ShinyShiny snippets: Daughter of Online Safety laws MP addicted to social media
The daughter of the minister drafting new online safety laws has admitted she is “addicted to social media” as she challenged tech giants to do more to protect teenagers from self-harm and suicide. Claudia Collins, 15, made her impassioned plea in a documentary she made for the BBC investigating the impact of social media on teenagers like herself and Molly Russell, 14, who took her own life after being bombarded with self-harm and suicide content. “I am 15 years old. I am addicted to social media. I know content I am engaging with is causing young people harm but I feel people are not paying enough attention to the consequences of it,” she said, opening the 12-minute film, Molly, Social Media and Me. Telegraph
One in three children lie about their age to access adult content on social media, according to research commissioned by the regulator, Ofcom. Many social media sites, such as Instagram, do not permit under-13s to sign up, while accounts for under-18s have limited functionality. But researchers found children were faking their ages to skirt the rules. Ofcom says this increases the risk of children seeing content which may be inappropriate or harmful. Anna-Sophie Harling, from Ofcom, told BBC News the way social media platforms categorised users by age had a “huge impact” on the content they were shown. BBC
Almost a year after the launch of its own-brand TV Sky Glass, Sky is introducing another dish-free product in the UK with the debut of Sky Stream. Marketed as a “new, easy way” to subscribe to Sky’s services, the fresh package launches in a matter of days. Sky Stream basically gives its customers a Sky Glass-style experience (so no satellite dish), but you don’t need to purchase the TV set to get it, just a small box that can be held in the hand. The minimum broadband speed recommended for Sky Stream, like Sky Glass, is 10Mbps. Digital Spy
YouTube users are in store for a big change coming to the platform. Soon, you will be able to create your own unique account handle to use across the website. Taking a cue from the likes of TikTok, Twitter, and other places around the internet, YouTube is introducing “@name” handles. In a blog post, the company states that handles will appear on channel pages and shorts for all users. The handles won’t be replacing channel names, but will join them as an additional way to identify a channel. Android Authority
Playing video games could cause life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias in children with undiagnosed heart conditions, a scientific report has found. Investigators said they had uncovered an uncommon but distinct pattern among children who lose consciousness while playing electronic games. They warned that Call Of Duty-style multiplayer war games were the most frequent trigger for such episodes. And in the report published in the journal Heart Rhythm, scientists urged parents to take children who suffer the blackouts to see a heart specialist. Sky News
The iPhone 14 has reportedly been automatically calling 911 on rollercoasters due to a feature designed to alert authorities if the user is in a car crash. Police have been sent to amusement parks on a number of occasions as a result of the crash detection function on the new model, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The iPhone 14, Watch Series 8, SE and Ultra have all been equipped with the feature. If they detect a severe car crash, they can display an alert before contacting emergency services and notifying users’ emergency contacts. Sky News
