weekly homework

Tech companies urged to protect young from dangers of excessive screen time

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/10/tech-companies-young-dangers-excessive-screen-time

Children using smartphones, standing in a row

The article talks about how children have become way to addicted to gadgets and smartphones and how it is affecting them severely and has an affect on their well-being. It says they need to protect these children form becoming psychologically damaged before its to late.

• "New technologies, smartphones, tablets and social networking sites have brough great benefits to millions of people, including children"

• Lloyd said the government needed to “empower young people through education in the classroom to understand how usage of social networking sites and screen-based media can influence their wellbeing, for example, by making them feel inadequate next to the online lives presented by peers”.

• The SSC also floated ideas that could help children when using electronic media. These include encouraging them to keep social media diaries to help them “balance” their online and offline lives and for social networking sites to install “virtual” usage meters as default settings for all users who are under 18, so that they are made aware of how long they are spending online.

In my opinion, i think that children should be kept away from all these new gadgets and phones as its destroying them psychically and mentally. When i was younger, i did not have any of this, all i had was toys and dolls for me to play with - i had a childhood. These children don't. They have become too addicted to these gadgets, its come to a point where children cry just to play on their parents phones rather than play with toys.

USA today's Facebook - inspired use of emojis gets thumbs down

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/12/us-todays-facebook-emojis-twitter

USA Today: emojis on the front page were inspired by Facebook Reactions.
This article talks about how emojis are a common feature of online messaging on smartphones and computers and is extremely popular with the public. It also says how 'USA today's' have started using them with each article they produce e.g an article about Russian bombing of Syria was illustrated with an angry red face, while a story about the stabbing of a US citizen - who had recently helped stop a terrorist attack in France - carried a sad face with a tear emerging from one eye.  It was noted that the more digital people are, the more the seemed to like them.

• The stunt received a mixed reaction on twitter, with some pointing out that it jarred with the serious nature of the stories being covered and others questioning whether emojis had a place in print.

In my opinion, having emojis on a newspaper would take the seriousness out of the article, it would seem like the newspaper company is mocking the content of the article. However it does help the audiences and the journalists empathise with the people the story is on.