Cyber Safety Case Studies: Social media as bad for children as smoking, British doctors say Source: Brtish Medical Journal

Introduction to the Case Study Collection

Part of The Cyber Trust Family Internet Monitoring Project

NEW: FAMILY MONITORING PROJECT VIDEOS

The Cyber Trust has released three videos in a series covering different products that families can use to monitor activity. To access them visit that Trust's Youtube Channel here.

This collection of case studies explores real-world news stories highlighting how children and young people can be placed at risk through their online activities.

The collection is drawn from real cases investigated by the Cyber Choices team at the National Crime Agency and stories reported in the press.

All of these cases could have been prevented had parents been able to monitor their child's online activity and intervene.

Social media as bad for children as smoking, British doctors say

British doctors have responded to the UK government consultation on the possible ban on Social Media for under 16 year olds by saying that 'Social media ranks alongside smoking as a danger to children'.

The report also refers to a statement made in the report that "There can be few issues which have united clinicians so resoundingly in recent years as the impact that unfettered exposure to tech and devices is currently having on children and young people's health,"

More than half of 132 doctors surveyed saw at least one case of health harm that could be related to tech and devices every week, and over a third saw evidence of harm multiple times a week.\

The report will almost certainly have a significant impact on the outcome of the consultation and decisions about changes to UK law to deal with the issue are imminent.

Read the full story here.