Mobile phones in schools can be an aid to learning | Letter

It is incredibly disappointing to read that so many schools in England have implemented an outright ban on phone use (More than 90% of schools in England ban mobile phone use, survey shows, 10 April). While student engagement and the addiction to phones and social media certainly need to be addressed, schools are more likely to support students’ development if they teach them how to use technology in ways that are healthy, purposeful and life-enhancing. A balanced, nuanced approach to phone use can still promote social interaction for children of all ages and encourage learning beyond the classroom.All students should be equipped to access quality information and transfer knowledge quicker in their pursuit of independent learning. If phones or tablets can help achieve that goal, maybe we should not be so quick to dismiss them in schools

Meta faces antitrust claims at trial over Instagram and WhatsApp ownership

Facebook parent Meta Platforms faces a high-stakes trial in Washington starting on Monday on claims it built an illegal social media monopoly by spending billions of dollars to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp, in a case in which US antitrust enforcers seek to unwind the deals.The acquisitions more than a decade ago aimed to eliminate nascent competitors who could threaten Facebook’s status as the go-to social media platform for users to connect with friends and family, the US Federal Trade Commission claims. It filed the case in 2020 during Donald Trump’s first term.The FTC seeks to force Meta to restructure or sell parts of its business including Instagram and WhatsApp. The trial poses the first major test for the FTC under the second Trump administration

‘A man approached him’: parents describe their children’s Roblox problems

David, a 46-year-old father from Calgary, Canada, initially did not see a problem when his 10-year-old son started to play on Roblox, the platform of user-generated games and virtual environments that has exploded in popularity in recent years, particularly among younger gamers.“We saw it as a way for him to maintain a level of social interaction during the Covid lockdowns,” David said, assuming his son was using the platform’s chat function only to speak with friends he knew personally.After a while, his parents found him speaking to someone in his room in the middle of the night.“We discovered that a man from India had approached him on Roblox and coached him to bypass our internet security controls,” David said. “This person then persuaded my son to take compromising nude images and videos of himself and send them via our Google Mini

Risks to children playing Roblox ‘deeply disturbing’, say researchers

“Deeply disturbing” research exposes how easy it is for children to encounter inappropriate content and interact unsupervised with adults on the gaming platform Roblox.It comes as parents shared their serious concerns about children experiencing addiction, seeing traumatising content and being approached by strangers on the hugely popular website and app.Roblox acknowledges that children using the platform may be exposed to harmful content and “bad actors”. It says it is working hard to fix this, but that industry-wide collaboration and government intervention are needed.Describing itself as “the ultimate virtual universe”, Roblox features millions of games and interactive environments, known collectively as “experiences”

Hell is other people who won’t wear headphones | Letters

In response to the article by Adrian Chiles (Where have all the headphones gone on public transport? The noise is eating into my soul, 9 April), I sat next to a guy on a flight who watched the entirety of an explosion- and gunfire-filled action film on his phone with no headphones. We’d spoken a little pre-flight and at the time I realised that that was my best chance to ask someone what the hell they thought they were doing. I also realised that if it went down badly, I had nowhere else to go.So I did what we all do, and sat and stewed in silence. I do regret not asking, and am filled with the same sense of wonder and disgust every time I’m in this situation on a bus or train

Legal Defense Fund exits Meta civil rights advisory group over DEI changes

On Friday, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) announced its decision to exit Meta’s external civil rights advisory group due to its concerns over Meta’s content moderation and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) policy changes.In January, Meta made a series of sweeping changes, including ending its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, getting rid of its factcheckers and changing its content moderation policies. These changes, which some saw as aligning Meta with the then incoming Trump administration, informed the LDF’s decision to leave the civil rights advisory group.That month, following Meta’s decision to its changes, the LDF joined a coalition of other civil rights organisations that were part of Meta’s external civil rights advisory group to express discontent with the company’s decision.“These changes are devastating for free expression because they will subject members of protected groups to more attacks, harassment, and harm, driving them off Meta’s services, impoverishing conversations, eliminating points of view, and silencing dissenting and oft-censored voices,” the companies wrote in a 14 January letter to Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg