As for Happy Slapping.
Well that was straight up assault, not really as much of a grey area there.

I'm glad you care Grem, because I know many don't. I firmly believe that now more than ever Media Studies is as important a subject for secondary school kids as English.

edit: don't mean the "glad you care" thing to appear patronising. I'm usually fairly removed from the feeling did parents and so on as it's not part of my life, but I find it very easy to feel concerned about this new media stuff, probably because I've spent time watching the bad and good. I can't even imagine how hard it is for parents of LGBT kids

Unlikely wrote:

Gremill wrote:

YouTube is a constant worry for me as a parent.

It's not for me yet, but I have been worrying about the worrying to come.  I'm conscious that I'm rapidly becoming more and more out of touch with how young people use the 'net.  I don't use Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter or Facebook, and what's more concerning is that there are no doubt more I've not even heard of.

Yeah, all of the social media stuff is (another) full time worry job. Callum has his own phone now and I am regularly checking Instagram, Snap Chat and WhatsApp for dodgy content. Unfortunately I have already found some worrying stuff. But being able to turn negative stuff that is unfortunately always going to occur into a positive and informative discussion about net safety and teenage angst is something at least.

As someone who works with young and impressionable children, this shit is extremely problematic.

Gremill is a great example of how much of an issue this is. Someone clearly tech-interested enough that he posts on a videogame forum, and has done for a long time, who understands the lack of control he has. The majority of parents still don't understand the risks (in the sense that they know about grooming etc but don't realise Youtube in itself is pretty unregulated, for example) and even those that do understand have so little power to control what their children are exposed to (well, they have close to absolute power at home, but fuck me a war to restrict all access can't be fun and children will go to friends' houses etc). 

What saddens me the most is how much stuff children are exposed to before they've even hit Secondary school and it explodes in magnitude from there.

When I was young, we were thrilled by the find of a Playboy magazine or some such thing hidden in a bush. Children of the same age nowadays have generally seen hardcore pornography.

afgavinstan wrote:

Yep, utter prick. This was a good takedown.

This guy's vids are real good in general, been subbed for a while.

Tempy wrote:

I'm interested in Stophs feelings on this stuff, given he teaches politics to kids.

I'd avoided this thread because I thought discussing this prick was a waste of time. But, that's a 'sticking your head in the sand' approach and you guys have broadened the conversation somewhat. 

My take on this all is slightly more positive than some of you. This whole Logan Paul debate came up in 2 lessons on Friday - I teach Politics to sixth formers, but Citizenship to 13-16 year olds and I also had a chat with my form (Year 13). As some of you know, one of my students killed themselves in May of this year and it affected the school community pretty badly. It also crippled me for a few months; I've been very fortunate to never have suffered from depression or other mental health issues but it pretty much pole-axed me. Logan Paul's utter lack of humanity and humility in depicting a victim of suicide speaks volumes of his arrogance, ignorance and the air of superiority that some Youtubers have. I think he's suffering from cognitive dislocation - the persona he exhibits in his video is a character; it's not really him. As such, his actions aren't considered in the way that ours are, he's playing a role. He doesn't think through his actions, consider the impact on his followers or demonstrate effective empathy skills. In a way though, why should he? He has the adoration of millions and has lost sight (if he ever had it) of decency and responsibility. Youtube themselves seemingly allow all kinds of reprehensible behaviour without any proper policing. The sheer amount of content makes this extremely difficult and they do have a responsibility to maintain some semblance of free speech; yet they do often seem to allow certain popular youtubers the opportunity to propagate some harmful comment.

Where I'm more positive is that with the exception of one student, 70+ students thought he was an absolute scumbag. They were far more full of vitriol towards him. But quite a few of them thought that scandals such as this mean that teenagers have to confront difficult topics and it encourages debate of differing views. If anything, I'm hopeful that this means that students think a little bit more about how they project themselves online as well as in their day-to-day life. Despite constant media awareness assemblies and education we still have regular cases of students 'over-sharing'. Once it's out there, there's no retrieving it. They know this, but still, commit nasty comments to WhatsApp, share dubious images and reveal too much about their personal business on their Snapchat stories. This kind of shit takes up an inordinate amount of time as we have to deal with it all on top of the normal school issues. I can't recall the last issue of in-school bullying we had but I can recall countless episodes of cyber bullying. 

One of the internet's USPs is it's ability to bring disparate individuals with a shared interest together. This can give confidence to those whose voices we deem unsavoury. The cognitive dislocation that some seem to have as soon as their virtual personality is in command means that behaviour such as Logan Paul has displayed is only going to continue. My anecdotal experience with teenagers is that the vast majority have a very healthy sceptism for everything they experience on the internet and can sufficiently assess who's full of shit. They favour healthy consensus over vindictive confrontation. Just reading this back and it seems a bit rambling, but basically boils down to kids being a lot more savvy and sharper than we necessarily appreciate.

Brooks wrote:

Why do all these Youtube people look like Cobra Kai goons.

Out of commission.

Stopharage wrote:

I can't recall the last issue of in-school bullying we had but I can recall countless episodes of cyber bullying.

The Facebook?

I'd love to add to my reply but it'll have to wait, until tomorrow, so for now: cheers for taking the time to weigh in Stoph, it was a well needed perspective.

Sounds like the sort of tosser we shouldn't be talking about. But that's only because it's precisely what he wants.

I give kids the credit to see it for what it is.

It's a generational thing repeating. No doubt the ones before us thought we were doomed too.

I don't fully buy into the 'every generation worries let's not panic' thing. Yes, they do, but advent of the internet and social media is creating a far bigger shift than anything before in terms of what young folk are potentially exposed to, no?

tigerswiftly wrote:

I don't fully buy into the 'every generation worries let's not panic' thing. Yes, they do, but advent of the internet and social media is creating a far bigger shift than anything before in terms of what young folk are potentially exposed to, no?

More than rock n roll, fashion, drugs and sex? Nah, kids are arguably less daft than they've ever been, but it's admittedly concerning they're a bit more depressed. That's less what they're exposed to as seeming a failure on social media imo. Being young has always been a bit shite, mind.

OH MY GOD PHONE THE POLICE

Take their thumbs away from them until they turn 18.

Yes, we all need better satandards. The devil is always in the details.

He's given himself away.  He's a satantard.