🪶 More Than Robots #98 February 2026
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - Emily Dickinson
It's been a long winter. And much colder for many. So, here are some sparks to light the way.
đź“– Research
Proposals To Ban Social Media For Children
Supporters say a ban would help protect children online, but others argue it could have unintended consequences. Also: Trends in Online Platform Regulation and Emerging Lessons and Understanding the impact of smartphones and social media on children and young people
Home Learning Environment And Screen Time At Age 2
These findings underscore the importance of addressing early disadvantage, supporting parenting and providing guidance on screen use during early childhood.
News literacy education and civic engagement among primary school children
Engagement with news is not just an integral part of the ability to deploy news literacy skills but also a dimension of civic engagement itself
Understanding girls’ & boys’ online experiences
Girls remain more likely to encounter online harm and experience more distress as a result, but boys’ exposure is rising Also:Inclusion: Gaming's Final Boss
Social Media Use and Well-Being Across Adolescent Development
Social media’s association with adolescent well-being is complex and nonlinear, suggesting that both abstinence and excessive use can be problematic depending on developmental stage and sex. Also: How do social media use, gaming frequency, and internalizing symptoms predict each other over time in early-to-middle adolescence?
Betting on Boys: Understanding Gambling Among Adolescent Boys
Gambling has become woven into the everyday digital and social lives of boys, showing up in their family activities, social media feeds, games, and peer interactions. Also: How gaming is getting Aussie kids hooked on gambling
Weaponised Loneliness (Com networks)
No functionality facilitating user interaction is immune from misuse, and that features carry differing levels of risk depending on how they are exploited
The companionship market
UK market data reveals a profound hunger for connection that is currently being fed by algorithms designed to extract maximum engagement
Digital Youth Work: Scenarios Of Using Technology In The Youth Field
Digital youth work is fragmented, as the absence of systematic ways to drive transformation doesn’t allow consistent and scalable implementation of technology in youth projects or organizations. Also: The digital skills project that changed what we thought we knew
🧰 Resources
CALMZone
Free, evidence-based mental health support from suicide prevention charity CALM
SafeCall
New service from Missing People providing free and confidential support to young people feeling scared or unsafe.
Digital deception: Understanding deepfakes
A suite of free RSHE lesson plans that give all schools access to the tools and strategies to educate about deepfakes and protect children and young people from AI-generated sexual imagery.
A – Z Guide to Children and Young People’s Digital Mental Health
Activities to stimulate discussion and techniques to promote positive and healthy relationships with technology
korabench.ai
A public benchmark to measure AI safety for children.
EU AI Policy Map
An interactive mindmap of AI regulation. Also: Open Infrastructure Map
Building LLMs.txt for the social sector
How to make a simple, AI-friendly summary that helps social purpose organisations be understood by large language models.
đź’ˇInspiration and opinion
Between guidelines and guilt: Parenting through the chaos of screen-time discourse
If parenting is framed as a public performance, and parents themselves remain subjects of surveillance, shame can continue to govern digital family life. Also: Parents’ news mediation in a risk society: Navigating trust, anxiety and digital literacy
Strengthening the OSA: a 10-point plan for Government
A few simple changes would ensure that products are safe before they are released or don't come to market at all
Bad If True: How Participatory Science Can Be a Warning System for Digital Harms.
When researchers face data limitations, they can struggle to reproduce the problems that people report. As a result, people can feel unheard, angry, and even gaslit by the lack of evidence for things that are happening in front of their eyes