Category Archives: social media

When Dan was a wise man, Kate was a silly sheep and Joe was in the chorus

It’s that time of year when primary teachers are casting roles in the nativity play. This morning I received research results from www.GingerComms.com. According to their poll of 2,000 British adults,  (conducted on behalf of Virgin Media to mark their Christmas stars competition) there are clear links between the role played by children in the school nativity and their future life chances.

Who knew that oxen end up as the highest earners with an average £43,000 a year, more than twice as much as those who played a lamb or sheep? Who would have thought that Angel Gabriels have around 1,297 followers on social media? Or that they read three and a half books a month, whereas your average donkey just manages one.

‘If your child is playing one of the three wise men this year, they will most likely end up working in construction and enjoy gaming …are most likely to be introverted, with 67 percent admitting they are shy.’

To be fair, Dan did have a holiday job for a plumbing and central heating company. I think the consensus would be, ‘tried hard but lacked ability,’ and he is noted neither for his DIY skills, nor for his bashfulness.

Kate should be ‘working in healthcare, enjoy yoga and likely to be introverted’. Wrong again. As Little Slow Coach she changed the narrative so that the nativity became a ‘coming of age’ story about a lost and lonely lamb, with Mary and Joseph relegated to the stalls. Mind you, she has been working for Shelter for the last few years.

According to the Virgin Media research, Joe could all too easily have been one of the 9 percent who said, ‘missing out had been so painful that they never acted again.’

In his nativity play, nearly all the roles went to girls. I seem to remember that even the shepherds metamorphosed into shepherdesses, complete with sheep crooks and frilly dresses. Mrs R was not a feminist; she just hated boys.

Joe didn’t seem to care much at the time and years later got a degree in Performing Arts from Bretton Hall and acquired clowning and trapeze skills at Greentop Circus in Sheffield.

So, it just goes to show, early childhood experiences have no impact whatsoever on your children’s future life.

SPOILER ALERT: Nottingham parents have lost the will to live

8TH AUGUST – a day to be feared. It is the day when British parents reach breaking point, throw a hissy fit, and tell the world and their families that school holidays suck.

This information reached me courtesy of Drayton Manor Park (which is around 40 miles from Nottingham City Centre) who commissioned a survey of 2000 parents.

The results prove that hell is indeed other people. On average, we can only sustain wall to wall contact with our family for 17 days before we have had enough and long for the school holiday to be over.

That’s not too bad. It’s more than two weeks. If you have been upbeat and good humoured for the first third of the holidays, give yourself a pat on the back but be warned, dark moments lie ahead.

Over the six to eight week break, the average parent will have to deal with 13 sibling fights, six public tantrums, 15 early morning wakeups, two cancelled childcare emergencies and five long car journeys.

As of tomorrow – August 8th 2019, many parents will stop enjoying the company of their offspring and start longing for September to arrive:

• One in five parents believe that the summer holidays are the single most stressful time of year
• 28% will attempt to limit screen time
• 17 percent of parents will be shouted at by their kids when/ if they succeed
• The average parent will be driven to HIDE from their little ones in a locked bathroom or bedroom at least six times over the holidays, just to get some respite
• 88 percent of parents believe they take school holidays more seriously than their own parents did
• 36 percent of mum and dads today say they feel guilty if they don’t have an activity planned every day
• Working parents are so stressed that 15 percent of parents are considering quitting their job. The rest are probably looking for overtime opportunities
• 90% of parents surveyed said they wished employers were more sympathetic to the plight of working parents during the summer break

Apparently, Nottingham is where parents cave in first. They gave up on 4th August, while the hardy folk in Belfast will be smiling grimly until the 12th

What does despair look like? Researchers found that 16 percent of parents reported that getting out of the house every morning is a major achievement so the prediction is that in the next month there will be seven days when everyone stays in their pyjamas all day.

For the cheerful and adventurous among you there is Drayton Manor Park. The yare offering the chance to win £500 and FREE entry to the park: www.draytonmanor.co.uk/competitions.

Peace symposium 6pm Today 9 March London today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Caliph of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is holding a National Peace Symposium at 6 pm today, 9 March 2019 at Baitul Futuh Mosque, 181 London Rd, Morden SM4 5PT

This comes on the same day that we heard the news of the death of the baby of Shamima Begum, just after she was moved from al-Hawl camp in the north of the country to another site nearer the Iraqi border.

Controversy surrounds her actions, and the UK’s responses, from Home secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to revoke the British citizenship to the news that a shooting range in Wirral, north-west England, is using Begum’s image as a target because it has ‘received a large number of requests from customers.’

What is clear is that there has never been more important time to have discussions about peace.

Politics has become a dirty word and many in the UK are hunkering down and trying to ignore what is going on here and abroad. In fact if it’s not rumour and gossip about Brexit, it will struggle to appear in the headlines.

We need to look at the big political issues of the day such as global politics, Islam, terrorism, and the ones that impinge on all our lives: environment and climate change social media, technology.

This Peace symposium is a good start.

When Sal and Anna met Russell

Why do people pay £4000 for a stand at Bett and then have no idea what they are going to do there?

‘We’ll tell people about our products, they say’ but then you see them standing there looking a little anxious, clutching their expensive glossy brochures, willing people to stop and talk to them.

There has to be a better way and indeed there is as Anna Pedroza, owner of PR agency Anna Pedroza Communication, and I explained in our interview with Russell Prue. Click on the bar above the picture and have a listen,

Check out Anna’s blog :  https://pedrozacommunications.co.uk/blog/how-to-secure-pr-during-bett-2019/

Thank you, Barclays!

ATEC is coming! Barclays are sponsoring an Assistive Technology Exhibition and Conference (ATEC) to be held at Jury’s Inn in Oxford on May 17th.

It is fast becoming a Go-To event for those who assess and support people with disabilities in universities and the workplace and more importantly for people who need assistive technology for work, for study or to communicate with others.

TDebra Charles smallhere is loads of good stuff for people with dyslexia: Debra Charles is doing one of the keynotes. She is
CEO of her own smartcard technology firm Novacroft, the company behind the Oyster Card, and believes that her success is because of, and not despite, her dyslexia.

Find out about the latest versions of Claro and TextHelp, mind mapping from Matchware and Inspiration, The C-Pen Reader which reads text from print books and Notetalker that lets users capture information from a lecture or a meeting.

global autocorrect smallAs someone who uses Autocorrect on Word and types entirely in abbreviations, I am keen to see Global AutoCorrect which works with all programs from presentation software to emails, the web and social media. It frustrates me when I have to type every letter on Facebook. Maybe now I won’t have to.

There is some whizzy new technology. David Finch from Star College in Gloucestershire will be talking about a project called Ember. The idea is to reduce employer or mentor support and help trainees to work more effectively and more independently.

There is also an assistive robotic arm called JacoTM developed by The ACCESS Research & Development Department at Hereward College with charitable funding from Npower.

I am also keen to hear Abi James of University of Southampton and BDA New Technologies Committee. I often wonder why some people embrace technology while others reject it from the off. I used to think it was all about training and support in the early days, now I am not so sure. Abi is researching this area and will be leading a discussion on the role of professionals to improve the take up of technology.

Book your place now at http://www.ateconference.com/
Tuesday, 17th May 2016 Jury’s Inn 30 Godstow Road, OX2 8PG

Social networking and gaming dominate young lives

ICT and Me was a research project published in September 2015, it was conducted by The National Children’s Bureau Northern Ireland (NCB NI), with the support of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. It was a longitudinal survey in Northern Ireland, studying the link between young people’s levels of access to, and usage of, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and how this subsequently impacts on GCSE attainment.

Read the full report here http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/1229655/ict_me.pdf

ch in NI

 

Key finding 1

Access to a computer/laptop at home is not an issue for the vast majority of young people with at least 95% reporting having access. However, despite the fact that only 5% report not having access to a computer or laptop, when scaled up across the top 40 schools in terms of deprivation, c.1,000 young people are potentially without access, placing them at significant disadvantage.

Key finding 2

Young people spend a significant amount of time online each day with one-third of young people spending four hours or more online in Year 1 rising to 40% in Year 2 of the study.

“I’m constantly on it to be fair.” (Pupil)

“You just always have to have a check to see what people are up to.” (Pupil)

“I always be checking my phone, even when I wake up in the middle of the night.” (Pupil)

Key finding 3

Social networking and gaming were identified by parents/carers and teachers as activities that could most negatively impact on young people’s attainment. Findings from this research confirm a link between extent of gaming and GCSE attainment, e.g. only two-fifths (41%) of pupils who reported using a portable games player a couple of times a day achieved 5A*-C GCSE grades compared to over three-quarters (77%) of those who reported rarely using one. No relationship was observed in terms of social networking.

Key finding 4

School staff were particularly concerned about extent of gaming, reporting a number of issues relating to attendance, punctuality and motivation. Particular issues identified in relation to male pupils with gaming addiction noted in some instances.

Just over one quarter of pupils stated that they play online games alone (27%) or with others (29%) on a daily basis. Further analysis of the survey revealed that males were more prolific users of a computer/laptop for playing games (either alone or with other others) with 42% of males playing games alone every day compared to just 12% of females. This finding is comparable with the literature which shows males are more likely to play online games than girls (Kids Life and Times survey, 2009; Mascheroni and Olafsson, 2013).

Key finding 5

Almost three-quarters (72%) of the young people surveyed as part of this study stated that they feel safe online. This corresponds to findings published by YouthNet (2011) which found over 75% of young people thought that the internet was a safe place. Parents/carers who participated in the focus groups/interviews appeared much more concerned for their child(ren)’s safety whilst online than the young people themselves –

Key finding 6

Social networking can negatively impact on young people’s concentration, distract them from their homework and can be a platform for bullying behaviour. Indeed many of the young people noted that Facebook, in particular, distracted them from their school work.

A study published by YouthNet (2011) suggested that it is common for young people to multi-task, with 90% likely to use different technologies at the same time.

“Definitely people would be texting and doing their homework at the same time or eating or watching TV whilst on Facebook at the same time.” (Pupil)

“If someone messages you on Facebook, then you go on your newsfeed and you end up spending half an hour on it looking at funny photos and videos and before you know it, it’s bedtime.” (Pupil)