Tag Archives: Childs

Embrace the Fun: Celebrate Your Child’s Playful Summer Adventures!

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wSpending a week during the summer holidays in schools across the UK often sparks curiosity about how many parents are feeling anxious as they opt to move their children away from screens. When my son was younger, I used to envision idyllic trips to the seaside filled with treasure hunts in the garden, paddling in rivers, and visiting family. However, reality hit me with work commitments and the short attention span of my son. In just a few hours, our home was a mess with muddy footprints from various activities, half-finished craft projects, and tired grandparents. It was challenging, and eventually, we permitted some Fortnite time just to catch our breath.

There’s immense pressure and guilt surrounding kids and gaming, particularly during extended school breaks. It’s essential to reevaluate our social perspectives. I cherish the delightful memories of gaming with my sons on warm August days, gradually constructing absurd mansions in Minecraft and engaging in silly antics in Goat Simulator. We established a holiday routine where, during our evening meals, my wife and I could relax with a glass of wine while the boys played Super Mario together. We still found time to build sandcastles, swim, and discover new towns, but gaming offered a route to unwind and enjoy familiar leisure.




Keeping it in the family… Keith Stuart and his son Zach have shared video gaming experiences for many years. Photo: Morag Stuart/The Guardian

During their visits to their grandparents, they also indulged in gaming. My mother owned a Nintendo Wii, which she claimed was solely for entertaining her grandchildren. It was heartwarming to see my sons patiently explaining Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn to her. I fondly recall playing Commodore 64 games at my kitchen desk, often trying to lure my dad into playing hooky games while he was meant to be cooking. I’m grateful that my children can share their skills and enthusiasm, whether through playing guitar after discovering instruments via rock bands, or catching Jigglypuffs in Pokémon Go.

It’s a cliché to say “everything in moderation,” but it rings true. There’s excessive discourse about screen time being an indiscriminate evil. When kids engage in video games and become adept in that realm, summer breaks offer an opportunity to evaluate what they are experiencing, who they’re playing with, and what they’re gaining from it. Is it truly detrimental for them to spend an hour or two in Fortnite each night? Or are they making friends, sharing laughs, and creating in creative mode? Gaming can serve diverse purposes. Although you might prefer they don’t game on the beach, those in-between moments—like long travels or rainy afternoons—can be incredibly enriching, and parents shouldn’t feel guilty about that. For many Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids, gaming forms a vital part of their everyday experiences, much like I had records or comics at their age.

Just this week, I took one of my sons, now 17, to London. While I met a friend, he explored the city solo. On our coach journey to Somerset, we had little chance to chat, so we played Mario Kart together. We set up the console on a small tray in front of us as the coach rumbled along, often swaying for my benefit. It was enjoyable—laughing, comparing strategies, and intermittently looking up as the evening sun illuminated the fields outside. I believe I’ll cherish that bus ride much more than any other part of that day. Despite a screen between us, we were together.

What to Play




A wild and carefree thrill… Fumes. Photo: Fumes Team

Car Battle Games thrived in the mid-90s, with titles like Twisted Metal, Carmageddon, and Demolition Derby encouraging players to smash cars into one another while unleashing rocket launchers.

The newcomer Fumes brings back those thrilling days. This single-player, open-world game invites players to explore a vast Mad Max landscape, upgrading muscle cars to obliterate foes. With a slightly retro aesthetic and a guitar-laden soundtrack reminiscent of the original PlayStation era, it features a loose and reckless arcade handling. It’s currently in Early Access on Steam, and a free demo is available.

Available on: PC
Estimated Playtime: Over 10 hours

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Controversial… Motiram’s Light. Photo: Polaris Est

  • As reported by IGN among other sources, Sony is suing Chinese game publisher Tencent for copyright and trademark infringement, claiming that Tencent’s upcoming game Motiram’s Light bears a striking resemblance to Sony’s successful Horizon series, where young girls battle giant robotic dinosaurs in a vast open world. Tencent has yet to comment on the allegations.

  • Diversity has revealed that a Wolfenstein TV series is under development at Amazon MGM Studios. Penned by Patrick Somerville (known for Station Eleven and Maniac), it will feature Gustafsson from MachineGames as executive producer. This shooter, which features a narrative of defeating Nazis, aims to draw in young viewers who prefer streaming over superhero content.

  • Falmouth University developers are collaborating with local teens to craft video games that address adverse childhood experiences. The game, titled Heart’s Ace, focuses on themes like grief and poverty, encouraging players to engage in dialogue about their experiences. Learn more on the BBC News website.

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Question Block




Team Player… Gaming can foster identity and connection among youth. Photo: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

Timeless questions from Andy via email:

“In Gareth Southgate’s Richard Dimbleby lecture, he mentioned that he fears young men are spending too much time gaming, gambling, and consuming adult content. He believes this oversimplifies the nature of gaming. The time dedicated to “good games” should be seen positively. I often contemplate this, as I’m genuinely interested in how gaming shapes young people’s identities and cultures.

The challenge of Toxic Communities in games is well-documented, yet there are many uplifting examples too. Personally, I’ve encountered kindness and inclusiveness in communities centered around specific games, especially simulation games about space exploration. Titles like Deeprock Galactic and No Man’s Sky and in creative genres like Minecraft foster environments where players appreciate each other’s skill sets. Minecraft has also nurtured a strong accessibility community, exemplified by Autcraft, which runs a server for neurodivergent players, enabling friendships to form in meaningful ways. Streamers on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, such as Aimsey, Springsims, and Xchocobars, cultivate communities that offer fans a sense of identity and belonging. I appreciate how certain games promote communities where creativity and inclusivity extend beyond the gameplay experience itself, whether through creative events centered around League of Legends cosplay or fan fiction groups for Life is Strange. Video games, akin to music and film, serve as mediums for fandoms to express their identities and explore their passions. For many young individuals, navigating the complexities of contemporary life feels nearly impossible without these communal spaces.

If you have a question or feedback regarding the newsletter, please reply or email us at butingbuttons@theguardian.com.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Parent educates on internet safety after child’s Roblox issue: Man approached him

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dAvid, 46-year-old father from Calgary, Canada. My 10 year old son didn’t see any problems at first I started playing on Roblox, a user-generated gaming and virtual environment platform, especially among younger gamers, which has exploded in popularity in recent years.

“We thought he was a way to maintain a level of social interaction during the blockade of the community,” David said he assumed that his son would use the platform’s chat feature to speak to friends he personally knows.

After a while, his parents found him talking to someone in his room in the middle of the night.

“We discovered that a man from India approached him and approached him with Roblox and mentored him to bypass our internet security management,” David said. “This person persuaded his son to take nude pictures and videos that he compromised and send them via Google Mini.

“It was tough to get to the root of why my son did it. I think he was lonely. I thought this was a real friend. I think he was given a gift to Roblox, who made him feel special. It was truly the worst nightmare for all parents.”

David was among parents all over the world who often shared with the Guardian that primary school children were either heavily affected or had serious harm from the games at Roblox. Many confirmed the results of reports last year that Roblox allegedly exposed children to grooming, pornography, violent content and abusive speech.

Some parents said Roblox was a creative outlet for their children and brought joy to them or improved some of their skills, such as communication and spelling, but the majority of parents who were in touch with expressed serious concern. These were primarily about the incredible levels of addiction we observed with our children, but also about extreme political images such as parental control, grooming, emotionally horrifying mail, bullying, and avatars of Nazi uniforms, as well as examples of traumatic content in games that children can access despite inappropriate talking to children on the platform.

“Deeply disturbing” research By digital behavior experts who reveal reality The 5-year-old was able to communicate with adults while playing games on the platform.

Roblox admitted in response to the possibility that children playing on the platform could be exposed to harmful content and “bad actors.” This is an issue that the company claims to be working hard to fix it, but requires industry-wide collaboration and government intervention. The company said “I have deep sympathy.”

The newly announced, additional safety tools aimed at giving parents greater flexibility to manage their children’s activities on the site, have failed to convince many of the parents the Guardian spoke to.

“I don’t think the change will address my concerns,” said Emily, Hemel Hempstead’s mother.

“The new features are useful, but they don’t stop children from accessing inappropriate or scary content. People are allowed to choose an age rating for the game they create, and they may not always be appropriate or accurate.

Her 7-year-old daughter said that her 7-year-old daughter was asleep as she was shot after Roblox’s game took her to a room with an avatar where she was introduced as “your dad.”

Despite Roblox claiming to have introduced “new easy-to-use “remote management” parental controls,” parents found it extremely difficult to navigate parental control settings and said it takes several hours to review their child’s activities regularly. It was also impossible to tell people that many people were behind their usernames.

“Roblox monitors the type of language used, such as blasphemy, but there is no real way to policing players’ age.

The company highlighted last year that it defaulted to the fact that under 13 years of age could no longer send messages directly to others on Roblox, outside of gaming or experience.

However, Roblox admitted that it struggles to verify users’ age, saying, “age verification for users under 13 is still a challenge for the wider industry.”

Nelly*, a Dublin mother in her 40s, said she had just finished a play therapy course to process sexual content her 9-year-old daughter saw on Roblox, which caused a panic attack.

“I thought it was okay to play,” she said. “I didn’t allow her to be friends with strangers either, and I thought this would be enough, but it wasn’t.

“There was an area where she went, people were wearing underwear and someone went in and lying on her.”

Many parents felt that Roblox was exploiting his child’s “underdeveloped impulse control.” As one father said, he constantly gave them a nidge to gamble and stay on the platform, urging many children to lose interest in other activities in the real world.

Jenna, from Birmingham. Two months after her children began playing Roblox, they were able to see their “all life” [had] It is carried over by the platform and reflects the statements of other parents’ scores.

“I feel like I’m living with two addicts,” she said. “If they’re not playing, they want to watch a video about it… When they’re told to go off, it’s like you cut them off from their final fix – screaming, arguments, sometimes pure rage.”

Peter, 51, a London artist and father of three boys, said that his 14-year-old son became so engrossed in Robras and his devices that he was generally violent, breaking the windows with his fist when the game was turned off.

“People who run Roblox don’t give parents shit that they can’t control the game. We didn’t try everything. We’re in treatment now,” he said.

Roblox CEO I advised my parents To keep children away from the platform if they feel worried. Maria, a mother of three from Berkshire, felt that her children were socially excluded when they were offline, making it difficult for parents to do so, and was among many who emphasized that they had unlocked the monetization elements of the platform – the higher game levels and personalization features, becoming a status symbol between the children.

In a statement, Roblox said: “We deeply sympathize with parents who described their children’s negative experiences at Roblox, which is not something we strive for and does not reflect the online civic space we want to build for everyone.

“Ten millions have positive, rich, safe experiences at Roblox every day in a supportive environment that encourages connection with friends, learning and developing important STEM skills.

*Name changed

Source: www.theguardian.com

British parents sue TikTok over suspicions of child’s death related to data claims

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Four British parents who are suing Tiktok for the alleged unlawful deaths of their children express concerns about the suspected deletion of their child’s data from social media platforms.

These parents have filed a lawsuit in the US claiming that four children died in 2022 after participating in the “Blackout Challenge,” a viral trend that emerged on social media in 2021.

A week after the lawsuit was filed, Tiktok executives mentioned that certain data had been deleted due to legal requirements. UK GDPR regulations mandate that platforms do not retain excessive personal data.

The parents were surprised by how quickly their child’s data was removed.

Isaac and Lisa Kennevan. Lisa expressed doubts on Tiktok’s claim of removing her son’s data.

“My initial reaction was that it’s a complete lie,” said Lisa Kennevan, whose son Isaac passed away at 13.

Liam Walsh remains skeptical about Tiktok deleting data on her daughter Maia, who passed away at 14, as the investigation is ongoing. He has issued a statement.

Ellen Room is advocating in Congress for the introduction of “Jules’ Law” in memory of her 12-year-old son Julian.

“If you have a physical diary in [your children’s] bedroom, I’m sure you’d read it to understand. Nowadays, they’ve moved online, and social media serves as a diary for kids. So why not examine their online diaries for potential answers?” she remarked.

Archie Battersbee and her mother, Hollie Dance. Dance has struggled to obtain access to Archie’s data despite him being under 13 when he passed away. Photo: Distribution materials

Hollie Dance should have automatic rights to the data, as her son Archie Battersbee was 12 years old, but she faces challenges in accessing it. “There are still three [of his] active accounts. I can see them myself,” she noted.

Tiktok has stated that searches related to dangerous challenges have been blocked since 2020. The platform aims to remove harmful content preemptively and direct users to safety resources.

Dance mentioned that she has screenshots of dangerous challenges that were easily accessible.

The parents expressed their wish to restrict their children’s access to social media and were unaware of the limited rights they have to their children’s data.

“Essentially, we’re handing the kids loaded guns,” Kennevan remarked. “A child’s brain isn’t fully developed until around 25. The amount of exposure to content isn’t healthy. They’ve witnessed harmful content, such as porn, at ages 10 and 11. They don’t need social media.”

Isaac Kennevan passed away at 13.

This year, the Online Safety Act was enforced, obliging platforms to take action against illegal or harmful content. Walsh expressed skepticism towards Ofcom.

Dance suggested that the organization should screen all videos before they are uploaded to the platform.

Walsh revealed that a US court exposed a video of her child, leading to a damaging impact on her mental state. She intends to press manslaughter charges against the company in UK courts.

Room explained that the family resorted to a US lawsuit after being unable to file a case in the UK due to legal constraints.

Ellen Room and her son Julian; Ellen highlighted how social media is akin to a child’s diary. Photo: Distribution materials

She emphasized on making a difference for other families and parents. “It’s challenging and emotionally draining, but we’re going to make an impact here,” she mentioned.

In the UK, youth suicide charity papyrus Contact 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org. Samaritan Contact Freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, National suicide prevention lifeline 988 or chatting for support. You can also text your 741741 home to connect with a text line counselor in crisis. Crisis Support Services in Australia Lifeline 13 1114. Other international helplines can be found at befriends.org

Source: www.theguardian.com

Parents file lawsuit against Tiktok for alleged role in child’s death from “Blackout Challenge”

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The parents of four teenagers in England have filed a lawsuit against Tiktok following the tragic death of their children.

Isaac Kennevan (13), Archie Buttersby (12), Julian “Juls” Sweeney (14), and 13-year-old Maia Walsh, who rose to fame on social media in 2021, tragically lost their lives in 2022 while attempting a dangerous “challenge,” as stated in the lawsuit.

The Social Media Victims Law Center based in the US lodged a wrongful death lawsuit against Tiktok and its parent company Baitedan on behalf of the grieving parents.

Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney for the Social Media Victims Law Center, revealed, “Three of the four children succumbed to self-stable after being exposed to the hazardous Tiktok Blackout Challenge, all from a similar city and demographic. This does not seem coincidental.”

Bergman further claimed, “Tiktok deliberately targets these vulnerable children with perilous content to boost engagement and profit. The deliberate business decision by Tiktok cost the lives of these four children.”

Tiktok has asserted that searches related to the challenge have been restricted since 2020 and they strive to ban and eliminate harmful content promptly. They also direct users to their safety center if they search for related keywords or videos.

The lawsuit, on behalf of Archie’s mother Holly Dance, Isaac’s mother Lisa Kennevan, Juls’ mother Ellenroom, and Maia’s father Liam Walsh, was filed in the Superior Court of Delaware.

The lawsuit accused Tiktok of marketing itself as a safe and fun platform for children while promoting dangerous and addictive content. Tiktok allegedly engaged children with risky challenges to increase revenue.

Tiktok dismissed claims that they allowed the Blackout Challenge on their platform, asserting that they are actively working to address such issues. However, other perilous challenges involving drugs, hot water, and fire have emerged on Tiktok.

The lawsuit also highlighted that parents believed Tiktok was harmless, catering to children’s entertainment, without anticipating mental health repercussions.

The Social Media Victims Law Center represents families affected by harmful social media content, aiming to prevent the promotion of harmful videos, including those depicting suicide or self-harm, especially among children.

One of the cases involved Tawainna Anderson suing Tiktok in 2022 after her daughter Naira, aged 10, participated in the Blackout Challenge. The appeals court reinstated her case in August 2024.

Archie’s cause of death was determined to be accidental experimentation at his home, with the Blackout Challenge cited as a potential factor among many others.

Juls’ mother is advocating for parents to have legal rights to access their children’s social media accounts following the tragic loss of her son in 2022.

Amendments to the Online Safety Law in the UK aim to compel social media platforms to shield children from dangerous challenges and stunt content while actively eradicating risky material.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Brain activity can be used by AI to determine a child’s gender

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Activity within brain networks appears to differ between boys and girls

People Images/Getty Images

Artificial intelligence can now distinguish the brain patterns of 9- to 10-year-old boys and girls according to their sex and even gender, but not everyone is convinced of the accuracy of the results.

The prevalence of pain, headaches, heart disease, and other illnesses Varies by genderHowever, little is known about neurological variation in this regard or among sexes, particularly among children.

You can learn more and Elvisha Damara Researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York analyzed thousands of sets of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from more than 4,700 children, roughly equal in gender, all aged 9 to 10, who were participating in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Project.

Sex was defined based on “anatomical, physiological, genetic and hormonal structures at birth,” while gender was determined based on “an individual's attitudinal, emotional and behavioral characteristics.”

Parents weren't asked directly about their thoughts about their child's gender, but were assessed with a series of questions, such as how often their child imitates male or female characters on TV or in movies, whether they wanted to be a girl or a boy, whether they said they disliked their genitals, etc. All these questions were weighted equally and combined into a score.

A separate score was created from questions that asked the children themselves, such as whether they felt like a boy or a girl.

The researchers did not disclose the different genders the children identified as, or how many of the children had a gender that was different from their own gender. “We thought of gender as a continuum, not a binary,” Damala said. “We did not limit our analysis to gender categories, so we cannot comment on how many children had a gender that was different from their own gender.”

The researchers first looked at the relationship between brain networks and sex, and then looked at the relationship between these networks and sex for each assigned sex. They found that sex and gender differences were associated with distinct patterns of functional connectivity, a measure of communication between distant brain regions.

Gender was associated with connectivity between the visual cortex, which controls movement, and the limbic system, a group of deep brain structures involved in regulating emotion, behavior, motivation, and memory. These networks were “important in distinguishing participants based on their gender,” Damala said.

Gender-related networks were widespread throughout the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the brain that is also associated with memory, movement, sensation and problem solving), both when using gender scores constructed from responses to parental questions and when using separate scores constructed by asking questions of the children themselves.

“In assigned females, sex mapped to networks involved in attention, emotion processing, motor control, and higher-order thinking,” Damala says. “In assigned males, the same relationships existed, but there were additional networks involved in higher-order thinking and visual processing. Although there was some overlap between sex- and gender-related brain networks, they were very distinct from each other.”

Once the researchers trained an AI model on some of the MRI data, it was able to identify a child's gender based on brain connectivity patterns in other datasets. It could also predict gender, but this was much less accurate and was based solely on the gender reported by parents, not the child themselves.

A better understanding of how brain activity patterns differ by sex could help scientists learn more about conditions that affect boys and girls at different rates, such as ADHD, Damala said.

The findings could also have implications for how human brain research is conducted, she says: “This shows that sex and gender need to be considered separately in biomedical research. This applies to how data is collected, how it is analyzed, and how results are interpreted and communicated,” Damala says.

but Ragini Verma The University of Pennsylvania researcher says the study tells us little about the neurological basis of gender. Because of the study's large sample size, the team was likely only able to find signals of different brain activity patterns between the sexes, but “any variability in gender predictions is based on low precision,” she says.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Exploring the Universe from a Child’s Perspective: Curiosmos Makes Space Simulation Enjoyable

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MaAsteroids hurtling at planet-destroying speeds, glowing spheres of hot gas, black holes from which even light cannot escape: outer space can be the stuff of nightmares, but for Celine Veltman, a 28-year-old Dutch game maker who spent her childhood stargazing, it’s the stuff of dreams. She’s channeling this cosmic wonder into a video game with the most ambitious ambition: the creation of a solar system. Rocks collide with each other, chemical reactions occur, and planets and life itself are born in the depths of space.

Curiosmos’s bright, easy-to-follow visuals, more children’s picture book than Terrence Malick, express Veltman’s objectives for the project and its inception: “I want to inspire more people to become as passionate about space as I am,” she says, speaking animatedly of supernovae and protoplanetary disks.

The idea came to Veltman while she was visiting a friend with two young children in 2018. The kids begged the developer for an iPad, so Veltman came up with what she wanted them to play: a “silly” game about astronomy, one that would “make them laugh” while also teaching a lesson about the very building blocks of life.

Speaking to a backdrop of sculptures on shelves in his artist studio in Utrecht, Netherlands, Veltman explains that this whimsical space adventure relies on solid physics and programming from his colleagues Guillaume Pauli and Robin de Paeppe. Curiosmos is a game of interlocking systems that produce unpredictable outcomes: an asteroid blows off parts of the planet to expose a molten core, drifting clouds create the perfect conditions for plant life, and strange, ungainly creatures begin to waddle around. There are touches of 2008’s Spore in this primitive life simulator, but Veltman specifically references the games of renowned designer Keita Takahashi (specifically Noby Noby Boy and Wattam) for working with “goofy, unconventional concepts.”

The task of translating the universe’s almost unfathomably complex secrets into gameplay proved to be a challenge. “Sometimes I almost regret it,” says Veltman, who relied on her instincts about what key information to include, leaving out magnetic fields and including rings of debris. Ultimately, she says with a wry smile, people need to understand that “planets are fragile, and can turn into big piles of dust.”

While the subject matter might evoke a touch of existential dread, Curiosmos is designed to feel good in the player’s hands. “That was a big part of the design,” Veltman says. Hurling asteroids makes satisfying noises, and terrain explodes with satisfying sounds. Veltman, a hobbyist potter, understands the power of touch; even Curiosmos’s transforming planets look like they’re made of clay.

Curiosmos also has personal meaning for Veltman: “During development, I realized I was saddened to be an artist instead of a scientist,” she says. The game is her attempt to ease this tension and “give meaning to science by creating art.”

Veltman hopes it will have the same kind of impact, if not the same scale, as educational YouTube channels. In a nutshell“The astronomy community is a huge part of our lives,” Veltman says. “They’re the foundation of our planet. They’re the cornerstone of our planet’s astronomy.” Veltman is a scientist who translates arcane scientific concepts into videos of “optimistic nihilism” for his 22.5 million subscribers. Curious Moss has a similar energy, seeking to make the universe’s most remote, strange, and unsettling mysteries “accessible to everyone.” Perhaps this, Veltman thinks, could pique the curiosity of many new astronomy enthusiasts.

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Curiosmos is scheduled to be released for PC, Nintendo Switch, and smartphones in 2025.

Source: www.theguardian.com