What is a pinboard? How do I detect viruses? My password has been hacked, what can I do? This and much more is what the educational game Junait is all about. Here, students can move around in a fictitious social network and expand their media skills in a playful way.
The game Junait is a fictional social network where students interact with each other and try out features. With the help of small tasks, they learn how to deal with possible online dangers. Positive and negative aspects of social media are thus communicated to children and young people in a playful way. The game is designed to help them find their way in the digital world on their own responsibility.
Junait works like a real social network. It consists of several tasks and can be played through in 90 minutes. During the game, the children and young people encounter typical dangers: Fake friends, chatbots and data theft are simulated very realistically and they must be responded to directly. Junait takes place in a closed and protected space, so misbehavior and wrong clicks have no real consequences.
Games in the classroom are usually a cause for joy for children and young people. Junait is fascinating because it has a very action-oriented approach. Trial and error is encouraged here. All can go through the game at their own pace.
The game is not intended for private use, parents can bring the game to the attention of their children’s schools. Via the website junait.de, teachers can register and request game access for their own class. This will be sent to them by e-mail. To prepare for the game, there is a short rehearsal and further material for teachers.
By the end of the game, students should have learned to distinguish friends from strangers on social media, report spam and inappropriate messages, use personal information sparingly, and identify viruses.
Short videos from the war zone on TikTok, pictures of flood victims on Instagram, the latest incidence figures in the newsfeed – does this flood of negative news and information on the net sound familiar? And do you feel like you want to know more and more about it and can’t get away from it? This phenomenon has a name: Doomscrolling.
The word doomscrolling is composed of the English words doom and scrolling. Doom translates as “doom” or “doom”, scrolling means something like “scrolling” and describes the shifting of the screen. Doomscrolling refers to the excessive consumption of bad news on the web.
In times of Corona, the Ukraine war and climate change, it is difficult for children and young people, but also for us adults, to keep track of current developments. Especially in social media, we are confronted with the latest photos, videos and information every day. This is stressful, can quickly become overwhelming, and can lead to negative thoughts and anxiety. To deal with this fear, we gather even more information to better assess current situations. This starts the search history, which seems to lead to infinity, and the doomscrolling effect begins.
In the process, we forget how much time we spend in front of the smartphone, tablet or laptop and remain for hours in a never-ending vortex of negative messages. In addition, the algorithms of social networks adapt to our interest in negative news and constantly provide us with new horror stories without us being aware of it.
The most important thing is to become aware of the constant consumption of negative messages. Because only when you and your child develop an awareness of your own media actions in terms of doomscrolling can you rethink your behavior.
When it comes to doomscrolling, it helps not to lose sight of positive news and experiences and to take care of yourself. Stay engaged in conversation with your child about negative messages they read and strengthen their media and information literacy. This also includes dealing with fake news.
YouTube is the largest video portal in the world. Although the platform can only be used officially from the age of 16, it is particularly popular with children and young people. For you as a parent, there are several ways to get your child on YouTube to protect
YouTube is the world’s largest platform for uploading and watching videos. It offers the possibility to watch numerous videos about different topics, comment on them and rate them. In addition to commercial channels, individuals also have the ability to quickly and easily post and publicly share videos on YouTube.
The content on offer is huge and ranges from makeup tutorials to music videos and Let’s Play videos. There is something for all interests and all ages. Videos by well-known YouTube stars, whose channels are often followed by several million people, are particularly popular with young people. While some are about beauty and fashion tips, others do comedy or document their gaming experience of a popular online game. Children and young people enjoy watching certain videos, participating in the lives of their idols, and talking about them.
Some formats, such as challenges, encourage users to participate. When children and young people see how quickly they can supposedly achieve fame and recognition through YouTube, this can awaken in them the desire to become active themselves and upload videos to YouTube. Children and young people can test themselves creatively in this way and strengthen their media skills. For you as a parent, there are a few things to keep in mind if your child is active on YouTube or wants to be.
Videos for children must be marked as such. No personalized ads will then be displayed in front of these videos. In addition, other functions such as live chat or the comment function are limited. The community guidelines specify a way of dealing on the platform to protect children. No content may be shared that depicts children engaging in sexual or dangerous acts, or that could endanger the physical or emotional well-being of young users. YouTube encourages its members to immediately report videos and channels that violate the Community Guidelines.
Before, during and after video clips, YouTube shows more and more advertising, as it is not necessarily age-appropriate (if the videos were not “marked” as “For Children” when they were posted). Advertising from influencers that is woven into videos as if completely by accident is difficult for children to see through.
If you or your child publish YouTube videos yourself, there may also be advertisements beforehand. You can hardly influence what advertising is running. However, be sure to label videos as “For Children” so that there is no content in the ads that is harmful to minors.
You have the option to set the restricted mode in your child’s YouTube profile. The user is then only shown videos that have been classified as age-appropriate and harmless – if they were marked accordingly when they were posted and classified as such by YouTube’s algorithm (i.e. programming that runs in the background). Inappropriate content is blocked and is not available in restricted mode.
With the so-called parental control, you should be able to decide what your child sees on YouTube or to track it. It works through an adult’s Google account. Weigh whether this is necessary, or whether agreeing on rules and having regular exchanges about YouTube use might be a better way forward for you and your child.
The problem is that algorithms do not work error-free and a video can easily “slip through”. You should therefore additionally keep an eye on what videos your child is watching and whether you find them suitable. The restricted mode can also be easily bypassed. If, for example, another browser is used or the browser data is deleted, the parental control is canceled. An additional security measure is independent parental control programs that can be easily installed on the PC free of charge. It should be noted that some programs block the entire YouTube website.
If your child wants to upload videos themselves, work out together what and how much can be shown to protect your child’s privacy. Also, talk about the dangers of cybergrooming and hate speech and make it clear that your child can and should talk to you about such things. When uploading, videos can be set to “unlisted” or “private”. Think with your child about who should have access to the content. However, you can’t completely eliminate the risk of videos being posted and shared on other social media channels.
Also talk about the right to one’s own image, the protection of intimacy and privacy, and copyright. Because it can easily happen that your child unknowingly violates such guidelines – for example, if people are seen who have not given their consent or music is used that is protected by copyright.
YouTube has long been part of children’s everyday lives and is an important channel. Keep an open mind about your child’s desire to watch videos or take action on their own. Talk to your child about possible risks and sources of danger and create usage rules for YouTube together.
The media magazine Scroller is intended to introduce children to current media topics and support them in a competent use of YouTube and the like. The characters Trixi and Tom guide your child through the world of media.
Scroller is an offer of Teachtoday, an initiative of the German Telekom. It deals with everyday topics such as cyberbullying, data protection on social media channels and conspiracy theories – in a child-friendly and playful form. Children are encouraged to deal with current topics in the media world.
The magazine can be read digitally on the website or ordered free of charge as a brochure. In addition to a German and English version, the magazine is also available in Arabic.
The content of the media magazine is geared to the everyday lives of children. It’s about issues they deal with every day. The website is colorfully designed and offers many options. Young readers can take tests on their own media literacy , watch videos with craft instructions, and click through the picture stories. In the format “The Children’s Reporters”, children themselves have their say, conduct interviews and shoot short reports.
Scroller ‘s website can be visited by children without any risk. No advertising is displayed and no data is requested. There is no way to communicate or get in touch with each other through the website. However, through links on the website, kids can quickly land on YouTube and easily access other content.
Because of the many icons and related links, it can be a little more difficult for younger children to find their way around the website on their own. There is an enclosed parenting guide in the print edition of Scroller . This way, you can discover the world of media together and discuss media topics with your child.
A child’s very first words are always special. Often they are “mom” or “dad”. The first words from little Felix were “play iPad”. Early on, in situations like long car rides, he was given the tablet to pass the time and give his parents a little downtime.
Do children nowadays have too close an attachment to media such as tablets or smartphones at too early an age? Shouldn’t they rather be kept away from it as long as possible, as there are also many dangers and risks lurking here, especially for children?
These questions are on the minds of many parents. As children are born into our digital world, it is nearly impossible to shield them from media. They already come into contact with it from birth in everyday family life. In addition, the foundation for children to use media responsibly and reflectively is laid in childhood and adolescence.
Therefore, you should not ask yourself what can be done to keep children away from media, but rather how to best shape children’s (inevitable) first media contact.
You probably also have a laptop, smartphone and game console at home and these devices are accessible to your child. Children are curious and want to know at an early age what exactly is happening on the screens. Better than bans is to accompany them in their media use – by watching picture books together on the tablet, playing games on the smartphone and listening to children’s stories. Be sure to include age-appropriate content.
Children can only become confident in their use of media if they are accompanied and supported in their use. Together with you, your child can gain experience in a protected setting. As a parent, you are there immediately if your child doesn’t understand something or gets scared about certain content. Not only do you model values and morals to your child in and with the media. Your child learns many important things with you, such as how to select interesting and suitable content from the large Internet offering, how to process it, how to critically assess it, and how to question it. Also encourage your child to work creatively with media themselves and not just consume it! You can find suggestions for this here, for example.
As a general rule, it is recommended that children 12 and under not be left unsupervised when using media. Depending on age, there are different tips for rules about times of use and advice from experts on how much company your child needs depending on age. If you want to learn more, take advantage of our Guided Tour.
