New UK report on children and new technology
The UK Department for Children, Schools and Families launched last week its eagerly anticipated Byron Review into Children and New Technology.
It contains a comprehensive package of measures to help children and young people make the most of the internet and video games, while protecting them from harmful and inappropriate material, and sets out an ambitious action plan for Government, industry and families to work together to support children’s safety online and to reduce access to adult video games.
The report has led to a huge amount of press coverage and debate.
BBC News summarises the report and provides an overview of the reactions to it.
DK of MediaSnackers is rather lukewarm in his reaction and identifies three areas the report fails to tackle:
- children vs young people—very different demographics in terms of their internet/technology use and expectations. There is a danger of trying to develop strategies which cater for both groups here;
- internet or playing video games—surely these are two very different activities but in the report they are often ‘lumped’ together;
- social networking regulation—any plans to regulate these online spaces will be near impossible to enforce let alone coordinate (due to the amount of platforms plus their international approaches—check this out).
