Internet Watch: adult games sold to kids, Internet addiction, Twitter challenge benefits UNICEF
April 27, 2009 by Andy Merrett · Leave a Comment
Welcome to Family Relationships Magazine’s weekly roundup of news about the Internet, particularly as it relates to children and families
Adult games sold to British kids
Trading Standards recently discovered that a number of online retailers are selling “mature” video games to children.
“The teenage volunteer visited 16 separate outlets and found that a dozen of them sold games. Only U.K stores Gamestation, Game, PC World and WH Smith refused to sell the titles.”
Children dependent on Internet
A new survey has discovered that Taiwanese children are more dependent on the Internet than ever before.
“Cartoon Network, from Feb 24 to March 23, interviewed a total of 1,001 children (aged between 7 and 14 years old) and 1,001 parents in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung in order to find out more about the local children’s lifestyle habits. It released its survey results yesterday and found that more than 90 percent of child respondents use the Internet frequently, with nearly 50 percent of children whose age falls between 13 and 14 years old using the Internet to play online games, download music, write blogs, send e-mail or use instant message services on a daily basis.”
It’s inevitable and a trend that’s likely to be reflected in other industrialised countries across the world.
It reinforces the need for parents to remain vigilant when it comes to their children’s Internet usage, including setting rules and boundaries.
Twitter challenge raises money for UNICEF
Whether you’d heard of the “Twitter challenge” between Ashton Kutcher and CNN, or even cared, the real winners appear to have been children, as UNICEF announced on Friday that it has received $100,000 from CNN designated for the provision of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) meant to stem the spread of malaria.
Do you Twitter about family? Let us know, get connected
January 23, 2009 by Andy Merrett · Leave a Comment
Once almost exclusively the domain of “techies”, particularly in Silicon Valley, Twitter is now getting quite a fan base across the world and with “ordinary” people.
Even Phillip Schofield tweets, as he announced to thousands of viewers on This Morning during the week.
We know that plenty of parents blog, as do a number of organisations and companies that are concerned about parenting and children’s issues. So we thought we’d try to build up a collection of Twitterers here at Family Relationships Magazine.
If you’re a mum, dad, carer, family- or children-oriented charity, or a company offering relevant products, and you have a Twitter account, why not let us know? Either follow our own Twitter stream at http://twitter.com/familyrelations and we’ll follow back, or email us at family@familyrelationships.org.uk/.
Mums: Get daily pregnancy tips via Twitter
October 27, 2008 by Andy Merrett · 1 Comment
Do you know what Twitter is?
It’s an online service which allows anyone to share 140-character snippets of information about themselves, what they’re doing, and what’s important to them. It’s a bit like text messaging on the Internet.
March of Dimes has announced that it’s providing daily pregnancy tips – or “tweets” – for mums via the service.
It’s available in both English and Spanish.
“We’re using all the new technology that’s available to us to help women make sense of the latest medical and scientific research,” said Beverly Robertson, national director of the Pregnancy & Newborn Health Education Center at the March of Dimes. “This service is in whatever format you want it. You can get it on your cell phone via text message, through instant messaging and online. The March of Dimes already has almost 1,000 Twitter followers around the country.”
Talking of Twitter, you can get updates from the Family Relationships Magazine here
