straight away.

"So the following day I reported that to the police but Elle really believed if that's what people wanted, that's what she should do - so, unfortunately, she did start self-harming at just the young age of 11.

"And Elle never really recovered from that.

"We had her at the doctors, we had help from social services, therapists but unfortunately about five or six weeks before she passed away another message came through, again anonymously.

"Elle just couldn't understand why somebody could be so cruel and this just sent her spiralling."

Mrs Trowbridge said she believed children had sent the messages but that she "did not want the same thing to happen to them, for them to fall into a deep, dark place".

"Possibly they need help and intervention. Children act on impulse and emotion. They don't think of the consequences months down the line."

The other side of cyber-bullying was experienced by a mother who told BBC Newsline that her 14-year-old daughter had sent a threatening message to another child asking her to self-harm and consider taking her own life.

The mother, who spoke anonymously, said police arrived at her door and told her that her daughter "had sent a very terrible message to someone who was a friend".

"I couldn't believe that my daughter would do that.

"When she was sending that text message she was 14, and whenever the police came along to my house and I saw her sat there at the table she looked like a four-year-old girl.

"I realised she is a child but she committed something very, very bad.

"She was shocked and I think she was more horrified that she actually got caught.

"I think she assumed she would get away with it and I don't believe she gave any thought to the possibility of that girl taking her life because of that message."

The mother said she believed her daughter was encouraged to send the message because of peer pressure.

"I know my daughter is not innocent because she pushed the button and sent the message.

"But I do believe that because her friends were there she had power - I do believe she had support do this terrible thing she might not have done on her own.

"But she pressed the button and sent the message.

"I hope they (children) realise they cannot blatantly harass anybody and not get caught."

The important message, she said, is that children and parents become aware of the threat cyber-bullying poses.

"You don't know what they're looking at on the phone," she said. "You have no idea.

"You try to give them an element of trust but that can only go so far and they are not fully developed human beings.

"This cyber stuff is encouraging them to be negative, to show blatant and absolute harassment to other weak individuals. This is not the way to go. Where will it end?"

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They are two separate mothers, with two different and unconnected experiences with cyber-bullying. For one - Mandy Trowbridge - the painful loss of a child who was a victim. For the other, who spoke anonymously, the shock of being told by police that her child was a cyber-bully.

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e-Safety apps and games

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e-Ddiogelwch / e-Safety by Ceri Anwen James

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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Great ideas for image sites

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So often we want to find images to use in our everyday work. Google images doesn't really provide the answers when it comes to high quality CC free images. Digital citizenship is high on the agenda for pupils and students but equally so for teachers too. In this post I'll share my favourite places to get high-quality images for you to use in your resources, presentations, posters and more.

Pixabay has been high on my list for this purpose for some time. It allows you to not only search for high quality photos but also illustrations, vector graphics and videos.

Simply sign up and away you go. I find the iOS app really handy on my iPad too and there's an Android version available too.

The creative commons team have created a search engine for searching for images that you can use and adapt that meet your requirements. You can easily access the site here.

A site I am returning to more and more (probably more frequently than Pixabay) is Pexels. This site is purely photos but with so many high-quality photos in one place, it's a one-stop shop for images for me.

They are really clear on the licensing on the images on their site too although unfortunately there is no app (yet) for searching through Pixels, although it does work reasonably well in your browser on a tablet or phone.

On the topic of Pexels too I should also do a shout out for the Pexels Videos site. Just like Pexels the videos are free and can be used for any purpose. They are awesome.

Here's an example video I made using video clips found on Pexels Video:

Unsplash is a seriously clean site featuring some jaw-droppingly gorgeous images. Be aware, you may end up just spending your time scrolling through all of the beautiful photos on Unsplash. As with Pexels, all images are free for you to use:

Ok so this site only contains patterns but they are really good. They're great for backgrounds on text images you might be looking to create for resources, fliers, adverts and more. There are lots of themes to search and browse through. The Amazing Pattern Library is definitely worth a look!. The site design is pretty awesome too alongside some fantastic contemporary pattern designs.

There are so many different sites you can use to find brilliant imagery to use in your work. When I first started teaching I used to be terrible at wall displays and how I presented my work. I know now that with some simple tools and sites, such as with these resources, you can create some very professional outcomes.

I recently found too an awesome site and plugin for Chrome called ' Polarr Plugin'. The Polarr Photo Editor app is a great tool. What this plugin does is that it enables you to directly open any photo you find on the web that you want to edit with its impressive features.

Just a few little tweaks can give you a much richer image for you to use, should you wish to play with the filters and the settings as this image shows with a few adjustments to it from the original image for the title of this post.

Of course there are lots of other tools you can use to edit photos but if you're working with images online, it's a great little plugin to add to your browser.

And finally, if you've read this far - please check out the Piktab extension for Chrome. This handy little extension will bring you image searching of the sites mentioned above and many more. Just remember to check licensing on some of the sites searched such as FreePiks.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. If you have any sites or tools that you would recommend of like me to check out then please do get in touch. You can get in touch via my contact page or you can tweet me at @ICTEvangelist.

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The best sites for finding high-quality, free images - ICTEvangelist

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So often we want to find images to use in our everyday work. Google images doesn't really provide the answers when it comes to high quality CC free images. Digital citizenship is high on the agenda for pupils and students but equally so for teachers too.

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Online Safety

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Diogelwch ar lein / Online Safety by Ceri Anwen James

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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Copyright

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Hawlfraint / Copyright by Ceri Anwen James

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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With millions of subscribers, top YouTubers such as Zoella have huge, passionate audiences. Here's a handy guide to help you understand their popularity

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Human nature is the problem, but human nature is also the solution.

Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate

The notion of screen time evokes strong and often negative emotions. Photographs of people, young and old alike, staring into screens instead of talking to each other are almost always followed by dispirited comments about the dysfunctional state of our society.

Parents of young children, including me, worry and often feel enormous guilt when their children spend too long in front of devices instead of running around outside, getting fresh air and climbing trees. And spare a thought for parents of adolescent children. They too feel anxious and concerned about how long their 15 year old spends locked up in her room in front of a screen instead of getting more involved in family life.

Even if you don't have any children, you are probably troubled at times by the realisation that you are surrounded by a seemingly ever-increasing amount of screens. Computer screens at work, television screens at home, and tablet screens in a variety of sizes for when you're making your way from one to the other. Combine all this and you might be forgiven for thinking the world is going to pot and we have a big, big problem. But have we?

The media's tendency to resort to click bait journalism and our human propensity to favour simple solutions to complex problems over complex solutions to simple problems have coalesced to create the widespread perception that technology is eroding away at our humanity. From Nicholas Carr's implausible yet widely accepted claim that having more sources of knowledge and information at our fingertips is somehow making us dumber to Sherry Turkle's specious contention that checking social media on smartphones and tablets is causing us to be "alone together", the internet - and I hope the irony is not lost on you - is full of dystopian visions warning about the dire consequences of our addiction to technology.

So, is technology actually bad for us? Is it bad for children? It is certainly a question worth asking. There is a substantial number of studies that, for example, have looked at the effect of video games or at what effect looking into bright screens for prolonged periods has on our eyes. Whereas the balance is tipping in favour of 'video games are good for you', when it comes to screen time it is widely accepted by the scientific community that prolonged exposure to bright screens can harm our eyes. This is not disputed, but if you compare this to the fact that it is well known that simply reading paper books can cause myopia, and yet nobody seriously suggests that children should stop reading, you begin to realise just how hysterical the guidance surrounding screen time can be.

Chris Ferguson, professor of psychology, believes that much of this apparently negative expert opinion can be explained through a phenomenon he calls 'the scientific pile-on effect'. Ferguson thinks that, in clinical psychology, "once something is identified as 'naughty', it's predictable to see an ever-increasing crescendo of studies linking the naughty thing to everything bad imaginable... bad behaviours, low intelligence, adult health problems, cancer, global warming..." And he cautions that "this is really the inverse of snake oil salesmanship. Just as hucksters sold junk medicines with cure-all promises, academic psychology spends too much time selling moral agendas with claims that the naughty thing, whatever it is, causes all problems, just as snake oils cure all ills. This scientific pile-on effect should be a warning that something has gone amiss in the scientific process."

This moral agenda, apparently backed by clinical psychology, contributes to the blatant medicalisation of this perceived problem, encouraging us to view the use of technology through the lens of pathology. So we talk about addiction, dependency and detox, as if the use of technology in our daily lives were analogous to injecting heroine or smoking crack cocaine. But professor Tanya Byron is sceptical about this medicalisation. Byron suggests that "by labelling [technology use] as an addiction before we really understand the processes at work we run the risk of removing our own responsibility for how we use technology".

And herein lies the paradox: many things that you can do on screen - reading a book, video conferencing with relatives abroad, playing video games or watching a nature documentary - are generally good. Yet screen time is bad, for so say the experts. So which is it? Should we or shouldn't we?

Maybe technology is not the problem. Maybe it's just down to human behaviour. Consider again the parents of young children who worry about screen time but put their toddlers in from of an iPad for hours on end and then blame the technology. Consider the fact that teenagers have been locking themselves up in their rooms, avoiding talking to their parents and responding only with barely audible grunts to 'how was school today?' for, probably, centuries. Screens didn't cause any of this. From this perspective, the mere existence of screens contributes to this problem in the same way that cars contribute to crashes. That's right, car crashes wouldn't happen if there weren't any cars, but it is the person in control behind the wheel who causes them, not the car.

None of this is to say that we should carry on unconcerned when addictive behaviour is displayed around the use of technology, be it social media, video games or Pokémon Go. Instead I suggest that we should be concerning ourselves with controlling our behaviour, in the knowledge that most of us will be able to develop and exercise an appropriate level of agency and self-control, but fully aware that some individuals will inevitably lose control. As Byron observes, "of course there are those who are vulnerable and who may become addicted to new, pleasurable behaviours. We have a duty of care to those people. But as a species, this is about adaptation, it's about understanding our behaviour, not panicking about change and taking personal responsibility - responsibility as parent, responsibility as individuals, and as a society as a whole."

Personally, I am persuaded by the conclusions of Sonia Livingstone, professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE and Alicia Blum-Ross, research officer in the same department. According to Livingstone and Blum-Ross 'screen time' "is an obsolete concept. As digital media become integrated into all aspects of daily life, it is more important to consider the context and content of digital media use, and the connections children and young people (and parents) are making, or not, than to consider arbitrary rules about time."

The essence of this approach is that we should fret less about how long we spend in front of a screen and worry more about what we are doing on said screens. Catching up with geographically distant friends and family members, keeping up with current affairs or reading an e-book are all demonstrably good and fruitful things to be doing in one's spare time. The fact that we are doing this on a tablet, a laptop or smartphone should not really matter and it's certainly not bad for us.

But do consider your context. There are occasions when - rightly so - it is socially unacceptable to spend too long or any time at all on devices. When you are out at the cinema, the theatre, or with some friends we should avoid the temptation to check our smartphones. This is not because technology is bad for us, but rather to avoid being rude to others.

If you feel trapped in a maelstrom of notifications, emails, messages, pings and whistles that are vying for your attention, it may feel that 'detoxing' and eschewing technology altogether for days or weeks at a time may be the solution. But this simple solution doesn't even touch the more complex problem of controlling our behaviour. Instead of a full detox, we could first consider turning on the do-not-disturb feature our smartphones or tablets and leaving it on permanently. Perhaps switch off notifications altogether to avoid pop ups and vibrations. This is how my tablet and smartphone are set, so I am never disturbed when I am reading a book, marking students' work or having dinner with my friends or family. I check any messages when I'm ready, not when my devices buzz a demand for my attention. It's a more complex, but highly effective solution.

As schools begin to explore the educational potential of using more devices with screens in the classroom, parents who don't necessarily understand how this technology is used might understandably but erroneously assume that technology in schools is used in the same way that it has traditionally been used at home, that is to say to keep children entertained, busy and quiet. Schools clearly have a responsibility to explain more clearly and justify how technology is being used to support great teaching and learning. Are the children reading and writing more? Are the children learning maths more easily? Is it easier to learn a foreign language? Can teachers give feedback more effectively? These are the really important questions that need an answer. This is where researchers need to be focusing their research. 'Are the children spending more time on screens?' is a valid but much less important question, since it's what they are doing on those screens that really matters.

Angharad Rudkin, clinical psychologist, suggests that "any guidance needs to be based on solid evidence base rather than a fear of change. We need good quality research that looks in detail at different aspects of child development and their relation to screen time." Rudkin concludes "I think the next step is to empower parents. Teach them how to identify when screen time is becoming problematic for their child (meaning that is interfering with normal development and functioning) and give them the confidence to manage it."

In summary, not all screen time is equal, so we should probably adjust our advice accordingly.

Your thoughts and considerations are always welcome. Please consider sharing this article or leaving a comment.

Using technology in the classroom, by José Picardo is available now.

Order your copy here.

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Human nature is the problem, but human nature is also the solution. Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate The notion of screen time evokes strong and often negative emotions. Photographs of people, young and old alike, staring into screens instead of talking to each other are almost always followed by dispirited comments about the dysfunctional state of our society.

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@CEOPUK

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Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

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I want to say the duck face picture days are behind us but I'm not sure if that's a safe statement yet. We still have the mouth wide open, peace sign pics but I haven't seen a duck face pic in a while so I'm hopeful.

I'm not one for selfies. They actually freak me out and when I see my teenager take 75 selfies during the 3-minute ride to church, I completely lose my cool. She says she has to get it just perfect. She once tried to get me in one of her selfies so I shot the camera the bird in an effort to make it unsendable (I know, I know, there's no need for chastising comments) ... it ended up being sent anyways and now she's the kid who's mom flipped off the camera.

Seriously.

Snapchat is nonstop in our house. We have two teenagers that use Snapchat 26 hours a day.

What's wrong with these kids?

How did we raise a generation of selfie taking teens who are constantly sending their friends pictures of themselves. I told my daughter to send something else instead of a selfie to her friends on Snapchat and she looked at me like I had 2 heads. "Like what? What else would I send?"

I was speechless.

Last week one of our teens missed a week of school and ended up in the ER because she was so sick. I have no doubt that on Monday morning, when her friends realized she wasn't at school, they started snapchatting. I'm pretty sure they all got a selfie of my sick child with puffy eyes and pale face.

Oh my God, make it stop.

But then something strange started happening.

The first day she was home sick the doorbell rang mid-afternoon and it was one of her selfie taking friends with a milk shake for my daughter. She knew my daughter couldn't eat because her throat was so sore so she brought her a milk shake. She drove to Sonic and spent her own money on a milkshake for my daughter. Even if it seems like the smallest act of kindness, it's kind of huge in the teen world.

The next day the door bell rang and it was the delivery guy from Panera Bread. Her "oh my gosh mom, stop calling him my boyfriend, you're so embarrassing" called in an order for her and had it delivered to our house. For real, this sweet young man placed a lunch order for my daughter and had it sent to our house. What? Who does that? I'm sure she snapchatted him a thank you. I called my husband to tell him he needed to step up his game because this kid just schooled him!

The following day the doorbell rang again and when I opened the door, there stood a pizza delivery guy. Her BFF (who doesn't even live in our city) called in a pizza and had it delivered to my daughter. He handed me a personal pizza, fries and a drink and let me know that everything down to the gratuity was covered.

I called her mom later on in the day to tell her thank you and her mom had no idea that her daughter had sent mine lunch. There was no glory in it for her friend, she was simply and silently being kind.

The next day we landed in the ER and as she laid in the hospital bed I watched her phone go off nonstop with friends checking on her. I also watched her snapchat pictures of her IV, monitor, socks, and whatever else was in that room.

On the last day of the week, her "oh my gosh mom, stop calling him my boyfriend, you're so embarrassing" and her best guy friend showed up to our house during their lunch hour with hamburgers from our favorite fast food joint. The three of them sat outside and had lunch together. They kept her company and gave her several reasons to smile after a long and isolated week.

These kids proved me wrong over and over all week long. It was a humbling experience to say the least. Maybe all this technology, Snapchat, texting and selfies aren't making them all crazy, self-centered bullies. It's giving them access to each other in ways that we didn't have growing up and maybe that's not always a bad thing. I know that sometimes social media is abused and used in hateful ways but I've learned this week that sometimes it's used in the sweetest, most generous ways.

When I was growing up and friend missed a week of school due to illness we really didn't do much about it. We might have called them from our Swatch phone after dinner to see if they were okay and if we were really cool we added a friend to the conversation by using three-way calling. But other than that we kind of just let their parents handle it and waited for them to return to school.

The instant access these kids had to each other over the week gave them the ability to show compassion to my daughter in ways we couldn't when we were their age. It gave them ways to love on her while she was home sick. It gave them the ability to show her that they cared and that she was not only loved but she was missed. I want to call each one of their parents and tell them thank you and well done.

We don't give this generation enough credit. These are good kids doing their best to navigate through a world that has instant access to everything and every event the moment it happens. Their lives are being played out through social media in real-time right in front of all of our faces. Teenaging is hard stuff right now but they're actually doing a pretty good job at making it work for them.

If you have little ones and are terrified of the teen years please let me tell you that the best is yet to come. These kids are the coolest and even through their struggle in trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in, they can be surprisingly awesome. It's so amazing watching these kids grow into compassionate and generous young adults, even if we have to see most of it via Snapchat.
Related post: Related video: This post comes from the TODAY Parenting Team community, where all members are welcome to post and discuss parenting solutions. Learn more and join us! Because we're all in this together. I found out what my daughter had done through her social media

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What social media and the selfie generation did to my teenage daughter

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I want to say the duck face picture days are behind us but I'm not sure if that's a safe statement yet. We still have the mouth wide open, peace sign pics but I haven't seen a duck face pic in a while so I'm hopeful. I'm not one for selfies.

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Link to DCF

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YouTube punishes Logan Paul

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YouTube has cut some business ties with Logan Paul, the hugely popular vlogger who posted a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan.

Paul's channels were removed from YouTube's Google Preferred programme, where brands sell ads on the platform's top 5% of content creators.

YouTube also said it had put on hold original projects with the US vlogger.

Paul posted the video with a man's body on 31 December, triggering widespread criticism.

What is YouTube punishing Logan Paul for?

The video showed Paul and his friends at the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides.

Going in to film the "haunted" forest, they come across a man's body and are shocked but also make jokes.

The identity of the deceased man is not known. Online comments have called the Japan video, which garnered millions of views on YouTube before it was taken down, "disrespectful" and "disgusting".

Paul later posted an apology on Twitter, saying he had been "misguided by shock and awe".

He also uploaded a video apology, and said: "I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through."

"I'm ashamed of myself," he added. "I'm disappointed in myself."

How much is this likely to cost Paul?

It's hard to calculate exactly. YouTube's move will cost him financially as his videos will no longer earn top-tier cash per click - but as he hasn't been completely kicked off the platform, he will still earn money from views.

Google Preferred allows brands to publish ads on the accounts that are most popular among 18-34 year-olds in the US.

YouTube's own wording calls it a way for companies to "share their messages alongside some of the most engaging and brand safe content on YouTube".

Aside from his videos, Paul makes money from sponsored social media posts and merchandise - and it's worth noting that his apology video has racked up nearly 40 million views.

How big a star is Logan Paul?

With more than 15 million subscribers and counting, he's huge.

Last year, Forbes magazine estimated he made $12.5m (£9.3m), making him the fourth highest-paid YouTube star in 2016.

Why are people upset with YouTube?

Some people are frustrated that it took YouTube 10 days to respond to the controversy. The company acknowledged this, saying: "You're right to be [frustrated]. You deserve to know what's going on."

The Japan video itself was not taken down by YouTube; Paul himself took it down, leading some to complain that the platform should have acted more decisively.

What is Aokigahara forest?

Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the developed world.

Aokigahara forest has a reputation in Japan and internationally as a destination for people who want to kill themselves.

Data on the number of suicides there each year is not made public, to avoid publicising the site. Signs are posted in the forest urging people to seek medical help rather than take their lives.
If you are feeling emotionally distressed and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, click here. In the UK you can call for free, at any time, to hear recorded information on 0800 066 066. In Japan you can get help here.

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YouTube punishes star over suicide video

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YouTube has cut some business ties with Logan Paul, the hugely popular vlogger who posted a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan. Paul's channels were removed from YouTube's Google Preferred programme, where brands sell ads on the platform's top 5% of content creators.

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Logan Paul, a vlogger who fooled around on camera beside the body of a man who had hanged himself, has ousted Zoella as British children's favourite YouTube star.

A report by Childwise said that the popularity of the 22-year-old American marked a new era where children admired online personalities who were "edgier" and "less wholesome" than the English beauty vlogger.

YouTube is the favourite online destination of British children, and is used by 90 per cent of those aged 5 to 16, according to the research company's survey of 2,000 pupils. Children's regular use of the site comes despite repeated criticism over its failure to identify and remove dangerous content, including videos that show child abuse and promoting terrorism.

YouTube removed two acid attack prank...

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Zoella loses top spot to Logan Paul as children prefer 'edgy' YouTube stars

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Logan Paul, a vlogger who fooled around on camera beside the body of a man who had hanged himself, has ousted Zoella as British children's favourite YouTube star. A report by Childwise said that the popularity of the 22-year-old American marked a new era where children admired online personalities who were "edgier" and "less wholesome" than the English beauty vlogger.

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Upper secondary toolkit

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The Upper Secondary Toolkit, for pupils in Key Stage 4 and above, has been created by Childnet. The toolkit contains two different resources; The Advanced Project and the drama activity Picture This, which are easy to use and are matched to the skills and interests of young people aged 14-19.

Co-funded by

the European Union

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The Upper Secondary Toolkit, for pupils in Key Stage 4 and above, has been created by Childnet. The toolkit contains two different resources; The Advanced Project and the drama activity Picture This, which are easy to use and are matched to the skills and interests of young people aged 14-19.

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Lower secondary toolkit

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Welcome to the Know IT All Secondary Toolkit for secondary school aged pupils. In this area we hope to provide educators with a range of ready to go e-safety resources. Browse, download and personalise the range of downloadable lesson plans, films, games, PowerPoint presentations and more.

Cyberbullying Open or Close

Further Information:

Our Hot Topics - Cyberbullying section in the Teachers and Professionals area provides information on how you can support young people and practical advice you can give them.

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Welcome to the Know IT All Secondary Toolkit for secondary school aged pupils. In this area we hope to provide educators with a range of ready to go e-safety resources. Browse, download and personalise the range of downloadable lesson plans, films, games, PowerPoint presentations and more.