Category Archives: Children Youth and Media
The ban on ‘digital childhood’
What’s the rationale behind Australia’s ban on under-16s using social media platforms, and how effective is it likely to be? An interview with Professor Michael Dezuanni. Continue reading
Teaching Adolescence: the antidote to ‘toxic masculinity’?
The Netflix series Adolescence is being used in schools to teach about the problems of ‘toxic masculinity’ and the dangers of the ‘manosphere’. What are the potential problems of this approach? Continue reading
Protecting minors? Book bans are on their way to Britain
There is growing controversy about the banning of books from children’s libraries in the UK. What’s motivating this phenomenon, and what can we do about it? Continue reading
‘I can see it in your face’: the perils of age verification online
As the UK’s Online Safety Act begins to be implemented, some well-established critical questions are arising once again. Will we ever be able to prevent children accessing material that we deem to be harmful or objectionable? And if we can’t, what then?
Should we ban mobile phones in schools?
Reviewing arguments for and against – and proposing a media education approach.
Mutant Mayhem: understanding the longevity of the Ninja Turtles
The latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie breathes new life into a children’s franchise that might have been considered long past its sell-by date.
PAW Patrol and neoliberal hegemony: misreading the politics of toddlers’ TV
Is PAW Patrol just authoritarian capitalist propaganda? Such accusations may tell us more about adult critics than they do about children…
Youth representing youth
Two recent films, produced collaboratively with groups of young people, raise some interesting questions about representation. A discussion of Sarah Gavron’s Rocks (2020) and Fred Baillif’s La Mif (The Fam, 2021). Continue reading
How toddlers learn the secret language of movies
An interview with Cary Bazalgette, author of a fascinating new book about how very young children learn to understand screen media.
David Buckingham 